FriscoKid

I have been thinking about this because I know a few guys whose situations all look a bit similar. When they first got married their wives were working and life seemed pretty good. Two incomes and a future that appeared reasonably comfortable. But over the years things changed a bit. The wives lost their jobs for one reason or another and never really went back to work. Became housewives, for lack of a better word. Now the household income has simply become a single income, and in all the cases I've seen the husband is not exactly rolling in money. None of these guys are broke, but they are definitely not in the position they expected to be in either. Now they are the sole earners, taking on the entire financial load of two people with a future where retirement might come much later than they once expected. On top of that, the marriages themselves do not exactly look full of energy or connection anymore. They have been together for quite a long time. There are no kids involved, and from the outside it rather looks like the relationship has slowly shifted into something more like convenience and familiarity rather than a strong and caring partnership. So it raises a serious question. If a guy ends up in a situation where he is doing all the earning, the marriage has lost much of its spark, and there are no children holding the situation together, what is the practical reason for the man to stay in that situation? I wonder if they would actually be better off their own, both financially and personally. Everyone is different and people have their own reasons for the choices they make, but when you see the same pattern repeating itself a few times, you start to wonder why nobody ever seems willing to question whether the situation they are in still makes sense.

I get 3,123 Baht for the 64GB model.

I assume you have already seen this list in the screenshot since they are the extra vouchers included with a VIP subscription. From what I can tell though many of them are available for free anyway just in smaller amounts. The one I am most curious about is the first one listed which is the 50 percent discount on double digit days and midmonth payday. I am wondering whether that could translate into much larger savings on a higher priced item during one of those special sale days. At the same time I cannot quite figure out exactly how it works or what the discount really applies to. In the meantime I went ahead and made one of the larger electronics purchases from my cart yesterday since the price was already good and the only seller offering it was starting to run low on stock. When one of those sale days comes around again I can always test it with another item in my cart by clicking on it and seeing what kind of discount is actually applied.

After signing up for Shopee VIP, I was able to claim Shopee's offer for 3 months free use of ChatGPT Go. I was also able to connect this offer to my existing ChatGPT account, which was previously using the free version of ChatGPT. So now I have use of it for free for 3 months which is around an 800 Baht value. Even if the Shopee VIP program turns out to be nothing useful after a couple of months, and I decide to drop it, I figure the 3 months free use of ChatGPT Go is at least useful. The link below explains more about the service. https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/tech/3120718/openai-launches-chatgpt-go-in-thailand

A Thai tax number is fine for the tax reporting requirements. But you will likely need a legal document like a bank statement or an electricity bill with your name on it for verification of your residential address. No copies of long stay or residency visas should be required for proof of residency though.

I was just finally able to successfully sign up for Shopee VIP, and my Shopee account is in my own name rather than under a Thai person. Previously, I had my Wise debit card set as the default credit/debit card, and I also had a Thai bank account linked as a bank payment option. That setup did not allow me to sign up for Shopee VIP. I then just added a Thai bank debit card as a payment method and set it as the default credit/debit card. After doing that, I went back to the Shopee VIP signup page and was able to select the Thai bank debit card as the payment method for Shopee VIP and complete the signup successfully. Based on this, it seems that you need a local Thai bank debit or credit card for VIP signup to work, and foreigners can sign up as long as they have one. After signing up successfully, I changed the default credit/debit card payment method back to my Wise card. They charged ฿1 for the first month as an introductory promotion, with the regular price being ฿49 per month afterward. I was expecting better discount coupons to appear in my account as a Shopee VIP member, especially since I have a couple of expensive electronic items in my shopping cart right now. However, I already had all the standard coupons collected, which was already offering me ฿2000 off a major purchase. After signing up for VIP and checking my cart again, the discount remained the same at ฿2000 for those items. It appears that the added VIP coupons do not necessarily provide better discounts than the standard free coupons already available to anyone. Because of this, I may not keep the VIP service for more than a month or two if I do not see any additional savings being offered from the VIP service. Any non VIP member can collect the same vouchers I did by going to the Home tab in the Shopee app, tapping on the green icon for Free Shipping and Vouchers towards the top, and then collecting everything available. These coupons are then automatically applied to any items in your shopping basket if you click on them as if you are going to proceed with checkout. Based on my experience so far, I do not see a clear cost savings benefit from the VIP membership, at least for large electronics, since the discounts appear to be the same as the free coupons available to anyone not yet signed up for Shopee VIP.

