Commodities king wants them ready for China's century
Legendary investor Jim Rogers, known as the 'commodities king', once thought that raising a child was a waste of time and money. But after having his first daughter at age 60, he reckons children are his best investment.
The 65-year-old investment guru, professor, traveller and author moved to Singapore from New York last year to allow his two daughters to learn Putonghua. He believes China will be the most powerful country in the world sometime this century.
His five-year-old daughter Happy and her five-month-old sister 'Baby Bee' have a Chinese nanny and Chinese-language teacher. Happy can already speak fluent Putonghua.
'If you were smart in 1807, you moved to London,' Mr Rogers said, while exercising in his Hong Kong hotel gym during a visit to the city. 'If you were smart in 1907, you moved to New York. If you were smart in 2007, you moved to Asia. I sold my New York property to move the whole family to Singapore last year.'
He said he would love to move to Hong Kong permanently but the city's air would have to be cleaned up before he could consider it.
Pollution is also top of his concerns about the mainland. 'China will need to solve its polluted water problem. If it cannot, it will be the end of the China story,' he warned.