wordchild

I am sure you know this but delivery (of all kinds) is a very competitive market in Bangkok. There maybe a small niche for a service that covers the the higher/more specialist end of the restaurant market. But, my opinion, the traditional "full service" restaurant delivery operators (eg Food Panda) are slowly dying and not just in Thailand but also in the West as well. the original operators way overcharged the restaurants for what is a basic commodity service ie getting a motorcycle to deliver a package a couple of kilometres. Many restaurants i know have started to encourage regular customers to order direct from them and then transfer the money (plus motorcy or Grab taxi cost) direct to the restaurant. The restaurant then arranges the delivery and keeps its full margin.

Ever since the UK tightened up its regulation of Financial Advice and Fees the industry has gone through a much needed clean up. Much of the detritus that used to inhabit the industry has left it. Unfortunately some of the "characters" have moved into the "offshore" advisory market where they can continue with practices now outlawed in the UK , eg hidden charges, inappropriate products with ludicrous fees attached etc etc. There are some really excellent IFA,s in the UK who work hard and provide a needed and valuable service and it is really worthwhile putting some effort in to identify one to work with. As an aside i would suggest that , even when working with a UK IFA, it is important to make clear, at the outset, verbally and in writing, that you want the type of advice given and the fee structure, to be inline with UK regulation and best practice. Though obviously the advice given needs to be tailored to your status as an expat. This can be something of a grey area for an expat seeking advice from an onshore IFA and you should discuss at the outset.

This says it all. Sounds like this poster has had an horrendous time with one Thai based Financial Advisor. It is a simple rule, often repeated on this forum; Just stay clear of any Thai (or non-Uk) based FA. If you are a UK citizen with eg a UK pension, find yourself a UK based , and regulated , IFA. It is also the case with the other specialist advisers you will certainly need eg lawyers and accountants. Using 2 or 3 different advisers may be more expensive but from my experience its better to use real experts, and importantly chose these people yourself and dont let some IFA chose them. It is important they work directly for you. Different specialist advisers are also a good way to keep a check on the advice you are getting from the IFA. Importantly they should all be UK BASED with a UK registered office;that is not the same as an English guy who happens to base himself in Bangkok or Dubai but has connections/contacts back to the UK. As one poster says above most of this is not that complicated. Many years ago I set up my own QROP (as they were then called), I did most of the work myself, but had a small amount of (useful) help from a UK IFA , to whom i paid a reasonable fee. Plus I obtained the ( much more important!) tax advice, from my existing UK tax advisors. I also obtained independent legal advice on the structure from my UK lawyers. I kept the structure very simple ie no "offshore bonds" or other nonsense. Complicated structures are beloved by expat IFA,s because they provide both a way to lock you into them and also trouser more fees from your assets. If anyone tries to push you into something such as an Offshore Bond, walk away, they are likely not acting in your best interests. There are better and safer structures you can use depending on what you need to achieve. Anyone who promotes themselves as a FA specializing in Expats should be an immediate 'Red Flag" warning.

As i understand it the 500000 bt fee, for the 5 year extension, is applied AFTER the member's initial 20 YEAR period has reached its end. ie it allows the member to extend the visa for a total of 25 years and beyond that in blocs of 5 years. Its not a great deal but it may be attractive to some, eg especially to existing 20 year members (of the current scheme) who are likely to be offered a (possibly significant) discount to switch to the new category. I think the big issue with the new Thailand Privilege scheme is (as referenced above by Misty) that the economics do not stack up well against the "rival" LTR+ wk Permit Scheme.

It is fair to say there is an opportunity cost of spending current funds to purchase (assumed!) future benefits, as there is with any forward purchase. However the inflation risk in cost (or value), of those future benefits, is not borne by the purchaser it is borne by the provider. That is the value calculation in any forward purchase. The buyer needs to judge the cost now (incl the opportunity cost) against the "net present value" (to them) of the assumed future benefits. Plus , of course, with some consideration of the risk that the service is not provided, as promised, in future years!

With the original Elite you need to extend stay every 3 months but this can be done in-country, as i understand it. I know another original Elite owner and he has hardly left Thailand in the last 15 years, he just extends in country,. I think TE may even do it for him. Or maybe , by now , he has taken advantage of the free switch TE offer from the Lifetime to the 20 yr. Certainly that is what i would do if i ever needed to make use of the visa.

I wonder what the (transfer) value of the original Lifetime visa is now. I have one but have NO intention of selling. The actual visa is of no use to me as i work in Thailand , but i make use of the meet and greet service, and i keep it as a back-up for the future. But there maybe some of the original members who have fallen on hard times or returned to live in their own country. Could be a useful lump of cash for someone in that situation. I have a feeling that TE changed the rules a few years ago so that if transferred an original "Lifetime" visa was changed to a 20 year for the new owner. Maybe someone ,who knows, can correct me on that.

the price for the 20 year just looks wrong; why would anyone pay 5m for a 20yr when the 15 year costs half that price?

i have an original TE membership since 15plus years ago . I do not use the visa (as not appropriate for me), but i use the "meet and greet" and (sometimes) limo service. I am a regular traveller in and out of Suvarnabhumi (pretty much monthly) , and my comment would be that i see TE Greet Girls everywhere on any arrival into TH. sometimes 4 or 5 of them waiting for the same flight. I always chat about how things are going etc etc. In recent months the reaction has always been along the lines of "OMG! so busy now, we have so many new members" (Chinese mostly). From what i hear they are recruiting new staff and existing staff are being worked harder. My impression is that the business is booming and i can understand why they would want to adjust pricing. Actually for a wealthy (say) Chinese businessman the cost is still ridiculously low, given the benefits for such a person.

huge volume 327m shares traded, almost 10x the daily average. It has been falling pretty much consistently since Dec 21 when it was over 4.5, even year to date it was down c40 percent before todays bounce (moving up from 1.03 to 1.19), now only down around 20 pct YTD. It has a bit of a following , so i believe. maybe a large seller was cleared- just a guess.

