Thais are mired in debt: Poll

[BritManToo]

42 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Hmmmm. I left school at 18 having had no education on personal financial management.

I also had no savings at age 35 and the only thing i know about investing is that I'll never do it. IMO investing is gambling for rich people and guys like me are how they get rich.

I'll never forget the colleague that lost everything in the crash in the 1980s crying. Before that she was always telling us how rich she was getting.

Yes, I tried investing but only ever lost money so I stopped.

[Gandtee]

Just now, RafPinto said:

6

Small fry.????

[mommysboy]

'This would be accomplished with belt tightening, personal discipline, planning, saving, and self-reliance.'

 

You can only spend so little though.  A lot of people don't understand this particularly if they don't have families or lived most of their lives in better economic systems.  Life's changed.

 

That said.... they really are the worst.

[kingstonkid]

3 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

Hear, hear!!!

I would take the statement further and say that these are traits not practiced by people in western society either.

 

 

[JimHuaHin]

I did a little Google search when I read this article, published in another Thai newspaper, this morning.  In 2017, an estimated 9.8% of Thais aged 15+ years old had a credit card; the figure is currently estimated to be about 25%.

[jwest10]

3 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

One wonders how they pay for trips like a few I saw this weekend in Hua Hin were having. However, I saw a family of 8 around the pool swimming.  When the pool services man handing out towels and checking the registry got to them they gathered their belongings and headed back out onto the beach....modern day sneak thieves....lol.  This same group came up from the beach and managed to get in line at the buffet as well......you can not make this up.

Used to know via someone that when he lived in the Bahamas he used to got to the introduction buffets for the tourist and used several hotels for this!!!

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, StayinThailand2much said:

LOL. Are the banks prepared to write

off a good chunk of that debt?

No.

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

This would be accomplished with belt tightening, personal discipline, planning, saving, and self-reliance. 

So how did they get into debt if this was observed before getting into debt.

 

[fusion58]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

The above are traits not normally associated with the average Thai, notes ASEAN NOW. Those who know the country have often pointed to an attitude of "spend today and let tomorrow look after itself".

When such an outlook is combined with the prevalent "keep up with the Joneses" mentality, where money and social status are the only basis for respect, you have a recipe for fiscal disaster.

[ronster]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

But 71% thought they could find a way out of debt.

 

This would be accomplished with belt tightening, personal discipline, planning, saving, and self-reliance. 

They wouldn’t be in debt if they had done the above ! ????

[Confuscious]

Thais have no idea of managing debts.
I meet a few days ago a woman (friend of mine) who lost her job due to Covid, and became indebted because of taking care of her parents.
She seemed very happy and said that she found a way out of her debts.
Talking to her, she got a loan to open the 1,000th coffee shop in my street, and she was convinced that this was going to take her out of her debts.
Seemed that she was selling the kind of "sugar bombs" for 25 baht each and she managed to sell about 10 coffees a day.
The loan for the coffee shop (franchise) was 350,000 baht.
Go figure .....

 

[NeoDinosaw]

8 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

Most Thais have no education on personal financial management.

And, most have absolutely no savings and are clueless about investing.

 

 

Sounds like  my  (farang) sons 

[zzaa09]

Savages.

Why can't they just be like us. 

[NeoDinosaw]

6 hours ago, RafPinto said:

6

Only 6   !

[metisdead]

An off topic deflection post has been removed.  This topic is not about personal debt in the US or UK.

[garyk]

12 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Hmmmm. I left school at 18 having had no education on personal financial management.

I also had no savings at age 35 and the only thing i know about investing is that I'll never do it. IMO investing is gambling for rich people and guys like me are how they get rich.

I'll never forget the colleague that lost everything in the crash in the 1980s crying. Before that she was always telling us how rich she was getting.

I started in the 2008 colapse. I bought a small mutual fund.. It has paid me 450 dollars every month dividends for 13 years..?? I also invest in the s&p 500 and since the pandemic I am up 10K.  Not much but I would hate to think I was living strictly off my small pension. Other individual stocks have been a struggle for me but I have yet to loose?

I can say without a doubt , it is the best financial decision I have ever made. Even if I loose 50% of my investment it will not hurt. I always live below my means.

Edited November 29, 2021 by garyk

[spidermike007]

Prayuth has promised to bring happiness to the people. 

 

Instead he has brought misery, rising suicide and homelessness, massive unemployment, destruction of the economy, and has moved his nation backwards,  with ridiculous and highly selective shutdowns. 

 

Am I going to prison now, for my lack of fealty and obedience? 

 

 

[mbenson]

More and more I suspect that "thinking too much" includes worrying about paying the piper in the future. Everybody puts off the anxiety generated by needing to one day pay back loans. Then, it gets serious and it is time to seriously flip out! 

 

As mentioned above, high credit card debt is not unique to Thailand. However, Thais do have a unique ability to happily put off concern about the dire inevitable.

