How to Raise a Global Kid

However, if you take this as "American investor perceives future opportunity to be greatest in China, enough so to relocate family"...then it's a bit more interesting. Mostly, because I can be fairly confident in saying that he's wrong. Dead wrong.

Or maybe he's just narrow-sighted? Perhaps his vision is two crowded by the blinders of American investment activity to see that China's prominence in the world economy is directly tied America's prominence in the world economy. Perhaps he's ignored the impending Chinese demographic disaster because it doesn't look too different from the one America is now just starting to face.

Either way, this article reinforces for me the notion that to be rich doesn't require you to be the smartest kid on the block, just the gutsiest (with a good dose of good luck mixed in). You see, if it were up to me, I'd be moving my family to Brazil or Turkey. They have youthful populations. Their economies are well rounded and fairly diversified. Most importantly, though, they are going to be future hubs of their respective regions. Is there any doubt that Brazil will be the future superpower of South America? With Turkey's geographical, political, and demographic position, how can it not be the future nexus of the "East-meets-West-meets-Middle-East" economy?

China...you can have China. I'd even take India over China...but, China is fashionable. And somehow I doubt that Newsweek would write the article about the wealthy family that relocated to Brazil or Turkey.

And it does make you see the world different. I'm always amazed how much most other Americans see the world as American-centric, and even seeing logos with a globe with the US front and center seem odd to me now. Economics and business classes have been much easier, since the ideas of foreign exchange, international law, and more were a part of everyday life. And speaking a second language as close to fluent as you can is a huge asset, and makes you analyze why you think what you do and why language and society work the way they do in a huge way.

Perhaps sadly, experiencing prejudice from others while being the minority in another country also helps you see the evils of disliking someone because of their language, the way they were educated or raised, their skin color, nationality, or anything else. That in itself can make you a much better person. This won't be the same everywhere, but I've experience enough of it to make my blood boil when I hear racist remarks against others in the US.

Living abroad is not for everyone, but I do think more people growing up with a global perspective would be a very good thing. You can do it right where you live, though. There are ethnic communities all around the world, and the internet brings content of every language to your living room. Raise your children to see diversity as normal, and make sure they know that they're not any different than someone from any other part of the world just because of where they were born, the language they speak, and the color of their hair. Help them see that they can make a difference in the world, and are not limited to jobs or lifestyles in their own community.

If more people were raised like that, the world would definitely be a better place.

I certainly think it says a lot about the way he sees the world that the location of global capital is apparently the most important factor in raising his children.

Now there's a non-sequitur.

>“I’m doing what parents have done for many years,” Jim Rogers says. “I’m trying to prepare my children for the future, for the 21st century. I’m trying to prepare them as best I can for the world as I see it.”

Setting aside the fact that the future is unpredictable, and more unpredictable today than it's ever been, this demonstrates the fundamental error of human relationships: trying to get somebody to live out your vision of what their life should be.

In the case of parenting, imo, it's better to try to be a better person generally than to treat your children as products.

Yes, China is a creditor, but global trade is probably set to wane with the increasing scarcity of fossil fuels. It will certainly become increasingly expensive to pump liquid hydrocarbons into jumbo jets and criss-cross the Pacific. I think forward looking parents will impress upon their kids the importance of local and regional relationships because long-haul transport of goods will likely be seen as a blip on the historical radar.

This is why I'm not worried about the future of the US, we are always on the lookout for something new and different and despite all the flag waving we're always fretting about being left behind. Compare that with Europe, which takes the opposite approach and is currently on a return path to the nation-state.

I grew up in Singapore (for 16 years), and there are fantastic international schools there. The local schools focus less on learning through creative problem solving and more on learning through repetition. I wouldn't put my kid in a local school, but that's interesting he did.

I think that living in another country as an expat creates it's own problems, but trying to totally assimilate is impossible, especially when you look nothing like the locals. The first tends to make you feel superior or separate like I'd imagine the colonials felt. The second will give you humility and expose you to what it's like to be a minority.

There are many ways to skin a cat. Exposure to thinking other than your own is good regardless of how it happens.