Hey Guys,

 

I'm calling on the wisdom of those of you with useful advice. IF we can keep this post short and sweet, it could be a great HOW-TO for others.

 

My question is about setting up a savings account of some sort where my money can slowly grow... How to invest my Thai salary into an account that can earn compound interest?

 

The Issue:

CD's are a joke in Thailand as are any rates offered by Thai banks.

 

The POSSIBLE Solution:

Ally Bank! They are an online bank that offer one of the highest rates... like almost 2%.

 

The Problem with the Solution...

I might require mailing money back to the motherland (AUS/UK/USA) for a trusted family member to deposit.

 

What successes have you had with investing/saving your Thai salary? I'm excited to learn from your experiences.

 

Remember that the grass isn't greener on the other side of the hill. IF the WEST was so perfect, it wouldn't be so socially, politically and economically unstable. No where is perfect, but with sound knowledge and management of our finances, we can make the best of any country we live in.

 

 

Buy a share or 10 in a publicly traded company that offers a dividend reinvestment program.The dividends are automatically reinvested to purchase shares (even fractions of shares) and you can send money on a monthly basis to purchase more. You receive statements and the fractions add up over time. The companies pay the costs ,so the only fee is comission on your initial purchase that can be done online through a discount brokerage ie,Schwab,TD Ameritrade,JPMorgan you invest. 

47 minutes ago, LetsCleanUpTHAILAND said:

Remember that the grass isn't greener on the other side of the hill. IF the WEST was so perfect, it wouldn't be so socially, politically and economically unstable. No where is perfect, but with sound knowledge and management of our finances, we can make the best of any country we live in.

 

This is one absolutely hilarious comment. I just can't believe what I'm reading, so I assume the post is hilariously sarcastic.

 

The majority of people who came to Thailand used various opportunities in the West to make and grow their money.

 

But just in case you are serious, I recommend that you buy a house.

 

 

 

 

A matter of priorities.
- Does OP want to "clean up Thailand first" or make a killing by investing his savings as an English-Teacher in an overseas Bank, that has a P.O. Box as their Business Address at 2%?
- I am sure OP will do the right thing. He will clean up Thailand first and then invest his accumulated fortune at 2%.

Set up a Roth IRA. 

1 hour ago, LetsCleanUpTHAILAND said:

I might require mailing money back to the motherland (AUS/UK/USA) for a trusted family member to deposit.

 

If you're earning a legitimate salary here with a work permit, you're entitled to send that money back home through the normal channels of the Thai banking system via international transfer. Different banks have different policies, but it's easy with a work permit. And possible even without, including in some cases being able to order those repatriation transfers via Thai online banking.

 

The same facility is also available now in the private sector via Dee Money, which you can register with and then be able to send directly to any of a couple dozen banks and other financial institutions in the U.S., and I think Ally is one of them. And Dee's transfer fees are relatively low.

 

What you do with the money once it's back in the U.S. is another question. But 2% at Ally is not very good. You can find FDIC or NCUA-guaranteed accounts that are earning 3-4% these days still, fully government insured. And if you wanted to get into the stock market with dividend investing and reinvesting, that's a whole other level.

 

 I bought cryptocurrency a few years back and made a killing.

I bought gold from 2001 and sold in 2012, made a killing.

 

I set up a dividend TMB SET50 account and got 18 % in 2017.

 

Buy XRP, the future world currency, it's still very cheap.

Invest into an indexfund like vanguard, fidelity....

usual US index fund tends to give around 7 percent of average returns over a longer term frame...

EVerything else is gambling, which can of course work out in your favour. 

 

If you are a member of a pension plan, save 10% of your salary every month, without fail.  If you are not, save 20%. Term deposits,,bonds and dividend-paying stocks are all acceptable. As my mother used to say "take care of the satang, and the baht will take care of themselves".  Actually, that isn't exactly what she said, but you probably get the idea. And most important of all: Start today.  Compound interest is a great friend.

12 hours ago, LetsCleanUpTHAILAND said:

I'm calling on the wisdom of those of you with useful advice.

marry a bar girl. she will manage your wealth for you.

 

extremely long term home ownership in most western countries.

not getting divorced.

 

read a book called "The millionaire Next Door." Very simple concepts for living your life to build wealth. Simple things like not buying expensive coffee everyday and never buying a new car. and buy the book used. ???? 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Surprising-Americas/dp/1589795474

Edited April 6, 20197 yr by NCC1701A

If you have a long term objective, the best approach is probably an index fund for S&P 500 in USA... just pull up a graph that goes back 30-40-50 years... if you are putting in a regular salary contribution, you will be averaging out and preventing getting killed by a short term drop... 

