padeakin

traders expected bad things to happen in Thailand...

baht weakened because that common fear...

reality turns out not that bad, baht gained...

i think this sums it up enough.

Spot on. And tomorrow is another day.

Correct - Traders had already factored in 'violent clashes', but as they have not really happened yet, there is a small correction

Thanks for the comments.

No this is not a leverage account.

I certainly will not be signing the form giving Power of attorney.

The extra 200 Baht is not really an issue if it is on each trade, but it could be on each transaction, including dividend receipts, funding, withdrawals etc, I have yet to receive a response to my questions about this.

I am just considering changing broker because I am not happy that they (KTZMICO) have even asked for this, and they said if I do not sign the form before 31st Jan I will start to get extra charges, then they have not responded to my request for clarification in a timely manner, It is a shame because I was very pleased with them until now.

The shares dealing broker that I use (KTZMICO), just requested that I sign a form giving them power of attorney on my account, it basically gives them the right to buy, sell and transfer funds on my behalf. They said that if I do not sign it, they will charge and extra 200 Baht each time. I do not know what 'each time' means exactly, I have asked them to clarify that.

They must be able to process my trades without this as I have been using them fro a few years now.

Has anyone here given a broker power of attorney on your account?

Any comments? Is this normal practise?

Can anyone recommend a broker that does not require this?

POWER OF ATTORNEY - to KYZMICO - 6 NOV 2013.pdf

Not so easy for me, I spent about 3-hours at the office, with my wife, we had to go and get the village head, and come back with him, about an hour later they ( 3 off them were working on it) said I had to go to Bangkok to get some documents ( We are in North East), but they were not sure exactly what documents they needed. So I gave up.

I would try to resolve this without complaining to any government department, because if they fine the company of which you are a shareholder, you will be paying the fine

It seems to me this is saying more about a difference in mentality between westerners and Thias, in that westerners are bothered when things are not right and feel the need to complain, whereas Thais will not think twice about it and not let it spoil their day

I took photos of the wife and me standing in front of our house to Sakhon Nakhon immigration for a 1 year extension, they told us they also needed to see the side of the house, so they could see how big it was, we had to go and take more photos, which I was not happy about because it is a 10 hour round trip from our home. Seems they can just add extra rules when they feel like it.

A pointless survey.

If foreign investors were say they plan to move their funds out of Thailand, then the market falls and there investment would drop in value, that is why no foreign investor indicates a plan to move out of the kingdom. Much more useful to report on what is actually happening with the movement of funds.

Sent from Lloyds TSB on 18th June

Appeared in KTB account 20th June

Anyone know of a more useful exchange rate chart, that allows viewing by specific dates?

I waited for what I thought was the right time to transfer some GBP funds from Lloyds TSB in UK to KTB in Thailand.

In June the interbank rate was about 48.5 Baht to 1 GBP (can't remember the exact figure) source: http://bankexchangerates.daytodaydata.net/default.aspx

I read somewhere on this forum that I would get a better rate if I sent the money in GBP and let KTB do the currency conversion, so that is what I done.

When I checked my bank statement about a week later I saw that the amount credited works out at 46.5 Baht per pound, plus fee. At no time over the period did the rate drop that low, I think the lowest was about 47.00 for a short time.

About fees: I paid £10 to Lloyds TSB and about 280 Baht to KTB which I think is very reasonable.

My questions are:

Is my source http://bankexchangerates.daytodaydata.net/default.aspx acccurate?

Any idea why or where KTB get there exchange rates from, or why I got such a low rate?

Is it really to best to send in GBP? In this case I was quoted 47.03 from Lloyds TSB so it would have been better for me to let LloydsTSB do the conversion.

Any advice on obtaining best rates is welcome.

In my opinion all investment is good for the Thai economy, the nationality of the investor (Thai or foreign) does not make the economy any more or less vulnerable (as the report suggests) in fact the nationality of an individual investor or the original home county of a large International cooperation is hardly relevant. If Thai policies encouraged more International investment, instead of trying to restrict it, Thailand would be a richer and more stable country.

The same can be said about land ownership

"No hidden cost"

There is a monthly fee, but I cannot find how much it is, so I would say there is a hidden cost

Glad my gf doesn't live in Phuket! This would be an incredible hassle every time I go up to spend time with her for a few days. Typically don't stay in a single place either. Sometimes at her parents house, some time in her room at her shop, some time at her grandparents house, some times at her friends' house... some times even on the farm! Would have to register all of these places? Insane...

Of course this is the law throughout Thailand and not just Phuket.

The Phuket Immigration are simply taking the time to inform hotel staff of the existing law.

it is the law throughout Thailand but some provinces such as Kalasin do not have a local immigration office, can the report be made to the Police?

I think you need to shop around a bit more, I am currently living in the South East of England and am paying about half of all the prices that you quote

Have you considered naming them?

Maybe the MD would consider settling up if he know you were considering this.

You can use forums, websites, press, facebook, youtube etc etc. just tell everyone the facts

-- snip --

Edwin

I don't know if your looking for sympathy or what? The way you describe your life what the hell more could you ask for?

so many disgruntled people complaining about how bad life is in Thailand and yet more people than ever want to retire here.

Is that an oxymoron

No it's not an oxymoron, more people = more complaints that's logical

If I were your potential customer, I would be confused by that wording.

You are not asking for 50% in advance, you are asking for 100% in advance, and I assume the price is agreed when you send the invoice, in which case they are not interested in your export invoice, or are you saying that the price could change, depending on the invoice you get from your supplier?

A friend of mine that is involved in writing software for flight bookings told me that it is normal practise to oversell seats, they can do this because on nearly all flights there are a number of 'no shows'. They use statistics to decide how many seats to oversell, they do it to increase profit, they can sell more tickets than they have seats. Usually they get away with it but occasionally (very rarely if they are using the right software) there are less 'no shows' than predicted.

I use Yahoo Finance for monitoring a portfolio of UK and US stock, but it does not work with SET

I would like to come. +1

It depends what you mean by 'Love'

When you say 'love' do you mean 'like'? or do you mean total commitment through through thick and thin, sickness and health?

I would imagine that the economics would be very different in a tourist area, but I do have experience of running an Internet cafe in a rural town in the North East. My wife had the business before I met her, and I helped her run it for a while, we eventually closed the Internet cafe and just rented out the shop, this is more profitable.

The main problem was that there were many other Internet cafes in the town that were only charging 10 Baht per hour, they could keep costs so low because they were using unlicensed software and were content to work many hours for a very small profit. Whereas we had to pay for software licencing (you must do this, because when the authorities find out a foreigner is involved they will check), and after a while we did not want to work so many hours for so little profit.

By the way, you still need licenses for each VM

Well done! I would like to think that these students will do well and reach the top  in their chosen professions, but unfortunalty in Thailand the top posts are usually filled by people with money and connections not people with ability

Interested to here a helpful response as I have a similar situation;

No work permit.

What is required to transfer the money to a UK bank account?

What proof do they require that the money was bought in legally? Are bank statements from the last 2 or 3 years showing money received from a foreign account good enough proof?

Re: The comment that said it a a crap exchange rate :- I think it is a good exchange rate at the moment for moving money out of Thailand