Brian Damage
12-07-2009, 11:36 PM
Many celebrities have an easier time making money than managing it, Nicolas Cage being the latest in a long string of examples. That makes Wayne Rogers a bit of an oddity in Hollywood.
Rogers has been acting since the late 1950s, but is best known for his role as Trapper John on the hit TV series "MASH" from 1972 to 1975.
In real life, Rogers plays a successful investor and businessman. He has helped start up or turn around banks, a vineyard, a convenience-store chain and a barge company. He is active in real estate and is a director of public company Vishay Intertechnology.
He owns a tiny piece of the Oakland Athletics and is chairman of Kleinfeld Bridal, the New York shop featured on the reality show "Say Yes to the Dress." He is a regular panelist on "Cashin' In," a weekly business show on Fox News.
Rogers, 76, was in San Francisco last week to speak to a National Investor Relationship Institute conference. He said some celebrities run into financial troubles because "they make too much money too quickly and feel entitled."
Others "rely on a friend of a friend who made a lot of money with someone. They let somebody else do their due diligence," Rogers said in an interview.
Rogers says he "does not use advisers per se. I do a lot of my own due diligence. If someone else does it, I ask a lot of questions: Where did you get this information? Who gave it to you? What were the circumstances? Have you verified it?"
Rogers lives in Destin, Fla., and has an office in Los Angeles, where he has people who help him crunch the numbers.
One key to his success is picking the right partners. "I was involved with bright people, innovative people, honest people, people who weren't looking for an edge," he says.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/06/BUND1AUN8E.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0Z446AMRT
Rogers has been acting since the late 1950s, but is best known for his role as Trapper John on the hit TV series "MASH" from 1972 to 1975.
In real life, Rogers plays a successful investor and businessman. He has helped start up or turn around banks, a vineyard, a convenience-store chain and a barge company. He is active in real estate and is a director of public company Vishay Intertechnology.
He owns a tiny piece of the Oakland Athletics and is chairman of Kleinfeld Bridal, the New York shop featured on the reality show "Say Yes to the Dress." He is a regular panelist on "Cashin' In," a weekly business show on Fox News.
Rogers, 76, was in San Francisco last week to speak to a National Investor Relationship Institute conference. He said some celebrities run into financial troubles because "they make too much money too quickly and feel entitled."
Others "rely on a friend of a friend who made a lot of money with someone. They let somebody else do their due diligence," Rogers said in an interview.
Rogers says he "does not use advisers per se. I do a lot of my own due diligence. If someone else does it, I ask a lot of questions: Where did you get this information? Who gave it to you? What were the circumstances? Have you verified it?"
Rogers lives in Destin, Fla., and has an office in Los Angeles, where he has people who help him crunch the numbers.
One key to his success is picking the right partners. "I was involved with bright people, innovative people, honest people, people who weren't looking for an edge," he says.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/06/BUND1AUN8E.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0Z446AMRT