wordchild

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

Taiwan was part of China “from time antiquity “, ! this is ,factually, just complete rubbish. sadly this historical misinformation, is being fed to mainland Chinese, to stir up nationalist fervor and distract from some of the mess created by Xi and his current regime. There are many things to admire about the rise of China over the last 70 years, especially the reduction of poverty for so many millions. Deng was unquestionably one of the great World Leaders of the modern era. The so called “Great Leader” Xi is not fit to lick the soles of his shoes.

The link you posted is for a US based Financial Adviser, does not seem to be related, in any way, to the firm mentioned in the OP.

yes, more or less, that is it. Its not that the non-Thai investment income is "treated" in any particular way because of the specifics of where it is from. It is just , simply , that it does not count as THAI income. So , as far as Thai Tax is concerned, it is not assessable for (THAI) Income Tax. As long as it is NOT brought into the country, in the same year as it was earned, It falls outside their definition of Income. It may seem strange but it has similarities with the UK's tax treatment of UK resident non-doms. Lines of separation between what is defined as Income and Capital need to be drawn somewhere. It is just that Thailand (unlike the UK) extends this "applicable Income" definition (and therefore benefit) to all Thai residents, including its own citizens.

Thai Tax Law does not make a distinction between Capital Gain and Income from Investments, it all counts as Income and can be subject to Thai Tax. The exemption from Thai tax (other than the withholding tax, if applicable) is a concession that applies only to investments made on the SET (ie Thai stocks) and certain other kinds of investments. eg it does not apply to investments made on overseas stock markets. The OP does not say where he intends to hold his investments , in Thailand or another country. This is very relevant regarding his tax treatment. If one intends to invest outside Thailand then the best thing to do is to maintain an investment account outside the country and then only bring in the income (and any gains) after Jan 1st each year. This should avoid any issues with Thai Tax. A number of the major Thai brokers are also prepared to set up Overseas Investment Accounts for Thais and foreigners based in Thailand; these accounts are structured so that the investments are held by custodians outside Thailand and investors in these accounts are recommended to only repatriate funds in the following tax year, ie so no tax is applicable. The issue with these accounts is that they are (usually) more expensive to operate than an equivalent brokerage account set up with ,say, a Singapore or HK broker.

A problem with pools on high condo roofs is they can get really cold especially evening/night times. I used to swim ,after work , in the high-rise condo we lived in at the time. I was doing 50 plus lengths but still used to emerge shivering. we now live in a low rise and the pool is garden level ,embedded in the ground , ie it’s not a suspended box of water with circulating air around its base and sides. it stays pleasantly warm even in the evenings.