Local or foreign equity markets? US or other countries? For equity markets outside of Thailand, Interactive Brokers is the best choice. They will also quickly open accounts for foreigners living in Thailand.

I would say I would have no major regrets, a few maybe, but that's normal. Nobody ever lives a perfect life. I've done most of what I want in life already. I could still do more, but if I don't get a chance to do more, I can accept that too. I've traveled a lot, I've made money, I've seen a lot of of the world, I've exposed myself to a lot of art, culture, music and history, and I've spent pleasurable time with a number of women. Is there much else that one could ask for?

These are hypothetical questions. He could have said you have ten minutes to think about your life before you die, but that is unnecessary. Everyone understands the point of the topic without inventing some dramatic scenario where you sit and ponder your life just before the electricity shuts off. Perhaps the real issue is that you are uncomfortable asking yourself these questions, so you look for a way to avoid them. If so then, that's your own choice. Do as you wish.

It is indeed. But deep introspection is always good. Bless you.

The one other thing I have done with the one physical card that stays unlocked is disable almost all payment methods. In the card control settings in the Wise app I turned off all eight of the payment method options except for two. The only physical payment method I allow is chip transactions, which require the card to be physically inserted into a card reader and usually a PIN is needed to complete the payment. Contactless payments, other physical card methods, and online purchases are all disabled. If the card is lost or stolen, it cannot be used for tap and go payments or online shopping, and without the PIN it is effectively useless in most stores. The only other option I keep enabled on the card is overseas payments so I can use the card when traveling , for example in Thailand. Overall, with the low €100 daily limit, and the limiting card controls, the risk of misuse is very small.

Yes, if you rarely use the Wise cards, it makes more sense to just keep them locked. All of my digital Wise cards that are stored on e-commerce websites for online future shopping use stay locked, and I only unlock them temporarily when making an online purchase. The one digital card that exists only in my Apple Wallet on my iPhone and Apple Watch stays unlocked at all times because that card gets used often, often multiple times per day, plus the number is not stored on any website where it could be compromised in a hack. That said, I still replace that digital card every couple of months just to be safe and have also now set a daily limit for it. As for physical cards, I almost never use them at all. They are just a backup option. One stays permanently locked, and the other is unlocked because I can set a very low daily spending limit now. That unlocked card is the one I carry in my wallet as a backup. I only carry it for the rare occasions when a store uses an older card reader that does not accept contactless mobile wallet payments and requires inserting a physical card. It does not happen often, but it does happen occasionally. Now that daily limits can be set for each card individually, I only keep that one physical card unlocked now because I once ran into a situation in a store where my digital card watch payment was not accepted, I had the physical card with me, but it was locked, and I did not have my phone with me to access the app to unlock it. So I ended up unable to complete the payment. To avoid that happening again, I now always carry that one physical card unlocked, but with only a €100 daily spending limit in case it is lost or stolen. That low limit is enough to at least cover any typical daily costs I might have for food or groceries. So that's good enough and limits my risk to €100. Happy shopping...

I only noticed this about a week ago, so it may have been added to the app earlier, but you can now set both daily and monthly spending limits on Wise cards. It’s a great extra security feature in case a card is lost, stolen, or compromised, and it just makes everything more secure. They had spending limits before, but they applied to the account as a whole, and the minimums were still very high. Now, you can set any amount you want. What’s also really useful is that each card can have different limits. I have three digital cards and two physical cards, and I can configure them all separately. Previously, I kept most of my Wise balances in “Jars,” separating the bulk of it from the spending balances for added security. With the ability to set low daily spending limits on each card, that no longer seems necessary. I also used to keep my physical cards frozen when not in use, but with low spending limits in place, I don’t feel the need to freeze them anymore.

I do save a lot of money by Shopping on Shopee. I use them for nearly all my online shopping now, except for the occasional purchase on Lazada. Recently, I even got my Wise debit card to work on Shopee as well. If I can get Shopee VIP setup then perhaps I can save even more money that way.

Also, the Shopee AI chat bot only appears to only operate in Thai text.

