Irene

I think that if you have recently moved your investments out of dollar deonminated instuments that your timing and judgement may be a little out of kilter, but the best of luck to you anyway. Just remember that when the Chinese market tumbles, currency market fluctuations will follow, as a matter of fact watch the currency markets closely and they may very well predict the crash of Chinese equities. Good luck in any event.

Well I ve never had my money in $

In the last couple of years I've put my money into business and property in E. Europe and India. I pretty much believe that as big as the problems there may be on the horizon, China and the USA need each other too much to do anything vastly stupid, I hope anyway.

I still reckon the $ will fall for a while at least before things straighten out for the US. I can only speculate they have been printing money as fast as they can make it to finance their wars and deficits. Overall though I cant see the US going down the tube, though eventually I dont think it will retain its position as the worlds pre-eminent economic power in the same way it is now.

thats my 2 satang anyway.

BTW good luck to you too.

longway,

You are right on. Most investors with their money on the line have your view.

Update!

The staff that still not have resigned voluntary have been offered between 5-8k Baht in severance payment. Which they not accept. As far as I know that amount is not even a half-month salary for the actual staff. If they not resign voluntary they have to accept another position in the company. (The old company/former owner has other businesses.)

My friend told me today that some of the above mentioned staff have been to the Labour department and got the message that they have to wait to the company change owners before they (Labour department) can do anything!

I don't know how to "read" that message <_<

I don't understand the message either. It should be clear the employer of those employees in this case is the company who is the employer and there is no change of the employer. The change of shareholders of the company and change of the policy of business does not affect the legal relationship of the employer (the company) and the employees. So what is the point of resignation! The whole scheme was to reduce the burden of severance pay for the new shareholders. Check with the Law Society on the appropriate steps, http://www.lawyerscouncil.or.th/ They have volunteers to give free legal advice. However, initially, the enquiry should discreet since you do not want the current employer to gun on you yet.

one big major network did a thing about chinees investing in stock market, it seems some didnt understand they could lose money, very funny stufff but not so funny. they have already been awakened by their stock values hitting the ground.

hitting the ground? 70% gain this year!

Yes, the 70% gain was the average of the year but think of those who bought last month, by now must be facing at least 20% losses. In investing in stock market, never rely only on historical figures or the average figures. Money in the equity market can be lost and gained only through volatility and irrationality of most investors. The DJI fall in 9/11 took only two month to come back to the previous level. Thailand's shock of capital reserve requirement on Dec. 19, 06 now recovers back to the previous level of the index of 740. The recent shock of frozen assets of Thaksin took two days to recover. You really need iron nerve in the Asian market.

Were the resignations volunatary and not forced by the company with the new owner? If it was forced or coerced, those resignations could be invalid and the employment could be viewed as continuous. If an employee challenges the company, he or she could be sacked. Then at that stage, the employee could test the case and try claim for the full compensation. The crucial part is whether those resignations were valid. The fact of the case is important for the Labour Court to decide.

Update! After a chat with my friend today and as I understand it the former employer have had a personal meeting with each employee. So forced to resign is probably not right way to describe it, more like "talk round".

Most of the staff, which has been with the company for less than 2-3 years and who are in low paid positions and where any education not is needed, have accepted a severance payment.

They who not have accepted have all a degree, and between 5-7 years experience in their profession and 3-4 years employment with this company.

As I understand it now the arguments are about the amount of the severance payment, which has been offered and where it seems that all the staff, more or less have been offered the same severance payment regardless of how many years they have been in the company.

Which I can understand when my friend tells my as an example a cleaner with four years employment in the company not even get one months salary in severance payment.

Regards

The choice is either to consult the Labour Department who normally loves to help thereby annoying the current employer or discreetly see the official and find out whether it is better to keep quiet now and demand the normal compensation as though the resignation was never effective. I think the second choice is more practical.

A Thai friend has worked for a Thai/Foreign owned company for 4 years. The company are now sold to a new Thai/Foreign owner.

The staff has to resign from the previous owners and sign a new contract with the new owners. The work the staff do, the new contracts and salary are the same with the new owners as with the previous owners.

