Jim Rogers: Commodities, ETFs Are The Solution

As the markets and exchange traded funds (ETFs) rally from lows seen earlier this year, many experts have thoughts on what’s next. Jim Rogers weighs in with some food for thought about commodities and currencies.

In an interview with the Economic Times, global investor Jim Rogers suggests that with the combination of rising stocks and widening fiscal deficits, a currency problem, if not even a crisis, is inevitable.  Rogers states that even though stocks could hit record levels, they may be in currencies that are completely worthless.  This, in addition to inflation, and interest rate hikes could potentially lead to another economic disaster.

To alleviate this predicament, he suggests focusing on commodities and agriculture.   One reason behind this is that the global population is close to its peak and, for awhile now, people have been consuming more than they have been producing.  As for the future, Rogers thinks that those who produce real goods will be the wealthiest and most valuable.  After all, this isn’t the first time he has preached using commodities as the economy recovers.

There are a variety of ways to play commodities, including these:

• iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust (GSG): up 8.1% for the year

• PowerShares DB Agricultural Fund (DBA): up 7.5% for the year

• Market Vectors RVE Hard Assets Producers (HAP): up 25.9% for the year (this ETF is based on an index Jim Rogers created)

Regardless of whether or not you do decide to follow Jim Rogers’ recommendations, remember to keep basic these investment principles in mind: always know what your portfolio holds and in what currency denominations, stay diversified, have a strategy and keep yourself educated on current economic news.

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