Tuesday, October 25, 2016

If you borrow money, use it wisely

There's nothing wrong with borrowing huge amounts of money -- as a country, as a family, as an individual -- as long as you're putting it into productive assets, building for the future. 

In the nineteenth century, the United States borrowed stupendous amounts from all over the world, mainly from Europe. We were a gigantic debtor nation. We put the money into productive infrastructure such as railroads and factories. And by 1914 we got our payoff. We became a creditor nation for the first time in our history. We then became the world's largest creditor nation and the most powerful country in the world. We borrowed all that money, but we invested it wisely. 

But if you borrow a lot of money and buy Rolexes and Porches and big houses... you are not going to thrive long term.




Jim Rogers is a smart investor who co-founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros in 1973. By 1983 the fund gained more than 4000 percent.