Jim Rogers & The Only Way to Make Money Off Pessimism (Updated for 2026)
“Tell people what they want to hear, and you can be wrong indefinitely without penalty.” – Morgan Housel
Every year around this time, I write a note explaining how there is an industry of famous financial prognosticators who make money shouting scary words that help them book speaking engagements, sell newsletters, and convince people to make terrible financial decisions.
One of those people is Jim Rogers. Every year, he makes the same catastrophic predictions, and every year the financial media gleefully prints his warnings with a lead sentence describing him as a “legendary investor” and “co-founder of the Quantum Fund.”
Since we’re now more than halfway through 2026, I figured I’d update my annual Jim Rogers Prediction List with this May 14th article from Yahoo Finance: Jim Rogers issues dire warning over Trump’s stock market: ‘The end will probably come soon.’ What he likes for safety.
What the article says and what he suggests are not important. I’m just reposting as a reminder that there will always be people and publications trying to convince you the sky is falling, and it is important you tune them out.
In case you don’t have last year’s email handy, here are similar articles going back to 2011.
2012: Jim Rogers: It’s Going To Get Really “Bad After The Next Election”
2013: Jim Rogers Warns: “Run for the Hills Now, I’m Doing It
2014: Jim Rogers Wants to Put All His Money Into North Korea
2015: Jim Rogers: “We’re Overdue” for a Stock Market Crash ((original link no longer works)
2016: $68 TRILLION “BIBLICAL CRASH” Dead Ahead? Jim Rogers Issues a DIRE WARNING (original link no longer works)
2017: THE BOTTOM LINE: Legendary investor Jim Rogers expects the worst crash in our lifetime
2018: Jim Rogers says the next bear market will be ‘the worst in our lifetime’
2019: Jim Rogers on US Economic Crisis, Gold & Bitcoin - Jim predicts that the next bear market will be in the worst in his lifetime.
2021: Jim Rogers: Next bear market will be ‘the worst in my lifetime’ — here are 3 keys to survive it
So, as I say every year, take these and other cataclysmic articles with a grain of salt. It is generally the optimists who make money investing, and the pessimists who make money selling books.
Personal Note:
Happy birthday to my beautiful, amazing, animal-loving wife!
She doesn’t read the financial planning section of these notes, but she will scroll to the bottom to see what I put down here. So this personal note section is dedicated to her.