Point is the staff loose Seniority and start as from day one even if they have done the same work for years.

Would be great if there is someone who can tell how the Labour Laws in Thailand are regarding Seniority and eventual staff compensation when the company change owner.

Thanks & Regards

Were the resignations volunatary and not forced by the company with the new owner? If it was forced or coerced, those resignations could be invalid and the employment could be viewed as continuous. If an employee challenges the company, he or she could be sacked. Then at that stage, the employee could test the case and try claim for the full compensation. The crucial part is whether those resignations were valid. The fact of the case is important for the Labour Court to decide.

I would like to hear and share experiences good or bad after heart stenting ..not particularly a discussion of good or bad hospitals but what did you feel / sucess rate / after care / positives /negatives / mental impact . So who`s had them and what are your experiences .

To start the ball rolling my biggest suprise was many nightmares after what I thought on the surface was a stress free well coped with event ,well rationalised,balanced controlled event on my part ,but my subconcious told me other wise with nightmares nightly for about 10 days . They all related to my heart being shot , stabbed ,lanced , set on fire eaten by animals etc .

rcalsop,

I had my heart stenting three years ago. The procedures were so simple and successful on the main vessel. All doctors kept on telling me that it was not a heart operation but more like an intervention on the flow of the blood vessel. There was hardly any pain except for a small prick at your right groin. At first, we were afraid that once burst, the fragment could block the branch vessel. It was not so. Immediately, breathing was exceptional free and clear but subconsciously still felt of the beating of the heart. I did a lot of research prior to and after the balloon. All seems to warn of the first six months of the restenosis, i.e. collapse of the stent or hardening of the blood at the fixed points thereby blocking the flow again. So, I came out pretty good. Then I promised myself of having to exercise half an hour per day on the treading mill since the Almighty had given me a second chance. Todate, I rarely miss my daily exercise. My previous main cause of the blockage was due to lack of any meaningful exercise and nearly pass out on a flight to Hong Kong. I had a 99% blockage on the main vessel.

From your post, I am not sure whether you have gone through it already or whether you are on the point of going in. If it is the latter, I can assure you that there is no big deal. The failure rate is very very small. Even if there is a failure, there will be a fall back position of having the by-pass immediately. My son had also gone through the same situation six months ago. He even joked with the doctor on the operation table while the doctor asked him whether we could afford two stents since his blockage was unnaturally long. The current concern is whether the stent should be one with or without coating. There seems to believe non-coating is better. Do check in the internet and with your doctor.

Cheers!

great post Irene.

I am slowly testing the market. Looking for a place to live. Not sure if I want to go house or condo yet. Pro's and cons to both.

Samran,

The choice of either a condo unit or a house is dependent on each person’s preference. Perhaps you can bear with me with my own experiences.

The disadvantages of a condo are lack of substantial land ownership, obligations of having to pay management fees even when not occupied, relatively smaller area of privacy, earthquake, high- rise, sharing of common area usage, far from nature, not much storing space and lesser rise in resale value.

The advantages of a condo are safer, no fear of flood, quieter and surprisingly less contacts with neighbours, less transportation-most condos are near to town centres and other conveniences, more common facilities like fitness centre, swimming pool, garden, availability of handymen, lovely to have shower with strong water flow, no water pump required, more privacy, away from the crowd once in your own condo, less dusty and noise from the land (however noise can be piercing from the ground if your unit is in the right angle), no mosquito, cockroaches, rats, and pests, more functional and easy to manage since the design of a condo has to be functional with limited space.

The pros for a house are on the ground and nearer to nature, your sense of complete ownership with no sharing concept, more property-care activities with your small garden, no lift taking especially after shopping, and believed to have a better resale value.

The cons are less safe because you are more isolated, more risk of burglary, more risk of the property being flooded by rainfall, nearer to pests, daily mosquito biting, less privacy since closer to your neighbours, harder to find people to mend things, necessity of having to use water pump, lesser pressure of water flow and sometimes problems with drainage. Some of the disadvantages of home-buying can be eliminated with purchases in a housing development area, though not as good as in a condo.

