"A Thai bank may now be a good place to park money for your visa."   Uh, not quite. Bit of error there, should be 'A Thai bank may now then be a good place to park money for your visa'.  Going from 40/$ say 15 yrs ago to 31/$ now looks like decent return (plus higher interest paid here on account), but at peak (let's hope) not so good. Buy low sell high. Not vice versa.

I look at my 800k as one end of teeter totter and money in USA as other: one goes up, other goes down. I can't do anything about the rates, so a bit like watching the weather: everyone talks about it but no one does anything (excluding Thai cloud seeding ops)

16 hours ago, Briggsy said:

The OP and I have a very different view on how to measure return on an investment. 

 

I could start a discussion on unrealised and realised gains but I feel this is not what the OP wants to hear.

 

Well done @Pilotman. You're up!

Agreed. My reasoning for not tying up 800,000 baht is that my funds are invested in, mostly mutual funds. I do not think meeting this requirement is a wise financial move. I have been and plan to continue to use the 65,000 baht a month requirement to maintain my Retirement Extension of Stay.

10 hours ago, Leaver said:

Don't you mean, "My wife bought a house with MY 56 to the pound?"  ????

No, we bought a house together with our money. 

26 minutes ago, wwest5829 said:

Agreed. My reasoning for not tying up 800,000 baht is that my funds are invested in, mostly mutual funds. I do not think meeting this requirement is a wise financial move. I have been and plan to continue to use the 65,000 baht a month requirement to maintain my Retirement Extension of Stay.

Notwithstanding bank charges, transferring 65,000 baht a month may also not be a wise financial move. Under Thai taxation rules monies brought into the country, if deemed earned in the same year such as a pension, are subject to tax. Immigration one day might wish to see your tax records!

9 hours ago, BlackSwan said:

I believe there is a draft bill saying that dormant (untouched after 10 years) bank accounts can be transferred to the finance ministry. I wonder how this affects deposits required for visa etc. Not to worry, the plan is your funds can be returned if you apply to the finance ministry for them. Although I suspect the paperwork may only be accepted under the correct lunar cycle or -insert other- conditions.

well don't leave your account dormant, use it for normal expenses, but keep the balance above 800K.  It's hardly rocket science. . 

1 hour ago, Pilotman said:

No, we bought a house together with our money

A friend of mine bought a house with his wife 2 yrs ago with his money of course and since a foreigner's name cannot be on the title, the house & property it sits on legally belongs to her. I cautioned him about doing that and suggested he buy a condo in his name, but he succumbed to his wife's wishes and bought the house. Well, now they are getting a divorce and the house and property is hers. He lost his money and has to start over. Feel sorry for him, but he knew the risk. Probably a common occurrence here. Just a cautionary story for newbies.

Edited July 13, 20196 yr by JohnnyBD

4 minutes ago, JohnnyBD said:

A friend of mine bought a house with his wife 2 yrs ago with his money of course and since a foreigner's name cannot be on the title, the house & property it sits on legally belongs to her. I cautioned him about doing that and suggested he buy a condo in his name, but he succumbed to his wife's wishes and bought the house. Well, now they are getting a divorce and the house and property is hers. He lost his money and has to start over. Feel sorry for him, but he knew the risk. Probably a common occurrence here. Just a cautionary story for newbies.

I don't particularly  wish to go over all this again in yet another post.  It's been done to death in other posts and frankly,  it's getting a tad boring.  Our house is company owned, the shareholders of the company are my wife, my daughter, both Thai/British and myself.  There are no unknown, bogus, pretend shareholders, which is of course illegal. As is required by Thai property  and commercial law, my wife and daughter hold the majority of the shares, I hold the largest shareholding, but not the majority. We own the company, the company owns the house, ergo we own the house. The company was set up 5 years ago by an International Law firm with offices in Bangkok. The company was audited two years ago by the Thai Department of Development and given a clean bill of health.  We file annual accounts and pay tax. All this is perfectly legal, despite the 'expert' naysayers on TV saying it isn't. 

1 hour ago, Kron said:

Notwithstanding bank charges, transferring 65,000 baht a month may also not be a wise financial move. Under Thai taxation rules monies brought into the country, if deemed earned in the same year such as a pension, are subject to tax. Immigration one day might wish to see your tax records!

