At Home With Jim and Paige Rogers

We catch up with celebrity investor, author and Guinness World Book of Record holder, Jim Rogers and his beautiful wife Paige, on their recent shift to Singapore, raising a Mandarin-speaking daughter and their future plans

theAsianparent: Welcome to our sunny island. I am sure the one thing that everyone wants to know is why Singapore?

Jim Rogers: Well the 20th century was the century of the U.S, the 21st Century is going to be the century of China. We originally wanted to shift to China or Hong Kong but the pollution got to us. So we chose Singapore. Singapore is terrific, it's organised, everything works and since Paige nor I speak Chinese, it makes sense to live in Singapore.

theAsianparent:Do you all see yourselves here long term or..?

Jim Rogers: That’s the plan. There is no reason to leave, we’ve got PR status, our baby’s going to be born here, our daughter goes to school here.

Paige Rogers: We had dinner with friends last night and they’ve been here for 15 years and they asked the question and Jim said ‘forever’. Laugh. I don’t have a time span on how long we are here. I like the idea of being a gypsy and being here for 5 years and then perhaps in Madrid or Barcelona for 5 years, but who knows?

TheAsianparent:We hear that your daughter, Happy, speaks fluent Mandarin. Why was it so important that Happy speaks Mandarin?

Paige Rogers: My husband, Jim, has been extremely optimistic on China for the last 20 years. When we did our trip around the world and visited 116 countries, I fell in love with China too. When our daughter was born it made sense that she learn Mandarin. From the time she was 6 months we had a Mandarin speaker at home and her first words were in Mandarin. In her lifetime we think it will be amongst the greatest gifts that we can give her...the ability to speak Mandarin.

Right now in Singapore we have a Chinese governess, Fong Wei, who came to Singapore to study and has a Masters from NUS. She now has a Singapore Passport and speaks beautiful Mandarin. She also teaches Happy about Chinese culture and history. We chose a native Chinese because as wonderful as Singapore is, the Mandarin spoken here is different from that spoken in mainland China and we’re aware of that.

theAsianparent: So you're expecting your second child soon. Will you be delivering in Singapore?

Paige Rogers: Yes. I have a fantastic Singaporean doctor at Gleneagles. I have been very happy with the care I have been given.

TheAsianparent: It all seems so overwhelming. I mean shifting, giving birth…

Paige Rogers: Everything is mind over matter and if you choose to be overwhelmed you will be and if you manage your expectations you won’t be. Plus I’m happy here, I mean we didn’t have to move here, we chose to move here.

theAsianparent: How does Happy feel about the addition to the troop?

Paige Rogers: She seems genuinely excited by the idea. However I think as my stomach expands and mummy is not quite what mummy used to be, mommy can’t run, mommy can’t lift her up and all those things that come with being 37 and pregnant, I don’t think she likes that very much. Recently we were out and I said to her, ‘You know I just love you so much and I’m so proud of you and when B comes, if I can’t spend as much time with you as I do now, it doesn’t mean I don’t love you as much’ and she just bawled. It broke my heart. But I think she will be an excellent big sister. Happy will be 5 in May and she’s incredibly assertive and I think she will be a mini-mommy.

I’ve told her that the best gift that she can give her sister is to speak only Mandarin to her because no matter how much I study and take my lessons, I will never speak Mandarin as well as Happy.

theAsianparent:How has being a parent changed your life?

Jim Rogers: It’s certainly taught me a lot of things. It taught me about my parents, why they did certain things the way they did. I've experienced emotions that I never knew I was capable of. I know I’ve cried more since she was born, out of happiness than I’ve cried in my whole life. True to her name, she’s always made me so incredibly happy.

Paige Rogers: I was scared silly. It’s a little bit like when Jim and I were getting ready to go around the world for 3 years and I remember him trying to warn me about how hard it would be. He warned me that days may go by and we might not have any food and I would have to go weeks without a shower and we would see poverty and the lack of status that women have in the world and I remember all these warnings and you just kind of hear them, until you’re out there on the road and you’re in Sudan and you can’t get into Egypt and it’s 27 days and you haven’t bathed and you’re sleeping on the dirt floor. And I feel that with Motherhood, it’s much the same way until the baby comes out and life begins, there is no preparation for it. I read every book and everything that I could in preparation for the baby but until the baby arrives…

theAsianparent: What was your biggest fear? What’s the one quality that you think that is imperative for every parent to have?

Paige Rogers: I guess the biggest fear I had was whether I would be a good mother. At the end of the day, I feel like I’m a good mom and that’s a great, great feeling. There are days when I feel like I’ve been Monster Mom as I’d lose my temper. But, none of us are perfect and mistakes happen. But overall, I feel that Happy is a smart, content child and I’d like to think that I have a little bit to do with that.

Jim Rogers: It's important for parents to be patient. As much as you might like them to know everything instantly, it’s not going to happen.

theAsianparent: So Jim, you've kids at a pretty late age. Do you wish you had had them earlier?

Jim Rogers: No, I wanted to do a lot of things and I did do it. Now that I have it all out of my system, I have the time to be a good father. Anyway, ask me in 20 years. If she turns out to be an axe murderer, then I did it at the wrong time.

TheAsianparent: Finally, as a famed investment guru, have you felt compelled to teach your daughter about finance?

Jim Rogers: Laugh. Well, we bought her a piggy bank. And before we knew it she had 6 piggy banks. Where they all came from I don’t know. So yeah, we’ve taught her to put her money in her piggy banks. Does that count?


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