Let me share with you on our experiences. We returned to Thailand forty years ago and at first lived in a house of 50 square wah after having lived in a flat in England for more than ten years. Burglary, mosquitoes and cockroaches, flood from rainfall, and long traveling time (even in those days), prompted us to move upward and to inner city. We had many edges over others in term of travelling time and conveniences. We were in a condo for more than thirty years. Now we are back on the ground when we find it unnecessary to live in the inner city and our fear of earthquake. (The day of tsunami hitting Phuket, we were shaken at 8 am and rushed to the ground one hour before the sad tragedy hit Phuket and Khao Lak). Since that day, on the urging of our son, we searched for our ground abode and reached our consensus (which I thought we would never reach) on the current house. In my inner thought at that time, I was hoping that we would never agree on any house. We now find other disadvantages in living in a house as bearable but still feel annoying. But when sitting in the garden with no rush and hearing birds chirping, then you say to yourself that that is life. Contrary to the general belief, the resale value of a house is not greater than our condos. Our 40-year house with the land right in the fringe of the Bangkok centre has a rise of 3% per year when our condo units are with 6% to 12% per annum at least.

Cheers!

Samran,

A good question because most condo buyers tend to forget this important factor. Below is my input in bold type:

Sounds like a pretty dumb question, but it has been pointed out that apart from location, good condo management is a key criteria. My questons are:

1) What defines good management?

Another post, Heng, has well pointed out of LH and AP's style of management based on the basic principle of accountability. If you go wrong, we sack you. Besides accountability, the management should conduct the operation fairly and equitably with no non-sense. There is no exception to the rule. If no pet is allowed, then no pet is allowed for ALL co-owners. Condo's rules impose stiff penalty on the wrongdoer.

In addition, the management should be farsighted in not only maintaining the value of the condo but also adding further value. This can only be done by adequate budget. Therefore maintenance fees and sinking fund should be adequately built up and well invested to cover for future capital expenditure. That day will come when lifts have to be overhauled or changed. Painting the whole building and refurbishing of the common area are basic requirements at interval, just like other five-star hotels.

Your observation of having handymen whenever required is only elementary. If the goal of a condo is understood, then those elementary services would come into line. Basically, management should be fair, transparent, responsibly, accountably, value-added and farsighted. Am I idealistic? No, I used to live in a condo that was managed by the no nonsense management with sufficient funds collected from all co-owners for improvement, the place was like a five-star hotel. It is still like that with above-market resale price. At the general meeting for any fee increase, instead of resistance, few co-owners even asked whether the amount was enough. The fees was Baht35/sqm/month. They have seven million baht sinking fund. I still own this condo. This is an exception to the general situation. The worse one is the condo with the rule erroneously interpreted and believed by the management that no fee can be increased. The fee remains static since Day-one more than twenty years ago at the rate of Baht 17/sqm/month. Staff morale is so low that reflects on its quality of the condo.

2) How can you go about quickly discerning a good management team looking for a place to buy?

If it is a freshly built condo, then you need to know the intention of the developers. If they intend to hire CBRichard Ellis or Jones Lang Wootton for the first few years, then you can relax on this factor.

If it is a second hand condo, then look at the lobby, garden, swimming pool, garbage collections, staff morale and efficiency, guards, and experience entry into the place as to the number of entry points, sit at the reception area at different time of the day, and talk to the residents, drivers and maids, you would receive a level of comfort. Do they contract the management to the outside parties? Having outside parties is better to have the condo's staff because there will be lesser infighting and conflicts and the parties tend to be fair and professional. Unfortunately, at the moment, I can comfortably mention only two. Ask to see the memos of the annual general meeting in the last few years to gauge the involvement of the care of the co-owners and also possibly search for any signs of infighting which has never been good for any condo. See the financial statements and find out the amount of unpaid dues from co-owners. You will be surprised that in some condos, there might never have any annual general meeting in the last few years. Then that is bad news. If the committee members are mostly Westerners, then you can take it that there would be serious management in the ideal line that I mentioned earlier. This is not racist but simply farangs have a better understanding of what is right and what is wrong.