I'm starting to do transfers, of one of my pensions, to the amounts I received a year ago, so if it was Julys 2018 payment it will be arriving here July 2019!  (don't know if I'll need them yet, but how can you anticipate ahead anyway, will try it). Even though that one is probably under the Double taxation treaty anyway. 

15 minutes ago, JohnnyBD said:

A friend of mine bought a house with his wife 2 yrs ago with his money of course and since a foreigner's name cannot be on the title, the house & property it sits on legally belongs to her. I cautioned him about doing that and suggested he buy a condo in his name, but he succumbed to his wife's wishes and bought the house. Well, now they are getting a divorce and the house and property is hers. He lost his money and has to start over. Feel sorry for him, but he knew the risk. Probably a common occurrence here. Just a cautionary story for newbies.

If they were legally married before he bought the house he's legally entitled to 50% from the sale proceeds.

On the subject of the so called investment its totally worthless to the account holder unless he repatriates the money to his home country.  

1 hour ago, Pilotman said:

No, we bought a house together with our money. 

I have no interest in such matters, leave it all to the wife, even been with the wife to the land office to sign to confirm a couple of times..

As I am a non entity here....

 

Got a trains set though...

Edited July 13, 20196 yr by UKresonant

Bear in mind, the deposit protection in Thailand is rapidly dropping. This year it goes from 10m to 5m and next year it will be down to 1m only.

19 hours ago, brokenbone said:

my gambling has paid poor dividends the past 45 years,

but im positive it will turn around anytime soon

Don't bet on it! ???? 

My 800K baht deposit was exchanged at 29 baht to the AUD. So I am well ahead on paper.

Having said that, Briggsy is right. It only becomes a real profit when I convert it back to AUD, which may never happen.

1 hour ago, Pilotman said:

We file annual accounts and pay tax

 

1 hour ago, Pilotman said:

I don't particularly  wish to go over all this again in yet another post.  It's been done to death in other posts and frankly,  it's getting a tad boring.  Our house is company owned, the shareholders of the company are my wife, my daughter, both Thai/British and myself.  There are no unknown, bogus, pretend shareholders, which is of course illegal. As is required by Thai property  and commercial law, my wife and daughter hold the majority of the shares, I hold the largest shareholding, but not the majority. We own the company, the company owns the house, ergo we own the house. The company was set up 5 years ago by an International Law firm with offices in Bangkok. The company was audited two years ago by the Thai Department of Development and given a clean bill of health.  We file annual accounts and pay tax. All this is perfectly legal, despite the 'expert' naysayers on TV saying it isn't. 

That sounds interesting, is there much of an ongoing overhead for the account etc?

3 hours ago, wwest5829 said:

Agreed. My reasoning for not tying up 800,000 baht is that my funds are invested in, mostly mutual funds. I do not think meeting this requirement is a wise financial move. I have been and plan to continue to use the 65,000 baht a month requirement to maintain my Retirement Extension of Stay.

Some prefer banks.  

19 hours ago, brokenbone said:

my gambling has paid poor dividends the past 45 years,

but im positive it will turn around anytime soon

Yah, ,as soon as I send 100k over to pay for my house. I'm afraid to look at the exchange rate (USA). I started looking at 33.5 awhile back. I found a ideal neighbor hood . I never expected I would be loosing 10k since then. That was for my furniture. I told her we have to sleep in the old bed ,no new stuff for a long time

Edited July 13, 20196 yr by riclag

20 hours ago, Pilotman said:

A Thai bank may now be a good place to park money for your visa.  I was getting less than 1% in a UK bank.  I transferred at 43 baht to the pound and it's now 38.5, so I'm already up on the previous savings rate. Of course it can't be touched unless I leave, which is always  possibility. My wife and I bought the house at 56 to the pound, so happy about that too. 

 

A different view. My 800k, in USD, in a Vanguard mutual fund, was kicking gibbons glutes. Now I have to put it in an expat BOND account earning nothing with a good chance the baht could drop in the coming years and I be holding the Bag.   ????   I feel like I am being bent over and pounded.

 

 

Just now, LomSak27 said:

 I feel like I am being bent over and pounded.

Yep by your own embassy !

