Naam

2 hours ago, ukrules said:

The Baht is going up in 'price'.

The Baht is not freely and openly traded

What does this mean? What's the opposite of freely and openly traded?

that means outside Thailand severe restrictions do exist. as simple as that.

Quote

Dear Client,

Thai Baht Currency Restrictions

Further to the Bank of Thailand’s Measure No. 33/2003 (Additional Measure to Prevent Thai Baht Speculation), which came into effect in October 2003, XYZ Bank, Singapore Branch is subject to restrictions affecting its holdings of Thai Baht currency.   These include the following:

Maintaining THB accounts in Thailand for settlement purposes only, where settlement means the settlement of securities transactions and cash payment transactions.   The exception is for deposits of a tenor of at least 6 months or more.

 

Forfeiture of credit interest on its accounts (other than deposits of a tenor of at least 6 months or more)

Ensuring that the aggregated end of day balances for cash accounts with all financial institutions in Thailand do not exceed THB 300 million (the “Daily THB Limit”)

 

Imposition of deposit charge on THB account balances.

In relation to the Daily THB Limit, XYZ Bank, Singapore Branch will be required to adjust its Thai Baht balances in all its client accounts to be compliant with the permitted level as determined by the Thai authorities on a daily basis.  As such accounts may include balances in Thai Baht held on your behalf, it is critical that we are able to adjust client THB balances to ensure compliance.

 

Accordingly, at any time that you are holding a long position in THB, we reserve the right in our absolute discretion and without prior notice to you to convert your holding of THB, in whole or part, into United States dollars at the prevailing spot rate.

Yours truly,
                        
XYZ Bank, Singapore Branch

 

10 hours ago, UKITF said:

Unless you are getting and eye watering deal no way should any Farang buy.

because he can afford it. your blah-blah, e.g. "Must get involved in the FIAT ponzi fractional banking scam" is ridiculous.

19 minutes ago, grollies said:

I feel sorry for those with the attitude of don't put in more than you are prepared to walk away from. Bad attitude. IMHO.

this on Thaivisa often heard "advice" is not bad attitude but in my [not so] humble view clearly rubbish because it applies to any investment in any part of this planet.  however, i agree with your comment

Quote

life's a gamble

and so is any investment which provides a multiple of prevailing "normal" yield.

ps. my picture comment was not meant to criticise but as a factual statement. 

On 12/29/2018 at 6:37 PM, GarryP said:

On 12/29/2018 at 6:27 PM, grollies said:

'Retired' here aged 50 after selling my business in the UK.

Last year invested B3.8m which is currently giving an annual return of B1.2m

UK assets earning around B60k per month.

UK pension will kick in in 2 years time, may increase current investment as ROI of around 30% is hard to come by elsewhere.

Where can I get that ROI? With the state of the market at the moment, my ROI is decreasing by the minute.

1 hour ago, THE REVERAND said:

This must be the only country to pay a useless person in uniform like this.

what is your qualification to pass that judgment? 

6 hours ago, garyk said:

I save over 50% of my monthly income while living here? That is a mute point IMO.

that is one perspective.

the other one is "i use a part of the savings based on the income tax free jurisdiction to finance not only a very comfortable but (even compared with western standards) luxurious life style."

all afore-mentioned of course in my [not so] humble opinion. 

4 minutes ago, garyk said:

Not the way I live my life, but some can gamble away their money with no worries what so ever.

i wonder whether saving ~45% of my income by not paying income tax in my home country can be called "gambling away money". please enlighten me.

14 hours ago, billd766 said:

How unprepared is the German army?

Germany aims to have 70% of its fighting capacity ready for combat at any time, but recent reports show it is falling short

there's no need for Germany to be "ready for combat any time" except bowing to the whims of NATO war mongers who, e.g. engineer the toppling of a democratic government and then cry foul when it backfires and they are kicked in their àrses (Ukraine / Crimea). 

12 hours ago, evadgib said:

Uk and France (the only other Armies of note in Europe) have been doing this for years and on the whole it seems to work. The Bundeswehr are disciplined, well equipped and very good at that they do (or at least were during the cold war) and i'm all for it.

 

Do they still have conscription? 

no.

5 hours ago, Arkady said:

Germany is not exactly liberal in this respect. I was born there to non-German parents in the days when most countries gave citizenship to all born there. But not Germany. Germans applying for another nationality need to obtain approval from the German Foreign Ministry to keep their German nationality before they apply or it will be revoked, if they are found out. They need to have a good reason, e.g. need to own land or company, and need to prove they retain lasting ties with Germany. I am not sure what the rules are for half Germans. I know a German with a Singaporean wife and half half children who have managed to conceal their German nationalities from Singapore and vice versa but it sounds like a walking a tight rope, as they might lose either or both one day.

no problem for children (with one parent German citizen) having dual nationality if born after jan 1, 1979

retired at age 46 with more than enough income from investments. that was 29 years, 1 month and 23 days ago. using nowadays ~26% of my income to cover all living expenses.

9 hours ago, mogandave said:

10 hours ago, dreaming said:

Bitcoin is still up from 2 years ago 300%. Dow jones only 20%

Good point.