For 1) I'd expect to see all the usual stuff: prompt at fixing stuff, a good team of handymen etc. But what else are we looking for?

For 2) Who can you trust to speak to about this? Surely not the seller, and probably not the management themselves...

Thanks

Samran

Just to give you some idea, the bold types are my suggestions:

When I retire I plan to move with my Thai wife to LOS and buy a house.

At the moment I intend to do the following.

Register the house in her name.

Have the land registered and owned by your wife and lease to you for 30 years with a renewal period of another 30 years at the lowest rental that the land department is prepared to accept. The building permit shall be in your name and used as a basis when the house is completed to register the house with the land department as owned by you.

Arrange a 30 year lease to me from her.

Hire a good bi-lingual Thai lawyer to research land ownership and vet the contracts of sale, deeds etc.

Yes, this is a must.

Steer away from any property without a full chanote.

Yes, a full chanote is the best protection.

What other steps should I take, problems to be wary of ?

The lease has to be registered with the land department and subject to registration fees at 1% on the total rental. Similarly, usufruct agreement is also subject to registration otherwise the 30-year lease and the usufruct agreement would not be valid.

If I die first my wife already own's the property and the lease ends.

No, the lease does not end. Your successor could continue to benefit from the rights under the lease. The owner of the land, i.e. your wife, would still have to honour your lease and all conditions attached thereto.

If my wife dies first the lease runs to term.Is there a legal way to prebuild a right for me to extend or inherit (I assume not being farang) or can we cancel and reissue the 30 year lease annually so there is always a 30 year lease until my wife dies.

If your wife dies during the first term of the lease, the lease still goes on under that valid period. The successor to the ownership of that land has still to honour the terms and conditions of that registered lease including the renewal period. Both parties can cancel the lease and rewrite the lease each year but you would have to pay the official fees of 1% again. So few would like to do that.

All advice gratefully received.

You should confer with your lawyer on the possibility and also on the practicality of buying separately land and house.

In applying for a home loan (dual-name with my wife) I have been asked by to provide a 'bai taang daao' in addition to the usual things you would expect such as work permit, income evidence etc.

The bank is unable to tell me what this is, or where I get it from. They say they just need it.

I heard 2 things about this, but not sure if they are accurate: 1) Its more for migrant workers such as labourers, factory workers 2) its the same as a residency certificate.

Can someone tell me what 'bai taang dao' is, where and how it is obtained.

Many thanks

It is a booklet given to those aliens with resident permit from the Immigration Department.

I found this text:

Repatriation of investment funds, dividends and profits as well as loan repayments and interest payments thereon, may be made freely after settlement of all applicable taxes in Thailand.

My question is: exactly how much (in %) are the applicable taxes ?

The applicable tax rates:

Dividends-10%, Interest-15% (10% if paid to treaty countries and the recipient is a financial institution), fees-15%, royalties-15% (can be reduced to 10% or 5% depending on each treaty country). Return of capital fund is not subject to tax.

I am building a house in Samui at the moment the land is on a thirty year lease from my girlfriend registered at the land office and paid 30 years+tax on a chanote title.The house is being built with a construction permit with myself as the owner. My question is i have to pay 7% VAT tax on the build for materials ect is there any other tax i am required to pay by Thai law ? Also i am planning to get a supeficies contract written to seperate the house( so the building is freehold) from the land and allow me to transfer by the way of inheritance does anyone have experience in drafting one of these contacts ? Do this contract also get registered at the land office on the Chanote along with the lease contract ? and can it be done after registering the lease ?

My vague understanding is that in having the house built under your name and presumably with the building permit under your name as well, the house can be registered with the land department as yours. Therefore you do not need to have an extra contract to protect your ability to transfer by way of inheritance. Have your Thai friend/lawyer (NOT your gf) to check with the land department on the procedures? Alternatively, go there yourself in case you may meet someone at the land office who might be able to speak English.

