Jim Rogers & The Only Way to Make Money Off Pessimism (Updated for 2025)

“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 are a bunch 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.¹ 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.

Since we’re now in 2025, I figured I’d update my annual Jim Rogers Prediction List with this July 15^th article from Yahoo Finance:

• Jim Rogers sold all his US stock holdings, saying he’s ‘seen this party’ before — how to shockproof your money

In case you don’t have last year’s email handy, here are similar articles going back to 2011.

• 2011: 100% Chance of Crisis, Worse Than 2008: Jim Rogers

• 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.

• 2020: 'The next one has to be worse than 2008': Legendary investor Jim Rogers says you shouldn't trust the stock market's rally — and warns of a scenario where 'everything collapses for a while'

• 2021: Jim Rogers: Next bear market will be ‘the worst in my lifetime’ — here are 3 keys to survive it

• 2022: Jim Rogers warns of the ‘worst bear market’ in his lifetime – these are the ‘least dangerous’ assets to own today

• 2023: 'You Should Be Extremely Worried': Jim Rogers Warns That The Next Bear Market Will Be The 'Worst In His Lifetime,' Suggests A Bigger Crash Than 2008. Here's What He Owns Now

• 2024: America is long overdue for a problem’: Jim Rogers says next market crash will be ‘the worst' — names 2 safe assets

All the articles make it feel like these are fresh warnings, issued by an investor who is rarely wrong about such things.

But, as you can see from the list, these predictions are not fresh, and Jim Rogers has a long history of being wrong.

So, as I said last 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.

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Personal Note:

Earlier this week, my amazing wife went on television with Jenni from Jenni’s Rescue Ranch to talk about dog rescue in Houston. She did a great job. And even though I sometimes complain when she brings home more animals, I’m super proud of the volunteer work she does.

1. I didn’t convert all of my old notes when I moved over to Substack, but here are my Jim Rogers posts from 2023 and 2024.