In 1964, Rogers joined Dominick & Dominick LLC on Wall Street, where he first learned about stocks and bonds. From 1966 to 1968, Rogers served as a draftee in the US Army for military Service during the Vietnam War.

Rogers has been married three times. In 1966, he married his first wife, Lois Biener; they divorced in 1969. In 1974, he married Jennifer Skolnick; they divorced in 1977. His third wife is Paige Parker; they have two daughters.

In 1970, Rogers joined investment bank Arnhold and S. Bleichroder, where he worked with George Soros.

In 1973, Soros and Rogers both left and founded the Quantum Fund. From 1970 to 1980, the portfolio gained 4200% while the S&P advanced about 47%. The Quantum Fund was one of the first truly international funds. In 1980, Rogers decided to "retire", and spent some of his time traveling on a motorcycle around the world. Since then, he has been a guest professor of Finance at the Columbia Business School.

In 1989 and 1990, Rogers was the moderator of WCBS' The Dreyfus Roundtable and FNN's The Profit Motive with Jim Rogers. From 1990 to 1992, he traveled through China again, as well as around the world, on motorcycle, over 100,000 miles (160,000 km) across six continents, which was picked up in the Guinness Book of World Records. He tells of his adventures and worldwide Investments in Investment Biker, a bestselling book.

In 1998, Rogers founded the Rogers International Commodity Index. In 2007, the index and its three sub-indices were linked to exchange-traded notes under the banner ELEMENTS. The notes track the total return of the indices as an accessible way to invest in the index. Rogers is an outspoken advocate of agriculture Investments.

Between January 1, 1999, and January 5, 2002, Rogers did another Guinness World Record journey through 116 countries, covering 245,000 kilometers with his wife, Paige Parker, in a custom-made Mercedes. The trip began in Iceland, which was about to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Leif Eriksson's first trip to America. On January 5, 2002, they were back in New York City and their home on Riverside Drive. His route around the world can be viewed on his website, Jim Rogers.com. He wrote Adventure Capitalist following this around-the-world adventure. It is currently one of his bestselling books.

In 2002, Rogers said that Fed chairman Alan Greenspan's "reaction to the stock-market bubble has caused two more bubbles to grow: a real-estate bubble and a consumer-debt bubble." In 2006, Rogers said he was shorting US financials, home builders and Fannie Mae.

In December 2007, Rogers sold his mansion in New York City for about 16 million USD and moved to Singapore. Rogers claimed that he moved because now is a ground-breaking time for investment potential in Asian markets. Rogers's daughters speak fluent Mandarin to prepare them for the Future. He is quoted as saying: "If you were smart in 1807 you moved to London, if you were smart in 1907 you moved to New York City, and if you are smart in 2007 you move to Asia."

In 2008 Rogers endorsed Ron Paul, a Republican congressman, for President of the United States.

On November 4, 2010, speaking at Balliol College, Oxford, Rogers urged students to scrap career plans for Wall Street or the City, London's financial district, and to study agriculture and mining instead. “The power is shifting again from the financial centers to the producers of real goods. The place to be is in commodities, raw materials, natural resources."

In February 2011 Rogers announced he had started a new index fund which focuses on "the top companies in agriculture, mining, metals and Energy sectors as well as those in the alternative Energy space including solar, wind and hydro." The index is called The Rogers Global Resources Equity Index.

In May 2012 he remarked during an interview with Forbes magazine that "there's going to be a huge shift in American society, American culture, in the places where one is going to get rich. The stock brokers are going to be driving taxis. The smart ones will learn to drive tractors so they can work for the smart farmers. The farmers are going to be driving Lamborghinis. I’m telling you. You should start Forbes Farming." Rogers has been persistently bearish on the US stock market since the early 1980s. In February 2018, he reportedly predicted that the next bear market would be "the worst in our lifetime."

In February 2013 Rogers joined the Board of Advisors of the Coalition to Reduce Spending. In September 2015, he left Indian market saying it is impossible to invest on hope.