Oxx

35 minutes ago, sidgy said:

Hi Oxx
I was thinking of 3 funds from each bank, the additional monthly/bi-monthly payments would be going into these same initial funds

May I make as bold as to ask which the six funds are?

12 minutes ago, sidgy said:

using several funds offered by Kbank and opening an account with TMB and investing in a few of their funds

As a statement that does concerns me.  When starting out you should really keep to a small number of funds, say 3-5.  That way you can properly research them before you invest, and monitor their ongoing performance.

When you get more experienced you can consider adding more funds, but you'd probably never need more than 10 or so.

If you hold a lot of different funds, then you lose the potential to perform better than the market average, so would do just as well (or probably a little better) simply by buying broad ETFs.  Good investment involves a conviction that you are investing in the right areas and, equally importantly, avoiding the wrong ones.  Lacking conviction and investing too widely is poor investment.

8 minutes ago, steve73 said:

Have you tried opening a UK on-line dealing account? 

With the possible sole exception of Barclays, it is no longer possible for a non-resident to open a UK brokerage account without going through an IFA.  (That is, unless you lie about your residency.)

Anyway, there is no benefit for a non-resident in opening a UK account.  Interest will be subject to UK withholding taxes.  And the account will (if not non-UK domiciled) form part of your estate for inheritance tax purposes.

7 hours ago, nicothai said:

13 hours ago, FruitPudding said:

Just opened an account with TD.
 
Pretty painless. 

Can you transfer money from a Thai account without problems?

 

There are the usual issues with sending money out of Thailand.

Send the money in the appropriate currency to the appropriate currency account via SWIFT.  All necessary info is on Payments & Transfers -> Fund My Account once you've logged in.  (All the account numbers are individual to your account.)

Don't know whether their bank will perform currency conversion for you should you wish to send in THB.  Best to ask them.

Sending account must be in your exact name, otherwise the money will be rejected.  (My UK bank account has my forename as initials, rather than my full name.  They queried this, but did ultimately accept transfers.)

When taking money out, if it's to a different bank account from the funding account they will query this, even if it's in your name.

7 hours ago, nicothai said:

What about Saxo?

Saxo Singapore will open an account for Thai residents.  However, it has become relatively expensive, and does not implement US withholding tax treaties, so all US dividend income is taxed at 30%, rather than 15%.

47 minutes ago, theoldgit said:

Here you are, page 2 of the FAQ booklet is blank. 

Nationwide Letter.pdf

Nationwide FAQ Booklet.pdf

Thanks for that.

Utterly unhelpful.  I really don't understand why, since Nationwide International changed from being an independent bank to a branch of Nationwide Building Society, they can't simply transfer the accounts to another branch.

And they're doing absolutely nothing to help customers find a new, offshore home for their money - a really difficult prospect.  And losing access to the account via the BACS network is going to put up account running costs significantly.

I thought building societies were supposed to be more caring for their members/customers than the banks.

Pathetic.  

I guess I was naïve for expecting better.

I'm assuming you're male.

You can try Aldara.  It's a cream which stimulates the body's immune system to attack the wards.  It works for some people, not others.

If that doesn't work, make an appointment with a hospital's dermatology department to get them lasered off.  Check the hospital has the right equipment to do this.  Not all do.

Note that the virus responsible can linger in the skin, so there's a possibility that new warts will arise.

8 hours ago, orientalist said:

Just got my "Thank you and piss off" letter from Nationwide Intl. Anyone in Thailand tried Santander yet?

Any chance you or someone else could scan and post the letter? Mine will have been sent to my UK address, so it'll be some time before I get it.  Thanks.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

opposite the Thurakit Bandit University

Pretty sure that should be "Dhurakij Pundit University".  So much for journalistic standards.  However, the "Bandit" bit does seem apposite.

Sorry, but your poll is ridiculous.  Not everybody lives in the ghettos of Sukhumwit and Silom.  Not everybody here even lives in Bangkok.

Sid, what is your attitude to risk? If you saw your investments fall in value, say 30%, would you be unable to sleep?

Just an initial suggestion would be to invest as follows.  (All the funds are from TMBAM since I very much like their Property Income Plus fund which is pretty much unique as far as I can tell.  To be honest, it's the only Thai fund I hold.  It's the only Thai fund that really floats my boat.  The rest of my investments are offshore.)

25% Property Income Plus - steady income of around 5% (which can - and probably should -  be reinvested)

25% SET 50 fund - core exposure to the SET

25% Global Quality Growth - broad global exposure, though with quite a heavy bias towards the US which I'm not so keen on

25% Ultra Short Bond Fund - conservative investment, but with slightly better returns than bank deposits.  Lower risk of fall in values should interest rates rise than conventional bond funds

Don't take the above as a recommendation, but rather a starting point.  And also consider your tax situation.  LTFs and RMFs provide very generous tax benefits for Thai tax payers.  (That's payers of Thai income tax, not Thai people paying tax.)

Anyway, if you haven't gathered already, diversification across asset classes is important.  Nobody is smart enough consistently to pick the next winning sector.  As they say "don't put all your eggs in one basket".

1 hour ago, Gary A said:

I intend to live out the rest of my life in Thailand if at all possible. Meaning that unless the Thai government makes it impossible for me to stay, I'll be staying here. As of about an hour ago, I wired a million baht from my US bank. Having that extra money in my Thai bank account makes me feel a little more secure. Kind of like being more diversified in the stock market. 

Having assets in THB makes sense for someone with your aspirations.  However, be aware that cash is very different from the stock market.  Holding a lot of cash (and, to be blunt, you've been holding crazy amounts of it) is not a good idea for the simple reason that the returns on cash rarely match inflation, so you're simply holding on to an asset that is eroding in value.