Me too, no issues. First transaction was a little sticky after that everything smooth and easy Btw I experienced a recent security issue with my BBL credit card, a genuine attempted fraud. Was really impressed with the BBL response and the customer service I received , especially from the fraud team. I doubt my European bank would have handled the issue as efficiently.

Kasikorn- Personally not tried them. but what you want to do is really not especially complex or difficult. As i understand, you want to buy one international stock and hold it forever. so transaction costs really are completely irrelevant! Custodian fees now , and in the future , are more relevant. As i mentioned above , there are a number of Thai brokers who can do this for you, you just need to look around. you need 1) a broker who offers an international trading service for Thai based individuals 2) who will accept you as a client. and where 3) the transaction costs and long-term custodial fees are not high and reasonable. go searching!

However, having said the above, whilst what the OP wants to do is perfectly possible in Thailand (structured as an ETF or similar) the fact that he says he is on a tourist visa may make account opening more difficult.

As he says! This is a clear and practical answer to the question raised by the OP. What the OP wants to invest in is up to him, he didnt ask for advice regarding his potential investment, he simply wanted to know if he could make such an investment whilst resident in Thailand.

open a international (incl US) trading account with a local (Thai) broker. There are a few which have such an account eg Asia Plus Securities.

I believe Brexit itself , has been , pretty much, an economic and political disaster for the Uk. As I posted above. Nevertheless i think it would be completely inappropriate for the UK to seek to rejoin an unreformed EU. The UK should seek to make the best of where it now finds itself. As tempers cool (on both sides) it should be possible for the UK to maneuver itself, over time, into a better position relative to its largest trading partner. One of the biggest problems with Brexit was that it weakened the hand of the reformist agenda, within the EU itself, and strengthened those with a “no turning back” integrationist agenda. I am optimistic that, over time, the voices of “reason” will come to hold increased sway. I think it is possible , even likely, that we will see fundamental reform of the EU itself, over the next decade or two. It has always been illogical to impose a “one size only” model on the diverse group of nations that make up the EU, as it is currently , and aspires to be in the future. I think it would be right for the UK to rejoin some kind of “reformed” EU somewhere down the line, once these issues have resolved themselves. And until then make the best of the hand you now have.

Donkeys leading Donkeys. Brexit has been economically and politically disastrous for the UK, exactly as predicted by almost everyone (who knew anything about economics, or politics) Johnson, Leadsom, Farage ,Gove et al really did not have a clue what they were talking about during the pre-vote debates; just watch and listen (as i have done recently) to some of the complete garbage they game out with at the time, makes one want to weep. eg 1)The UK holds all the cards! we buy more from them than they do from us. remember that one? HaHa, and how did that game play out? 2) Control of our own borders, and? 3) Irish Border, never going to be an issue, according to one of the above mentioned protagonists, in a debate i watched again recently . What total ignorance (and arrogance!) re the complexity of Irish Politics. Brexit pretty much was unzipped on that one issue alone, even without all the rest of the lies and half-truths. A complete tragedy for a once great and much respected nation.

As she says. That is where i would go in this region. Otherwise London.

Problem is that there are young kids serving long (and in some cases, incredibly long) sentences in jail because of this law. people sense injustice here and seem to feel that some change is needed

Really inspirational, maybe there is some hope for the future of this country. fingers crossed!

I have no doubt he will support MFP. He is a man of principles. also an enormously talented guy. Thailand (and MFP) could really benefit from his return to frontline politics

that is what has been rumoured. At least as far as some of the larger/high profile shops along Sukhumvit are concerned. [Smoke filled boiler rooms.]

firstly i would question whether "regular" Thais put money into this sort of business. Those that did are beyond stupid. From what i have heard (reasonable sources!) , most of the shops, at least in BKK, are just money laundering fronts for those that need such things. I guess these people will just move on and find other ways to clean up their cash ( obtained from where they make the real money ie call centre investment scams, illegal gambling sites etc etc). Back to owning go-go bars?

I think pretty much any of the pharmacies mentioned above , offer fair pricing and good availability. And I think I have been in all of them at one time or another. FWIW, here is my tuppence worth: 1) SE pharmacy, good availability and fair pricing, customer service/advice pretty much zero. The smaller pharmacy around the corner on 15 same prices and , when he is on duty, quality advice from the manager of that shop. 2)Rungrot On-nut, busy and cheap , you need to know what you exactly want otherwise don’t even bother to enter. 3) Siam pharmacy on Ploenchit , for me this gets a WOW! really high quality and helpful pharmacist, especially the main lady there. Gave some great advice to my wife , just really helpful. fair prices. Reminds me a little of the best pharmacies in London and New York eg Bell and Croydon in London

As I read it, his speech was referring to the shared ethnicity of people on both sides of the strait. That is unquestionably true. However there has been separate political and social development between both countries for a considerable time now. I have spent time in both over the last 20 plus years, whatever the shared ethnicity, they are now very different. However, as an aside, I would say that many young people I meet in the PRC, have more in common with their peers in Taiwan than they have in common with the increasingly aged dinosaurs that currently run the PRC