Bitcoin is down from 1 year ago 80%, Dow is down 9% and i am glad having not touched any stocks/shares for 40 years.

3 minutes ago, xylophone said:

In the great depression, there was well over a decade of poor sharemarket performance, yet at sometime around 15 years after that started, peoples investments turned positive and if they were lucky enough to catch the upturn about the end of the Second World War, then they were in heaven with the growth which ensued.

that's soothing balm for those thaivisa members age 60s and 70s who believe in stocks and mutual funds.

3 hours ago, balo said:

What are the prices for same quality dry-aged imported beef  ?  Dry aged beef is not common to find in super markets , it requires a special process. 

 

"Dry aging is the process by which large cuts of beef are aged for anywhere from several weeks to several months"

i have no idea whether imported dry-aged beef is available but as a comparison here's a U.S. price for boneless rib eye is ~USD 110.- (35 ounces) add transport and 40% customs duty (ad valorem cif) i estimate landed price ~USD 160.-/kilo = THB 5,200.- (nothing to laugh about).

On 10/19/2018 at 2:58 PM, Stokakrishna said:

I used to build swimming pools in Hawaii few years ago.

 Salt water pools are way better. Almost zero maintenence.

 Chlorinated pools are pain in the arse

spoken like a true eggsburt who is not aware that a "salt water" pool is a chlorinated pool too.

8 hours ago, Dario said:

How right you were, Naam. XRP was below $0.30. But now, all cryptos are gaining momentum again. Hope it continues.

XRP better than BTC!

2 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

2 hours ago, bristolboy said:

Sure, it was worded that way with no intent to deceive. They just happened to juxtapose the factoid with the promise of more funds for NHS.  And it also wasn't trying to fool the UK public into believing that the cost to the UK of EU membership was a net 350 million per week.

The brexit bus is always the main 'lie' argument of remainers.  Funny how they forget to mention Osborne's promised punishment budget - and he was a member of the govt.!

 

And sacked immediately after the referendum result as his lie was immediately proven to be a lie.....

 

A bit unfair, as the biggest lie has been proven to be Cameron's. 'We will enact your decision'....????

bus or no bus the £350mm per week (£18.2bb) was a blatant lie. here's the beef from Uk's "Office for National Statistics":

https://www.ons.gov.uk/.../theukcontributiontotheeubudget/2017-10-31

Quote

Using EC data that includes credits from the EU to UK public and private sectors, the UK’s average annual net contribution on this wider basis for the years 2012 to 2016 was £8.1 billion.

no more palaver please.

51 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

And that's precisely why so many of us have no interest in 'experts' opinions.... 

 

They proved their bias before the referendum - and continue with the same 'arguments', as if their previous 'arguments' were anything close to accurate ????!

arguments like the Brexit bus?

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

The derision on this thread is purely towards those adult men having sex with children. There is nothing to defend about such practice, it is a disgrace wherever in the world it takes place. Whoever is doing it (and defending it) will get some grief as you noticed.

i fully agree with you that defending sex with children is a disgrace. but i don't agree that any religion is slandered based on selected few pickings of collected unverified comments which are not only centuries old but written centuries after the alleged action. unfortunately Arabic is an extremely multivalent language enabling different and even contrarian interpretations.

anybody who worked in an Arab country and had to deal with local law tenders can sing a song with many verses. in the company i managed many rainy seasons ago we used five different interpreters and never got a more than 70-75% identical english versions; i am talking of modern Arabic! inspite of my fluency i'm not even able to decipher and translate a single page of the calligraphically written old Qr'ans and the same applies to Hadith versions.

even native Islamic scholars admitted to me that they are not able to do that but have to rely on different interpretations by "accredited" and influential persons which quite often contradict themselves or in the case of the Wahhabbi Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari's who came up with the ridiculous claim "the earth is flat". that only a prince of the house of Saud who was an astronaut dared to contradict him speaks of course volumes.

15 minutes ago, Oxx said:

 

You are either extremely ignorant of the teachings of Islam and the contents of the Koran and more reliable Hadith, or are overly defensive of the religion and its prophet.  Perhaps you married a Muslima? Converted? And now show a convert's misguided zeal?

the Mrs and me have spent many very good years in "Wahhabbi Country". we visit KSA every year, have dear friends there and gained more insight on Islam (i am fluent in Arabic reading and speech) than a bunch of bigot Muslim haters who only know to generalise and by de facto condemning a faith in which ~20% of this planet's population believe. like in other cases discussed in this forum i find it quite interesting to act as 'advocatus diabolo' if i possess a relevant amount of indepth knowledge not based on Wikipedia. 

p.s. your ridiculous comment "more reliable Hadith" disqualifies you as a party to further 'cross swords' with.

21 hours ago, Oxx said:

 

Exactly.  According to the will of Allah it's OK to have penetrative sex with a girl as soon as she bleeds (i.e. reaches puberty).  That's exactly what Mohammed, the perfect man and role model did with Aisha:  married her when she was six, and only had non-penetrative sex with her until she reached puberty at the age of nine, when he <ducked> her for the first time.

you were among the eyewitnesses i assume?