Just now, madmen said:

Yep by your own embassy !

make sense or don't post, just a little advice.

 

A friend of mine bought a house with his wife 2 yrs ago with his money of course and since a foreigner's name cannot be on the title, the house & property it sits on legally belongs to her. I cautioned him about doing that and suggested he buy a condo in his name, but he succumbed to his wife's wishes and bought the house. Well, now they are getting a divorce and the house and property is hers. He lost his money and has to start over. Feel sorry for him, but he knew the risk. Probably a common occurrence here. Just a cautionary story for newbies.

In court the starting point in negotiations is a 50/50 split, assuming there are no kids.


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3 minutes ago, DILLIGAD said:

In court the starting point in negotiations is a 50/50 split, assuming there are no kids.


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Yes, thats what is happening so I been told . 

Like pilotman, I get a good feeling when I see that I got the 800,000 fixed account cheaply and have as much right to be joyful in it as pensioners have to be sad at the drop in Baht value of their pensions.  Certainly people who preached that the loss of return in locking up fifteen thousand quid must be green when they see that it is now worth twenty one thousand to those of us who did it! 

4 minutes ago, tgeezer said:

Like pilotman, I get a good feeling when I see that I got the 800,000 fixed account cheaply and have as much right to be joyful in it as pensioners have to be sad at the drop in Baht value of their pensions.  Certainly people who preached that the loss of return in locking up fifteen thousand quid must be green when they see that it is now worth twenty one thousand to those of us who did it! 

So when are you going to take the profit lol

1 hour ago, UKresonant said:

 

That sounds interesting, is there much of an ongoing overhead for the account etc?

15,000 a year in accountancy fees, submission fee and tax

19 minutes ago, Pumpuynarak said:

So when are you going to take the profit lol

I've been taking my profit (interest) out every year since 2005.  I put in $16K in 2005.  How much would I have to put in today?

13 minutes ago, Pumpuynarak said:

So when are you going to take the profit lol

It is not the profit that counts so much for those of us in that situation. It is the comforting fact that in having made the historically cheap investment so many disparage as "dead' money it provides simplicity in the financial terms of renewals of stay compared to the more complex and current devaluing monthly income process many are experiencing. The other plus is that should other events require repatriation of said funds it will be to an advantage at least for  some time to come yet.

Despite that the falling exchange rates is the bitter pill that almost all have to swallow regardless of situation.

1 hour ago, DILLIGAD said:

In court the starting point in negotiations is a 50/50 split, assuming there are no kids.


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My friend understands he can fight it in court and the most he would get is 1/2 of the value as per the attorney he consulted and it would cost a lot of money to fight it. He can't force a sale as per the attorney because it's in her name and no Thai judge is going to make her sell. So, his best case scenario is she would have to pay him back 1/2 slowly. He said he is not going to throw away more good money after bad money fighting it because she is saying it was a gift since it was put in her name. The attorney told him it would be an uphill battle because they didn't have anything in writing. So, bottom line is, he lost his money. He is looking for a bono attorney who will work for free though if anyone wants to help. His bad luck... End of story...

Edited July 13, 20196 yr by JohnnyBD

1 hour ago, JohnnyBD said:

He is looking for a bono attorney who will work for free though if anyone wants to help. His bad luck... End of story...

Sorry, pro-bono may not be the correct terminology. He is looking for someone to take the case on contingency. Will get paid if & when they collect. Told him good luck with that in Thailand...

Edited July 13, 20196 yr by JohnnyBD

The 800K baht for your retirement is a loan you made to the bank for a minimal return.   You are now an unsecured creditor and the bank promises to pay you back. Personally, I don't think the risk is worth the return if you factor in worldwide problems in the banking industry and the new bail-in laws in many countries (not sure of bail-in in Thailand).  

23 minutes ago, griffon2011 said:

The 800K baht for your retirement is a loan you made to the bank for a minimal return.   You are now an unsecured creditor and the bank promises to pay you back. Personally, I don't think the risk is worth the return if you factor in worldwide problems in the banking industry and the new bail-in laws in many countries (not sure of bail-in in Thailand).  

No I'm not.  The account is secured to 1 million baht.  I've been a bank customer in Thailand since 2005.  What risk?  If you put your money in your cave - not much for us to discuss is there?