XGM

The required translation here is not to Thai. It is to English. So, I am supposed to translate a document that already includes full English details, to English. Yes, it makes me surprised, puzzled, and slightly indignant. Thanks for the perspective though 🙂

A followup question for this - after I got the residence certificate I proceeded to the Land transport office, just to find out they require a translation of my DL (which includes all the details in English as well, but evidently not good enough for them), certified by my Embassy. By the time I do that (a couple more weeks), will the residence certificate be accepted? I read somewhere it needs be not older than a month.

After a couple of years of using gyms here, I got fed up of insufficient parking / waiting on this or that machine / unpleasant staff / minimal AC (if any) / stinky toilets and everything about them. I bought two sets of dumbbells and a resistance band off Lazada and doing everything at home these days. It isn't ideal but I prefer it that way.

Thanks to everyone who commented. I went today with: - Passport - Passport copies (main page, entry stamp, visa page) - TM30 original and copy - 2 photos - Lease agreement copy (just in case) the officer (table #9) took everything but the lease agreement copy and collected 300 baht (no receipt 😅). I arrived at 14:00, got my residence certificate at 16:00. Easy enough. No need for agents.

How long does it currently take to get a Residence Certificate in Jomtien's immigration? I recall that the normal time is two weeks but that there is an "expedited process" for a fee in some immigration branches. And what the required documents? is the following correct: - Passport - Rental agreement - 4x6 photos - Copies of passport front page, visa, entry stamp, TM30, TM6

Thanks, I try to figure out if a ferry at late afternoon / early evening is an option - if it isn't we may book a day or two in Samui before proceeding to Phangan. So such planning should be completed in advance.

We started to plan our trip to Ko Phangan which will take place in 2 weeks. We will be landing in Ko Samui's airport around 15:30. Which pier should proceed to in order to arrive to Thong Sala, Ko Phangan on the same day? will there be ferries still or should we take a speed boat?

My questions were indeed very basic and yet you did your best to dodge them. Low valuation is advantageous when the inherent reasons leading to it change at some point during your investment horizon. If they don't, the valuation isn't "low", it's "justified", and from an investment perspective - useless. Justified by who's opinion? by the market's opinion, and that's all that matters. Now if you could demonstrate higher dividend yields for example, showing the valuations are indeed objectively low, then you might have a leg to stand on. No numbers were shown to support your claim. So, low valuations - not substantiated. Next. Then, instead of any supporting facts, we got a writeup showing an admiration to the US financial sector. Anyone with any idea at all about the nature of this business knows the function of most financial analysts isn't to discover any hidden value but to generate as much business as possible to whatever financial institution they're working in - namely - commissions and management fees of all stripes and colors. I hate it break it to you but the income of investment banks and most other financial institutions doesn't come from superior returns but from client fees, a decades long fact summarized by the famous question "where are the clients' yachts??" (google it). Indeed if you put your trust in Bank of America's or JPM's buy and sell recommendations you are better off buying the Nasdaq or whatever equally random action you wish to take. And if you are not aware mutual funds rarely ever beat the market after fees then I suggest you do go back and do some serious research. Now let's talk buy-side analysts, hedge funds, and others that are indeed in the business to find value. One could claim they are not active in the Thai market and leaves a lot on the table. Sounds nice, but as my first reply here showed you, in actual numbers, that foreign investors are a very significant part of the Thai market. And we are not talking Joe from Ohio or Jane from Mississippi. Those are foreign financial institutions, American, European, Asian and what not that move about 50% of the monthly market turnover. Yes, they are here. It may come a s surprise to you, but they are indeed very much aware the Thai market exist, and the point of looking for value in such emerging markets isn't lost on them. No, you are not the first to think of it, I am truly sorry to disappoint you. JPM, CS, UBS, and more have taken the pain to become actual registered members of SET due to their large activity, and many others are active without being members, using foreign and local staff to analyze local equities, with infrastructure and resources you do not posses. So, low competition - not substantiated. And even if you have a point here, you as a foreigner have an inherent disadvantage due to language barriers (the issue the OP seems to rightly struggles with) but more importantly since you'd be the last to know what goes on, after all the insiders have acted. With any apparent advantage due to lower competition you'd still need to fight a uphill battle with the disadvantages of a less transparent market that has poor coverage, almost of all of in Thai (if you still don't see how this is important, I suggest you go back to the beginning and read again). Bottom line - as I mentioned, we deal with facts and numbers here. Not fiction. You haven't shown any, and I doubt you can. I guess it's due to your limited time to engage ????

Can you demonstrate how low valuations are advantages? if the valuations are low due to the factors you mentioned why would that change in the future? Buy low P/E, sell low P/E. However, if dividend yields end up being higher then you got a point here. Is this the case? Regarding analyst coverage, the more eyes there are on a company (not only eyes, but mouths demanding answers from management as well), the better the transparency is. How is poor analyst coverage a positive thing for anyone other than insiders? To clarify, I don't necessarily disagree with you but it's interesting to see how to substantiate that. I guess what you mean is that the higher centralization of market players results in more inefficiencies?

I agree the market is interesting. Regarding no stock picking competition though, how do you determine that? From SET site it seems that about 50% of the activity this year came from foreign investors. https://www.set.or.th/en/market/statistics/investor-type

I wonder what she'd say if you explained the original nationality was of course renounced "in line with the act"

IB have recently added a "Transfer from Wise Balance" option to fund accounts (last option in the link below). https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/support/fund-my-account.php

Mind breaking it down to specific items?

If it feels offensive, I'd either present a very perplexed "I don't understand" face or continuously ask, in the utmost polite manner, different versions of "but why". Using a very calm, innocent and respectable manner disarms them. With 6 guys in, the last thing the driver wants to do is to waste time. There's a limit though to the amount of time I'm willing to engage in that though so if I'm in a hurry and another songteo showed up then the driver'd get his 10 baht and I'd be on my way.

Yes, "wef" is how Thais would pronounce "wave". Thais don't switch "F"s to "P"s at the end of the word.