Hi,

I hope someone can offer some rough estimate here. I'm planning my trip back to Suvarnabhumi from Pattaya, and was wondering how long it has been taking recently to get there. I came down last month via taxi, and it took around 3 hours, maybe more. I'll be leaving in the evening, hopefully around 7-8pm.

Thanks.

Should not be more than two and a half hours.

That makes more sense.But if the dollar collapses this does mean the GBP,Euro and the thai Baht will appreciate a lot,don't they?

So who stays on dollars will be nervous and who stays on GBP or euros it will be more stable or even better?

Or do I got the picture wrong?

You are absolutely correct. If you are a non-US resident, stay away from the US dollar investment because in the long term the US dollar will soften further. The stopping point would be when the "imbalance" of trade between the US and the rest of the world has been corrected (through currency adjustments as some economists believe) and the US deficits have fallen to a respectable level and become less dependent on funds from China, Japan and Europe.

The much talked about collapse of the US dollar seems to be very much on the cards. With plans already in place for the introduction of the AMERO (google it) a weak or 'collapsed dollar' is whats desirable to fit the bill.

(pun intended). What affect this will have on the Baht i couldnt guess - but would be interested in any views.

Simple. Stronger baht will result.

Undoubtedly the baht has been under that trend since Jan 07 because of this imbalance of trade and US deficit being supported by Asian investors, so was Euro, Yen and GBP.This trend was expected by Paul Krugman (the economist who predicted the fall-out of the Asian economy in 1997) when he gave a talk in Bangkok a few years ago on this "unnatural" imbalance. Whether or not there will be a collapse of the US economy, he opined that that would depend on the downfall of the US property market which was expected to be the first market to fall. If the slow down of that property market does not come down with a bang, then the soft landing would help the US to readjust its position. US has to coerce China and Japan to strengthen its currency to help the US currency. Now the US property market has come down with soft landing with relatively low effects on the collapse of subprime loans, the dollar collapse may not look that imminent now.

I am therefore scratching my head on the talk of the BOT's governor given at the British Chamber's luncheon gathering that whether she got something that we are not aware of or whether she just gave the old wine in the new bottle.

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Basil B,

That was good. However, the interest should have been developed prior to retirement.

The Bangkok Post today reported excerpts from a speech given by the Bank of Thailand's governor, Tarisa Watanagase, to the British Chamber of Commerce. In quoted statements she warned, "The Thai economy could face a highly volatile baht that could result from massive outflows from the US market" and, "'The threat of a disorderly unwinding of global financial imbalances remains imminent.'' Tarisa went on to say that, ''The magnitude of the capital flows from the rest of the world to the US economy is not sustainable. It is a matter of time before the flows eventually reverse.''

Okay so there's not a lot that's new in her statements by way of an informed view of the near future but I was struck by the fact that she verbalized her thoughts and that they were reported - it all came across to me as an eleventh hour warning! Now I'm interested to read what views other members have regarding the Thai Baht/Thai economy for the rest of 2007. My personal interest is in respect of Thai Baht/GBP and will welcome any views.

Chieng Mai,

I was also mystified by her statements and the intended message. On the surface, she indicated the trend of strong baht could be reversed i.e. weakening of the baht, because the imbalance of the Asians supporting the US deficit is likely to be reversed. I cannot see the scenario of US imports being far less than her exports. The second mystery was "the massive outflows from the US market". Did she mean the US would, for a change, be in a situation of balance of trade surplus which is somewhat unbelievable? Or, did she mean that there would be a big outflow of the US investments that would strengthen the baht further? Then her message was not the weakening of the baht but further strengthening of the baht which is harmful to our export economy. So her speech could mean either of the two extreme messages of good news (baht weakening) or bad news (baht strengthening).

Either she deliberately refrained from being clear on the direction or the newspaper misinterpreted her speech on the "outflows". I love to read others' reactions.