On the positive side, by holding THB cash, you're not exposed to FX rate fluctuations.

You really need to think first about what you expect from your investments (capital growth, income, or both), your attitude to volatility (very volatile investments can provide a stomach churning ride, with peaks and troughs, but they generally provider higher returns in the longer term), and then precisely which asset classes you wish to invest in.

Incidentally, going back to your original post, any investment in funds or shares should be a medium to long term thing (minimum 5 years' time horizon).  Putting your 800,000 baht into funds in the expectation of cashing out the same year is utterly wrong.  Always keep the 800,000 plus 3-6 months' living expenses (or longer) in cash.  Only invest your spare cash above that amount.  Remember that investments can be very volatile, and if your 800,000 halved in value you might be facing difficulties.

You have two obvious choices:

(1) Open an offshore brokerage account which will allow you to buy/sell shares/ETFs in major world markets, including the UK, and invest in a broad range of mutual funds.  I generally recommend TD International in Luxembourg for this.

(2) Open a brokerage account in Thailand and invest in Thai mutual funds.  Personally I don't find Thai funds particularly attractive.  However, I do have an account with the asset management arm of TMB.  No need to have a TMB bank account to open or manage the account.  You can link the brokerage account to most (if not all) Thai bank accounts.  My TMBAM account is linked to my Krung Sri and Bangkok Bank accounts.

Absolutely no problem investing in UK shares or mutual funds when not resident.  However, you'll find it nigh on impossible to find a UK IFA to take you on as a client (if that's the route you want to go down, but with your relatively small amount to invest it's probably not worth using an IFA), and nigh on impossible to open an account.  Hence the need to think outside the UK.

I get the impression you need to think more about (a) what the future holds for you (particularly,  are you going to spend the rest of your life based around Thailand, in which case investing in Thailand and in Thai baht makes sense, if not, then better to invest elsewhere), and (b) what exactly do you want to invest in? A lot of asset classes are simply not available for investing in within Thailand.

Rather than posting here, why not use the TVChaos forums?  Far more likely to be au fait with any problems in this area.

2 hours ago, chiang mai said:

Bank of Ahyudya (sp) is owned by the Japanese bank Mitusbishi which has 2.5 Trillion USD in assets.

 

and so on and on...

Being pedantic, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ is a majority shareholder in Bank of Ayudhya, but doesn't own it.

26 minutes ago, Scott said:

I don't think anybody talks to the Thai gov't.   It seems like they do the talking and everyone else gets to listen.....but we can always hope.  

My immediate reaction to this was that, since the Thai government is heavily influenced by Chinese thinking, I should check on what the current status is in China.  I came across this amusing (at least to me, and slightly off topic) item:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_China#Slang_in_contemporary_Chinese_gay_culture

17 minutes ago, giddyup said:

OK thanks. Any idea of the price of Pencor?

Pencor 2 mg, 10 tablets, 30 Baht - so 3 baht each.  However, you might need the 4 mg tablets which are probably a little more expensive.

Have you tried using Doxazosin, which is also an α1-selective alpha blocker? It's available very cheaply here, with local brands such as Pencor.

Ordering medicine from abroad and getting it sent here is illegal without the proper license, which isn't available for private individuals.

10 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

In the context of your OP the obvious term was Africans.

There are Africans of many different ethnicities.  The term I used (and which you seem to have a problem with) doesn't cover Egyptians, or Moroccans, or Berbers, or Arabs, or white or coloured South Africans.  It was far more specific than "Africans".

So no, "Africans" is neither the "obvious term", nor an accurate one.

Jingthing, what term do you think I should use to refer to these people? They're not African-Americans - they're African, not American in any way.  "Black" is considered offensive by many.  And "coloured" is used in South Africa to refer to people of mixed negro-Caucasian ethnicity, quite distinct from the pure Negroes.

46 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Well, ignorance and bigotry know no color, and speaking of that, why did you choose to use an inflammatory word in your title? 

I'm not sure that "gays" is particularly inflammatory.  Lots of homosexuals refer to themselves by the same term.

However, if (as I suspect) you're objecting to the use of "negro", whilst the term has certain negative connotations in the United States, other countries, where people are more aware of its derivation (meaning "negroid" or "black") it is the preferred term.

To quote Wikipedia:  "Negro (plural Negroes) is a term traditionally used to denote persons of Negroid heritage. It has various equivalents in other languages".  Nothing in the article about its being inflammatory, and the clear indication there is that (in America) it's to be preferred over "black" and "colored" (sp.).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negro

In short, African countries are objecting to the United Nations' appointing an expert (who happens to be Thai) to investigate violence against gay people.  

They say that humanity emerged out of Africa.  Sometimes I find that difficult to believe given the antediluvian views of many of those living there.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/africa/86140542/african-nations-seek-to-get-rid-of-first-un-lgbt-expert

7 hours ago, tgeezer said:

You have left of the 'help other people to improve themselves'.

It certainly looks like Mac7 has missed the (rather important) next part of the sentence.  Ending with ช่วย totally alters the meaning.

And, tgeezer, yes, "my resolution this year" would certainly suggest a New Year's resolution.  In fact, if you look at the original (in English), the date for that diary page is, indeed, January 1.

I suggest you email them, but I'd be very surprised if the answer's "no".

Assuming you're in Bangkok, Asavanant is excellent.  However, don't expect treatment to be a lot cheaper here than your home country.  The braces will be imported.  Asavanant also offers "Invisalign".

http://www.asavanant.com/