This is way back in 1970, when I was still new to markets and the business. I had all my money in puts in January, which people thought was nuts. I sold my puts the day the market hit bottom and tripled my money. Two months later, I sold short several companies — but in the next two months, markets kept rallying, stocks kept going up. I was wiped out and lost everything. Interestingly, the companies I'd short also went bankrupt over the next two years, but I was wiped out first.
This episode taught me that i didn't know enough about markets and market timing.
I thought I was smart but I didn't know better.
Jim Rogers is an author, financial commentator and successful international investor. He has been frequently featured in Time, The New York Times, Barron’s, Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and is a regular guest on Bloomberg and CNBC.