 

based on past performance of course and you can decide if it is a predictor for the future... 

Set yourself up an online share trading account, probably best in the country where you know a lot about blue chip shares, you mention AUS, most Oz banks have these online share trading accounts with any buy or sell transaction costing about AUD$20,worth looking at. 

Buy Australian bank shares. Reinvest the dividends, current yields about 5.5%. You may or may not get the franking credits, depending on your residency.

Peer-to-peer lending is another avenue, but you do need to spread the risk. Annual yields 5 - 10%.

Putting your money in a bank for the interest they pay is a sure way to get your savings eaten up by inflation.

Accumulating mutual funds – the so-called Fund Books in Thailand – if you are not a little experienced investor. Keep away from funds investing in foreign currency to avoid currency exchange fluctuations.

 

So-called LTFs – Long Term Funds – offers tax benefits, and are available as both dividend paying and accumulating fund.

 

Similar funds are also offered for retirement savings.

 

Most Thai banks offer these mutual funds, fx. Bangkok Bank, Kasikorn Bank, and SCB.

 

If you wish to be more in control, have little knowledge or experience in stock market, and save the small administration fee for mutual funds, you could open a trading account for SET; you might be able to open a trading account via your Thai bank, fx. SCB.

????

21 hours ago, Neeranam said:

 I bought cryptocurrency a few years back and made a killing.

I bought gold from 2001 and sold in 2012, made a killing.

 

I set up a dividend TMB SET50 account and got 18 % in 2017.

 

Buy XRP, the future world currency, it's still very cheap.

I have to agree with your XRP comment. 

3 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Buy Australian bank shares. Reinvest the dividends, current yields about 5.5%. You may or may not get the franking credits, depending on your residency.

Peer-to-peer lending is another avenue, but you do need to spread the risk. Annual yields 5 - 10%.

Putting your money in a bank for the interest they pay is a sure way to get your savings eaten up by inflation.

Its a bit late now due to the oz $ dropping so much but when the AUD was in parity the best thing any australian could have done (in the last 10 years) was to invest in international shares using their oz trading account. U.S tech stocks in particular have given HUGE returns and its all tax free if you're deemed to be  a non tax resident of the nanny state. With the $ declining from parity to the USD all the way down to current levels you also make HUGE returns on the exchange rate. It beats the hell out of 5% which I dont think is worth getting out of bed for - no offense

22 hours ago, Neeranam said:

 I bought cryptocurrency a few years back and made a killing.

I bought gold from 2001 and sold in 2012, made a killing.

 

I set up a dividend TMB SET50 account and got 18 % in 2017.

 

Buy XRP, the future world currency, it's still very cheap.

Love these comments.....bet you've been killing it for years....I smell B.S., go back to stuffing your mattress with your gains.....????

On 4/5/2019 at 10:04 PM, LetsCleanUpTHAILAND said:

The Issue:

CD's are a joke in Thailand as are any rates offered by Thai banks.

 

The POSSIBLE Solution:

Ally Bank! They are an online bank that offer one of the highest rates... like almost 2%.

I dont know about you but I'm currently getting 2.5% for THB time deposit from CIMB. Tax refundable.

 

At my age I split my money about 50/50 between cash deposits and shares. If I was younger I would probably have more shares. So anyone saving for retirement (as opposed to already being retired) should probably consider doing that.

 

I like ETF index trackers as they can usually be had for minimal management/purchase costs, their structure makes them resilient to individual company failures and also they require no in-depth knowledge of the underlying shares. Also you can usually quite easily and cheaply make small monthly purchases and/or opt for dividend reinvestment. Dividend reinvestment is what really makes the difference in the long term.

22 hours ago, advancebooking said:

Its a bit late now due to the oz $ dropping so much but when the AUD was in parity the best thing any australian could have done (in the last 10 years) was to invest in international shares using their oz trading account. U.S tech stocks in particular have given HUGE returns and its all tax free if you're deemed to be  a non tax resident of the nanny state. With the $ declining from parity to the USD all the way down to current levels you also make HUGE returns on the exchange rate. It beats the hell out of 5% which I dont think is worth getting out of bed for - no offense

None taken. It's worked for me quite well. I don't have a crystal ball to tell me which tech stocks or currency movements to bet on. And that's what it is, gambling.