Hot Commodities : How Anyone Can Invest Profitably in the World's Best Market (Hardcover)

by Jim Rogers (Author) "A new bull market is under way, and it is in commodities-the "raw materials," "natural resources," "hard assets," and "real things" that are the essentials..." (more)
Key Phrases: commodity bull market, commodity bear market, commodities bull market, New York, Wall Street, Saudi Arabia (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
According to Jim Rogers, "commodities get no respect." Here are a few reasons why he thinks they should: they are easier to comprehend and study than stocks and behave more rationally since they are subject to the basic laws of supply and demand; they have outperformed many other investment options in recent years; it is foolish to ignore an entire sector of the marketplace; and a bull market is currently under way in commodities--a trend that Rogers expects to last for a least a decade longer. Further, Rogers believes that you cannot be a successful investor in stocks, bonds, or currencies without an understanding of commodities. Hot Commodities: How Anyone Can Invest Profitably in the World's Best Market is designed to introduce the novice to the basics of investing in commodities as well as explain what they are and why they are important. In doing so, he shatters some myths about the relative risks of commodities, explains the relationship between the stock and commodities markets, and provides a succinct analysis and history of the global oil, gold, lead, sugar, and coffee markets.

Rogers also offers practical advice and information for beginners, including the best resources, how to read the commodities reports in the newspaper or on television, the various ways to open an account, information on index funds (such as Rogers' own index fund that he started in 1998), mechanisms, terminology, and other vital details people must know before investing. Clearly written and entertaining, Hot Commodities offers a solid introduction to investments that many people, including financial advisors, fail to give the proper respect. --Shawn Carkonen

From Booklist
Commodity investing has gotten a bad rap. Everyone seems to have heard of someone who "lost his shirt" trading commodity futures. What are commodities? Commodities are "things," the essential raw materials that go into making everything from bread to automobiles. This includes foodstuffs such as sugar, wheat, soybeans, and coffee; the fossil fuels crude oil and natural gas; and industrial materials such as lumber, copper, lead, gold, and silver. As a group, they typically do well when stocks are doing poorly, and vice versa. But unlike stocks, the price of commodities can never go to zero. Rogers, known for his world travels, his ability to size up any market, and his contrary approach to investing, says we are in the beginning of a multiyear bull market in commodities. Although he is promoting his new commodities fund, he makes a very good case that commodities belong in any balanced portfolio, particularly now. Rogers walks us through the sometimes obscure language of commodity trading, and shows us how to get involved without "losing our shirts." David Siegfried
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Random House (December 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 140006337X
• ISBN-13: 978-1400063376
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (95 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #104,016 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

131 of 141 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Self serving to an extent, January 29, 2005

By	James H. McDuffie (Huntsville, Alabama United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Rogers wrote this book because he runs a commodies index and a fund to go with it. The book is poorly disguised advertising. With that said I believe Rogers is sincere in his beliefs. However, as usual there are several caveats. First, he quotes papers and research showing that investing in commodies in the past has been less risky and had better returns than equities or bonds. All of this research however ignores institutional risk associated with commodity investing. The fees are high, the market is sometimes manipulated, the investor virtually has to use a full service brokerage firm, and even Roger's mutual fund is available only through a broker and has high surrender charges. Second, although many money handlers like Rogers end up rich, it is almost never pointed out that the vast majority of their money is not made by their own fantastic investing but by charging high fees to their investors. Look at the fees on the Rogers fund. Good God. Third, the various commodity indexes that are out there are new. Gibson, in his book on asset allocation, took the Goldman Sachs index back to the good old days of the seventies not bothering to point out that the GMCI only dates back to 1992 and so this was essentially backtesting - a popular hobby even though there is much evidence to indicate this is not the way to go. There are good reasons to believe that the commodity bull market of today will not repeat the golden years of the seventies even though it is real enough. None of this even touches the fact that the average investor should only have 5 - 10% of his money (at the most) in commodities. Either high minimums on the funds or huge front and back end fees will keep everyman out. Nevertheless, Rogers is correct in his assertion that learning about commodities will help any investor look at the world in a different way, and, in the long run, teaching the investor the basics of understanding commodities is the real contribution of this book. Those looking for a commodity investing how to book will have to keep looking. He is pushing commodities indexing.

160 of 174 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, January 7, 2005

By	Edward Keenan "IceMan" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Jim Rogers wrote a very easy to read book.

If you are looking for hot tips as to what commodity to invest in do not waste your money buying this book. He does not offer any "hot" tips. I personally believe if any one person had "hot" tips to make tons of money, why would they tell other people? It does not make sense. Anyhow this book does not have any formulas, and actually the author points out that most technical analysis traders loose money, it is the people who write the book on technical analysis that make money.

The book however is well written, and makes basic arguements based on facts, namely suppy and demand. Jim Rogers as you can tell from his book is a fundamentalist. His arguements are clear and concise, and make perfect sense. You will not be disappointed in this book, and even if you are technical trader, you could still use many concepts in this book to help with your trading, or if you just want some information on the fundamental side.

This is one of the best books I have bought in a long time. It will sit with my arsenal of other books, so that I can use this to help make better judgements into what commodities to invest into.

He also makes some nice parallels with the stock market and commodities market.

You will not be disappointed, and the price is not bad at all.

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great insights from a world class investor, February 3, 2005

By	John B (California) - See all my reviews

I've been a fan of Jim Rogers for a long time. I've read his previous books (Investment Biker and Adventure Capitalist) as well as numerous articles and stories about him (Worth Magazine, Fortune, Barrons, etc). This book did not disappoint.

What I enjoy most about Rogers is the fact that's he's produced consistent results throughout his career. He made a fortune with George Soros in the 70's at the Quantum Fund (up 4,000% in the decade). He made huge calls about the crash of '87, the crash in the Nikkei, forecasts of emerging bull markets in Austria, Botswana, and numerous other countries. His move into commodities in 1998 was another great coup.

No investor is going to be perfect. No one will get it right 100% of the time (he's been overly bearish on the US since at least the early 90's). But I believe Rogers core philosophies will get you much further than anything else you hear in the mainstream media and by the talking heads on TV. They haven't made fortunes in the market for the past 30 years.

"Hot Commodities" is a good introductory guide to the world of commodity investing and more importantly, contrarian investing. Fortunes are made by thinking independently from the crowd, looking for opportunities that no one else sees and making sound, logical investment decisions. Rogers takes you down that thought process beautifully.

I knocked a star off because he could have discussed options and other ways of buying commodities in more depth. Some may see the book as a giant ad for his own commodities fund. More balance would have been nice.

All in all, some great insights from an investing legend.