Cheers!

pepsi666,

After retiring from 35-year professional works three years ago, I have been diverting my attention towards of my second likings on economic subject and internet world. For the first few months, I felt somewhat guilty for not leaving home early in the morning and not in the office like many others. But after I have sunk myself into these two areas, I have been lost to the world and just realised that I am good on my investment and passable on my ability on the internet world. I thank Bill Gate and others all the time for widening my horizon.

Prior to retirement, I promised myself of not ever uttering words like "I wish I had retired sooner", or "I am so free.....etc." because they are untrue. With the long services, I still have a little bit of attachments and am grateful to the past work for helping me to retire nicely. My retirement was mainly due to my self-searching exercise of what I wanted in life when I was grounded the first time in the hospital and something told me to pursue for the second liking. I certainly regret for stopping on my first area and grateful for also now enjoying my study on economics and investment pursuit.

Cheers!

I have read so many tales of woe and this and other forums, and I have ignored probably the most important advice and I need to find some help to stop me losing everything.

I met a girl in Bangkok on the internet and yes she was an escort, but she was different, I have read this so many times before. I was aware that she had two kids from a Thai boyfriend who had abandoned her and the kids, I am pretty sure she turned to escorting/prostitution as she knew nothing else and she needed to support the kids.

We really hit off and we spoke about possible marriage, and after two and a half years that's what we did.

We decided to move to Hua Hin and buy a house there ready for my retirement at the end of July. Against all advice, and I know it's a regular subject on forums, I paid for the house and land and I allowed the house and land to be in her name, I did not protect myself, I think I was rather bulldozed and I honestly did think she was ok.

We moved into the house early last year and from that stage things started to cool, to the stage that I had, and still have, doubts about her faithfulness. She is currently with me in the UK, and barely talking to me.

I still love Thailand and even my wife and I still want a future in Hua Hin and with my wife, but I am seriously concerned about my future.

I have concerns that when I come out in August she could simply bar me from our home, or even sell it in the meantime and I will have nothing.

What I would hope to do is re-register the house in my name and have a lease on the land so I can protect my future. I have no intention of asking her to leave; I love her and the kids far too much and would build in protection for her and the kids if that was possible.

I really need some advice and the name of a reliable lawyer. I know I have been naive and stupid, so please don't remind me of it.

I have e-mailed Sunbelt for advice but so far I have got no response.

Governor,

No one can judge your situation better than you. The choice is to get her to agree to sign a lease agreement of 30 years under the pretext of wanting to get a loan from a bank to start a business or to have her to mortgage the property for your bank loan. Naturally the 30 year lease is the best and suffer 1% registration fee on the total rental, (the lowest amount as acceptable to the authority). The disadvantage of this choice is to see her true colour sooner. Alternatively, to keep quiet and hope that she still cares for your well-being and will not kick you out. This alternative may work if you two do still have sweet moments.

This is like a poker game in which you alone has the better inkling of her feeling towards you. I am somewhat surprise of her coolness even when in UK. I would have thought that having the house under her name would have pleased her rather than being immediately ungrateful. Are you sure that there are not other things that you could have crossed her? Anyhow, I wish you the best of luck in resolving this fear.

Did anyone check out any old condo in BKK that are 15+ years old? even if those are 5-star (or used to be 5-star), I wonder what they are like now. It seems like everybody is looking at new development, but what happen to those old buildings? Remember, you don't have any gain until you sell the property. If the old condo are in such condition that you can not easily sell it, or you would not live in it yourself, what good is it? buy it with cash up front and then collect rent only to recover your investment cost?

Scott123,

Good point.....there are many like that....but there are also a few that are otherwise......i bought a unit at Taiping Towers, (Ekamai Road) more than twenty years ago, now the apartment can command rental of Baht 50,000-60,000/month giving me a return of 30% on my original cost and can command a resale value of Baht 8 million, a possible capital gain of Baht 6 million......the beauty of this place, (possibly the first residential condo built in Bangkok), is structured with four bedroom units with the area of 250 square metres which is rare in Bangkok now.

twenty years ago i also got another unit at Ploenchit, beautiful location, presently commands annual return of 20% but capital gain of not more than one-fold.....this is due to small condo with only twenty co-owners but no forceful management......