 

Really, I never quite understood how issuing credit cards in Thailand was not to cause serious trouble for the econonmy one day. 

[Chelseafan]

15 hours ago, fangless said:

Where was the poll conducted?  I suggest it was in a major city as I do not believe these figures cover the average village Thai.

Probably at the same place that polled 54% of Thais have never watched porn..

 

[Dont confuse me]

My ex's mother incurred a debt of 30,000 over 26 years ago, guess how much she owes now? Yes the 30k, every May she goes to  the government office to pay back the interest.

Obviously I was approached to see if I could 'help' I didn't!

What amazed me is that albeit she a single mum she does have 3 daughters and 2 sons, I simplcannot accept that over the course of 26 years the 6 of them couldn't pay it off!

[thaibeachlovers]

6 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Prayuth has promised to bring happiness to the people. 

 

Instead he has brought misery, rising suicide and homelessness, massive unemployment, destruction of the economy, and has moved his nation backwards,  with ridiculous and highly selective shutdowns. 

 

Am I going to prison now, for my lack of fealty and obedience? 

 

 

The constant harping about a certain Thai leader has been going on for many many posts now, and it'd be great if you could talk about something else for a change.

It's not as though complaining about him is going to change anything, is it?

You do have interesting points of view, but if I just pass by every post you make because of the repetitious complaining about something that, in the end, is nothing to do with you or any farang, I'd miss what might be something worthwhile, and I wouldn't want to do that.

Have a nice day.

[whiteman]

he constant harping about a certain Thai leader has been going on for many many posts now, and it'd be great if you could talk about something else for a change.

It's not as though complaining about him is going to change anything, is it?

You do have interesting points of view, but if I just pass by every post you make because of the repetitious complaining about something that, in the end, is nothing to do with you or any farang, I'd miss what might be something worthwhile, and I wouldn't want to do that.

Have a nice day.

 

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sad

[connda]

On 11/29/2021 at 9:51 AM, webfact said:

This would be accomplished with belt tightening, personal discipline, planning, saving, and self-reliance. 

"Belt tightening, personal discipline, planning, saving, and self-reliance" are counter-intuitive to unbridled desire, wants, greed, and a credit card to satisfy your every want and desire.

People find themselves in that situation because they can not control themselves to begin with.  So?  For most - there is no way out.  In the end they will use loan sharks to pay off their credit card and after that?  Well - you know how the mafia works.

Edited November 30, 2021 by connda

[HashBrownHarry]

On 11/29/2021 at 3:05 AM, tomazbodner said:

Obviously. How many villagers in the middle of nowhere, tending their rice field, have a credit card?

You realise there's other ways to get in debt without a credit card.

 

I think you'd be surprised at how many 'rice workers' are in debt.

[3NUMBAS]

thrift has     never been a good point  ,spend like crazy and hell to tomorrow

[zzaa09]

On 11/28/2021 at 10:24 PM, kingstonkid said:

I would take the statement further and say that these are traits not practiced by people in western society either.

 

 

Where a delusional and fanciful lifestyles are commonplace, as is overwhelming personal indebtedness and considered to be civilised. 

[garyk]

10 hours ago, zzaa09 said:

Where a delusional and fanciful lifestyles are commonplace, as is overwhelming personal indebtedness and considered to be civilised. 

No truer words were ever spoken. It is an epidemic.

[kingstonkid]

On 11/29/2021 at 7:11 PM, NeoDinosaw said:

Sounds like  my  (farang) sons 

Name me one private or public school anywhere that teaches finances and looking after your money.

 

It is amazing to me that we hear the same thing form teachers no matter what country.  

 

I need to be paid more I can not live on my pay.  

I need a raise.

I need a better pension plan where the school pays more into it.

 

I guess I must be ancient because I can remember the first credit cards that came out and you only got enough credit that you could pay it off at the end of the month.

 

I can remember when I wanted something that I did not have the money for and instead of letting me buy it the store was nice enough to say that they would put it in the back and I could make payments on it and when I had paid for it I could have it.

 

What was the beauty of that simple stores made a lot of money from people that changed their minds BUT on the flip side a lot of people did not spend huge amounts of money on things that they did not need.

[BritManToo]

On 11/30/2021 at 12:24 AM, mbenson said:

As mentioned above, high credit card debt is not unique to Thailand. However, Thais do have a unique ability to happily put off concern about the dire inevitable.

As far as I know credit card debt is unsecured.

Which means you don't have to pay it back unless you feel like paying it back.

[Kadilo]

On 11/29/2021 at 3:41 AM, ThailandRyan said:

One wonders how they pay for trips like a few I saw this weekend in Hua Hin were having. However, I saw a family of 8 around the pool swimming.  When the pool services man handing out towels and checking the registry got to them they gathered their belongings and headed back out onto the beach....modern day sneak thieves....lol.  This same group came up from the beach and managed to get in line at the buffet as well......you can not make this up.

You probably could going by the number of times I have heard a similar story.