MarleyMarl

I'm not outside Thailand, but I've donated to a few charities and my office have done a few donation drives for local charities/foundations. I do tip my grab delivery drivers every time though lol.

We are thinking of buying a Nissan Kicks ePower, it's a small crossover hybrid but the petrol engine is strictly only used to generate electricity for the electric motor.

The benefits of this I guess are 4.5L/100km, benefits of instant torque that electric motors have, don't have to worry about running out of charge, and I believe less maintenance. 

I think 100% EV will be the way to go in a few years, but not now when there is not many charging places and the range is too small.

My maid is an amazing cook and she costs 14,000 THB per month.

47 minutes ago, Almer said:

I have an ipad 9 years old and still fine

Likewise, I've been using my iPad mini 4 since 2016 without issues, but did have the first gen ipad mini before, that started getting issues as apps and websites needed more resources and the ram was too small.

Apple's iOS is more restrictive than Android, but it's more secure and reliable, but it has lower specs and is more experience than Android devices. I use an Android phone, as it's cheaper and I only care about picture quality / storage really. It's not always a clear-cut decision between the two.

I would avoid buying anything from Aliexpress (China), as suggested above because lack of warranty and support, and its easy to get garbage (not all is garbage).

If she want's an iPad, then get what she wants (if you can afford it). There are accessories like keyboard and pen that would be useful for Uni students.

I think if you have medical issues, overweight, or elderly it's a good idea. For me personally, I don't think I am at risk and I am not traveling around or visiting malls so I will wait until I can get a better vaccine like Pfizer or Moderna at a private hospital, rather than injecting myself with Chinese garbage.

20 hours ago, stubuzz said:

How do you get started with mutual funds?

I just opened a bank account at a Krungsri branch and KFSDIV fund at the same time. When I login online, there is options to buy into many of their funds.

I also tried opening a Thai stock account with them, but as usual with most things like this in Thailand, they have no idea how to service foreigners. They said I had to go to Planchet branch to open, then I said no, then they got me on the phone with someone, who said they'd email the docs, never got them. Missed out on buying some Thai stocks at 40-50% off ????

For in Thailand, a mutual fund is not a bad option. Personally I am invested in Krungsri's Dividend Stock Fund (KFSDIV), https://www.krungsriasset.com/EN/FundDetail.aspx?fund=KFSDIV

They have paid me a dividend two times this year already.

Top Five Sectors (30 Apr 2021)
Energy and Utilities 24.42%
Banking 12.89%
Commerce 9.88%
Information & Communication Technology 7.66%
Transportation & Logistics 6.75%

Top Five Holdings (30 Apr 2021)
PTT Plc. 7.64%
Airport of Thailand Plc. 5.48%
The Siam Cement Plc. 5.32%
CP ALL Plc. 3.95%
PTT Exploration and Production Plc. 3.92%
 

I have many other investments outside Thailand, but for inside Thailand, this has worked out all right for me.

Nice, applying vaccines without even wearing gloves.

If you plan to renew the non-b visa anytime in the future, having the WP is handy for getting 1 year. Both times I was asked for my WP when applying for new 1 year non-b.

If it was me personally, I wouldn't bother renewing if I was going to be leaving in August. 

I believe there is/was leniency for the first few years and you can get by with only 2 required Thai employees. Could be wrong.

As others have said though, elite visa could be the way to go, as with a company you need employees + monthly accounting and yearly tax audit, that could amount to same as the elite visa, but with added stress. 

A company purely for visa is not worth it in my opinion, but If you plan to have Thai based customers and grow a Thai company, a company would make sense. I have a company here in Thailand for 10 years now. It's worked out well for me and currently most of my client base is Thai/in Thailand.

I've been using the same firm for 10 years, and never any problems, they speak Thai only. It is 3,000 THB / month for the VAT, expenses etc., I think about 20k per year for the audit.

I've only ever owned one car, a 94 Honda Accord coupe, sold it before moving to Thailand.

It was a good car, easy to drive, good visibility, reliable, and owned it for 2 years and sold it for close to what I paid for it, think it was about 60k THB lol. Have looked at getting a car in Thailand, but no desire to drive in BKK so never pulled the trigger.

I've got a company here for over a decade, with 10 fulltime Thai employees. I am paying Corporate Tax, Personal Income Tax, VAT (which is collected from customers), and Social Security for all my staff, it would be over 2mb per year I guess.

I can't complain too much, as business has largely been good all this time, but still every year hassle with the visa every year. Long term I plan to move back home and if need be close the business / move the operations, see how it goes.

I think we went direct with AIG for 4mb for property, 1mb for contents, I think about 7k THB per year.

I've done it a few times with my citibank credit card, with powerbuy, put the TV, sound bar and most recently gf's new phone on 10 months 0% interest. I can afford to pay out right, but just feels better having it deducted every month.

On the payment page usually they will tell you what options you have for this. 

Reminds me of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXU8Ru57RG0

I did term deposits while living here without any issues, though my ANZ account had better interest rates on the saving account compared to the term deposit rates so I used that for a while. 

Term deposits is your only way of earning income? Term deposits before covid were bad, even worse now. There are many better passive investment choices. Did you ever look at exchange traded funds? https://www.marketindex.com.au/asx-etfs

I would recommend her to research mutual funds that are managed by reputable professionals, like mutual funds managed by Banks. A fund I am in is with Krungsri, a dividend fund KFSDIV.

https://www.krungsriasset.com/EN/FundDetail.aspx?fund=KFSDIV
https://www.krungsriasset.com/TH/FundDetail.aspx?fund=KFSDIV

This fund holds a handful of dividend paying stocks, I feel better about having some Thai savings in here than just keeping money in non-interest paying bank account. I added a bit more to it during the crash to help lower my overall price per unit, I am probably about break even with the dividends at the moment.

If you look at the chart for this fund, it's still down quite a bit compared to the previous few years, so I think there is opportunity for some growth as the country starts opening up the fund will also go up. Still nothing is without risk.

As others have recommended, she shouldn't be trying to learn to trade, rather than learn to invest in quality companies that will be good long term holds.

Noisy, low powered, waste of time and money from my experience.

7 hours ago, Jeffr2 said:

I decided not to rent.  12 years later, what I would have paid for in rent has almost paid for the property.  Not a bad way to go.

But yes, here in Thailand, renting is a great way to go.  But not for all of us.

Same boat here, was paying about 40k a month 6 years ago for condo (20k for small 1 bed condo and small office space 20k), I would imagine the rental would of increased as I would of moved into a nicer place, bigger office so lets say average 50k THB / month saved over 8 years pays for the property (4.7mb) I bought with my fiancé. 2 more years and it's break even.

The investment schemes offered by this company I remember the ads like other members pointed out here. Why need to get a ROI here in Thailand? Why not just invest in your home country, plenty of ETF's/stocks that return 5-12%.

1 hour ago, DogNo1 said:

Ever been to Japan?  Ceilings and doorways in newer houses are getting higher but chair legs are still too short.

I've been about 3 times, it's a fun holiday spot. And yea, some of the airbnb's pretty horrendous for bigger/taller people. One hotel/airbnb I stayed in rather than have a room for the bathroom, it was in a plastic cube thing in the room, that was tough trying to bath and go toilet in haha.

I'm about 6"4 or 195cm, when renovating my home, I had all the ceiling raised and custom doors made that are 2.4m high haha.

Though I'm always hitting my head on sh*t, the stairway its a bit low in a particular spot and I've hit my head a few times there.

Isn't Suthep the guy who said he doesn't respect foreigners?