from the past investment on my condo units in Bangkok and Pataya.....only 10% i regret of having bought them......one is a long-term lease of 30 years on the rajdamri road.....most tenants would not renew the tenancy because of the bad management.....another longterm lease unit at rajaprasong road turns out to be extremely successful with good management....few gaps of vacancy period......another bad one was bought while under construction and was denied to view the structure of the unit and found out later on when completed that my unit is partially obstructed by another building. I then realised why they refused to let me look at the location of the floor before concluding the contract. Though this condo is the best any buyer could ever hope for but the unit that I bought have been vacant by more than six months. I bought another unit in the same condo. The unit is facing the park and now giving an annual return of 7% and a possible capital gain now of 15%. The future gain of this unit should compensate my dud unit. Scott123 is right, once you got a few duds you are stuck with, it is painful and would feel disgusted with your bad judgement. Unlike stocks, you can bury your pain by making a quick sale.

The lesson from the baddies is that not only location, location and location for the condo investment but also the longterm quality of the management....i would avoid those developers/majority owners with aims of quick profits who couldn't careless of their longterm reputation and those condos with less than 100 co-owners. With less number to sharing costs and no economy of scale, they tend to face higher maintenace cost but with lesser efficiency. I tend to go to the condos with some western and Japanese interests. Another lesson is never to rely on the sales talk on the unobtrusive view. The pain of the baddies always tells me to take their words only at face value.

I always wonder why Thais only use washers to wash clothes, but don't use dryers. With the humid climate, the clothes takes a long time to dry, even in hanging on the balcony. It is also strange to hang your underwear outside.

Scott123,

Saving electricity.....habits.....feel cleaner with sunlight.....fresher smell when compared with dryer.....try it and you might like it.

Cheers!!!

Today was my first day as future trader.

For most of today the Set50 future due in June traded with a premium of about 1% compared to the index SET50 itself. Considering interest rates are about 4% and the contract is due within 1 month I cannot see any reason for such a spread (it should be a mere 0,3%).

Any clues ?

The market is not that perfect yet. Only about 1,000 contracts concluded daily. There are not that many players not even among institutions. The premium and discount are based on the emotion of this small group who is also groping to understand the working of this market. This is not the US future in which the market is so perfect.

Only last week before the court's judgment on Thai Rak Thai the June edition was traded at a discount of 1%. The variance is so fickle that one just takes it as a rough expectation at that moment of time. To play future in this market, your inclination of the future in a few month time is more important than the momental differences. From my experience, I tend to accumulate when there is a discount since I believe the SET index will rise over 780 by the next September quarter because of expected cooldown of political turmoil. Hence, picking the September series is my current policy. If there is a premium (at one time reaching 2% range), I tend to be on alert in closing.

Cheers!

[

Hi Irene,

Thanks for the response. I was reading a very interesting item this morning, related to behavioral finance. If you go to Google and on the web, search for an item called "Turtles in Omaha". Enjoy.

Hi Taggart,

Thanks. I will look into it. It always gives me a sense of warmthness on mentioning of Omaha. The man has given me a lot of good lessons.

I am considering, only considering, buying a home in a development. A monthly fee is required for security, maintenance, common areas, etc;. Some of the long standing developements I have seen, seem to have let the places slide. Like a great marketing tool at first, but after a while they just pocket the cash and the place goes down the dumper. I would be interested in any experiences you could share. Is there any recourse with a poor management team?

Not much recourse unless you have a strong team of owners, especially retirees or westerners who love to take active part in maintaining and uplifting the standard. The impressive one is at Moo Baan Panya.

Just for arguments sake (of no specific interest to myself personally - but may be to other forum members) - Is the more expensive rate applied to English only or is it applied to all foreign languages such as Chinese, Korean, Japanese etc which are graphics based or local SE Asian languages?

Cheers,

Soundman.

Soundman,

The more expensive applies to any non-Thai language. The law was introduced in the days when Chinese were predominant and not assimilated into Thai society.

Now the society is so assimilated that you can find most cabinet ministers have Chinese blood.