Thanks. I want to, but I haven't figured out a way to contact them directly so far. There is no Call Center service number to call them on and it seems the only way to contact them is via an online chat via the app, which only takes you to an AI chat bot, and not a human, as far as I can see anyway.

I just asked Grok and received the following response, but I am not sure if the below information is fully correct or not: The identity verification process you're stuck on is designed primarily for Thai national ID cards. The "Laser Field" refers to the laser-engraved code on the back of a Thai citizen ID card (a unique 12-digit code like JTxxxxxxxxxx used for official verification). Passports don't have an equivalent, which is why the system rejects mismatches — even if photos are accepted initially, the personal info step fails because fields like Thai names, registered address from ID, and laser code don't align with a foreign passport. Older reports (2021–2023) show some foreigners successfully verified ShopeePay (formerly AirPay) using passports, often by selecting a "Passport" option or contacting support. However, by late 2025, multiple users reported accounts being cancelled or blocked for foreigners, with Shopee support confirming e-wallets are now limited to Thai nationals to comply with financial laws. Shopee VIP subscription (49 THB/month, with 1 THB trial promotions) doesn't seem to offer direct payment via linked debit/credit cards or bank accounts bypassing ShopeePay. Terms indicate it pulls from ShopeePay wallet, linked local bank, or other verified methods — all tied to full KYC (Know Your Customer) verification. Has Anyone Succeeded as a Foreigner? No recent (2025–2026) confirmed success stories for foreigners signing up for Shopee VIP specifically. Some expats with long-term residence (e.g., pink ID card holders) or those who verified years ago still have access to older ShopeePay accounts, but new verifications fail. For related promotions (like the 2025 ChatGPT Plus bundle via Shopee VIP), users explicitly noted foreign cards were rejected, and only Thai bank cards worked.

Has anyone successfully signed up for the Shopee VIP subscription service as a foreign national? I’ve been trying to sign up for Shopee VIP through the Shopee app, but I haven’t had any luck, and I’m starting to think this option might only be available to Thai citizens. For context, Shopee VIP is a subscription service that costs 49 Baht per month and offers large additional discount benefits. They also have a promotion where you can try Shopee VIP for one month for just 1 Baht. But to sign up for Shopee VIP, it looks like you need to verify your identity first since they want to charge for the subscription using Shopee Pay. However, I don't need or want to sign up for Shopee Pay, and I’m unsure why it’s even necessary to do so with Shopee VIP since I’ve already set up my debit card as the primary payment method in the Payment Sequence section of the Shopee Pay Settings. So, they can just charge my debit card for the monthly subscription without needing me to use Shopee Pay to pay for Shopee VIP, but they don't seem to accept that. However, I followed the process for signing for Shopee Pay and verifying my identity anyway. Actually the procedure for signing up for Shoppe Pay, SPayLater and Identity Verification all seem to follow the same steps (as I have tried them all) and following is where I ended up so far: 1. Face Photo: First the app asks you to take a close-up photo of your face using your phone's front facing camera. No issues there, I did that successfully. 2. Citizen ID Photos: Next, the app asks for a photo of both the front and back of your Citizen ID. I first tried my Thai pink ID card, but it wasn’t accepted. I then used the photo page of my foreign passport for the front ID photo, and that worked. For the back, since passports don’t have a backside, I selected another page in my passport and eventually got it to go through using that. But now I’m wondering if this process is only set up for Thai citizens, since foreigners like me can’t seem to submit a passport as their Citizen ID, or at least not in the same way. 3. Personal Information: After that, the app takes you to a screen (in English) asking for all the following details: * Personal Title * First Name (Thai) * Last Name (Thai) * First Name (English) * Last Name (English) * Citizen ID * Laser Field * Expiry Date * Date of Birth * Residential Address * Registered Address (from your Thai Citizen ID) * Employment Status * Monthly Estimated Income * Purpose of Use Once I filled everything out (listed above) and clicked Confirm, I received an error message on the screen saying, "Please double-check your information. Make sure they are as the same as what's printed on your ID card." - And that is as far as I got and then I couldn't proceed any further. I’m also confused about the “Laser Field” box because it doesn’t seem to match anything I recognize. I entered my country name in that box, assuming it might be a mistranslation from the Thai system, but I am again not sure. Conclusion: I’m thinking that the main issue is that foreigners using a foreign passport can’t successfully complete the Identity Verification process, nor apply for Shopee Pay or SPayLater. But I’m not sure if this is the case and I’d love to hear from anyone who has successfully signed up as a foreigner and how they did it. Also, if there is a simple way to apply for Shopee VIP using my debit card or bank account associated with my account then perhaps I wouldn't have to go through all of the verification procedures, but I don't see any option to simply sign up for the Shopee VIP subscription service using either my debit card or bank account that is associated with my Shopee account. Thank you.

At first, I also thought there might have been a data breach and that scammers were specifically targeting Interactive Brokers customers. However, many people are getting the same scam emails like yourself, even though they aren’t Interactive Brokers customers, like you mentioned. On the flip side, Interactive Brokers has been sending out scam warning emails almost every week for quite some time, so they’re clearly aware of what’s going on. Below is a legitimate warning email I received from Interactive Brokers a couple of days ago: Reminder to Think Before You Click! Dear Client, Our clients have seen a recent wave of “phishing” attempts in which scammers are impersonating Interactive Brokers. They send requests for urgent updates of client information (often tax or other key information) and include login links pointing to websites that appear legitimate but are actually fake websites. If you click those links, you may inadvertently give bad actors access to your account. The scammers continue to change their methods—sometimes sending texts, sometimes emails—but you can protect yourself by following a few simple rules: Check the domain name in your browser to see whether it is the official website of Interactive Brokers; if not, it is likely fake. When in doubt, directly access your account from the log in button on the Interactive Brokers website. Interactive Brokers

I've recently received several phishing scam emails pretending to be from Interactive Brokers in regards to tax information needing updating. Below is a screenshot of the most recent one I received today. The email comes from: Interactive Brokers <login(at)vgejgg.com> It includes a blue text link labeled Submit Updated Certification as you will see in the screenshot below, which links to: https://rsjgmqb.com Both of these domains are fraudulent. One is registered through a Singaporean registrar and the other through a registrar in China. I did not click the link, but this is a classic phishing attempt designed to steal personal information, login credentials, or other sensitive data. Falling for it could lead to identity theft or unauthorized access to your Interactive Brokers account, if you have one.

One thing to keep in mind is the monthly fee can be as much as 300 Baht at some banks for a dormant account. If you had an account with say only 20,000 Baht in it, and you forgot about it for about 5 years, you could come back to a near zero balance.

After about a year of no activity, the account usually gets marked as dormant. Once that happens, the bank may start charging a monthly fee until you reactivate it by appearing in person at the branch. If it stays untouched for several years, the balance could eventually be transferred to the Bank of Thailand as unclaimed funds, but likely you can still claim it back later with proper documents.

1 Passport 2 Long stay visa, residence permit, or valid non‑immigrant visa (work, retirement, marriage, study, etc) 3 Work permit or either marriage visa or retirement visa if no work permit 4 Thai residence address proof (lease agreement, house registration book, or immigration certificate of residence) 5 Home country address proof (bank statement, utility bill, foreign driving license or government ID) 6 Documentation showing Thai SIM card registered in your own name which matches your current passport details 7 Face scan to be done at the bank branch 8 Thai Tax Identification Number (TIN) if requested 9 Letter of reference (from employer, embassy, or educational institution, if requested) 10 Proof of funds source (if requested by the bank)

Ive noticed that with Wise, if you initiate a transfer to a Bangkok Bank account on a Friday, it often delays the deposit until the following Monday. I think more likely it is an issue with Bangkok Bank than with Wise because I have not seen this occur when transferring to any other Thai banks on a Friday using Wise.

The 3% figure likely represents an average rate or a simplification of the overall interest rates faced by borrowers across the country. It may be attempting to account for debt servicing costs that include a mixture of government bonds, corporate debt, and household loans. However, you're absolutely right to point out that this rate doesn’t fully reflect the actual rates that individual borrowers face, which are much higher. For example, if a person is borrowing at 6% or more, they would need a significantly higher GDP growth rate (more than the 4.8% suggested) just to keep up with debt obligations, let alone pay down the principal. To your point, it would indeed be helpful if the author clarified exactly which loans or types of debt the 3% rate refers to. The actual interest rates faced by Thai individuals and businesses are higher than this, which means the real debt servicing burden might be even worse than the article suggests.