Wanting to start a long term investment for Thai partner…to make sure they’re looked after.

[mikey88]

Hello all,

Wonder if anyone with personal experience in this can tell me what they did …. or give advice.

I have a lifetime Thai partner who’s a good bit younger than me.

I’m in the early 70’s.

They work but the money is not going to be anywhere near enough for their old age or retirement.

I don’t want particularly to just give cash.

I’m thinking of a long term …safe….investment .

Something that I might be able to add to over the remaining years and something they can access in 20 or so years…?

Any thoughts ? 
 

 

[Pouatchee]

buy a house or land... if you trust they won't squander it away

with thais... like playing russian roulette with 5 in the chamber either way

Edited October 29, 2023 by Pouatchee

[wordchild]

agricultural land, in an area she is familiar with.

she can work it herself or rent it out.

[Don Chance]

JEPQ

[jaideedave]

17 minutes ago, Pouatchee said:

buy a house or land... if you trust they won't squander it away

with thais... like playing russian roulette with 5 in the chamber either way

Good point.Several years ago I  purchased an IPO unit for 100,00 baht thru ING Bkk for a "then" long term gf.

I told her to just hang on to it as an investment.

2 months later we had a fight and she moved out.Upon checking with ING it turned out she sold the whole lot while we were still together. 555

A lot of them will only know poverty their whole life.A chum of mine had his gf borrow money against the house he had built for her and ended up losing it to the lenders  (mafia)

There are endless stories just like these.

Maybe land won't be so liquid.

[Don Chance]

Set up your trading account for an automatic monthly withdrawal that goes into her account. Equivalent to the dividend. Then she will be your princess into the afterlife.

[Mike Lister]

I agree with wordchild, agricultural land. The financial markets here are not mature and are not well regulated, forget the idea of anything like a living pension or annuity.

[sidjameson]

Plastic surgery so she can attract another foreigner after you've gone. 

 

Just kidding but sadly as others have noted Thais are terrible at financial management.

[Dave0206]

Not that it makes one bit of difference regarding advice sought or given but no where does it mention a she or a he .Good luck either way nice you are thinking of there future 

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, Dave0206 said:

Not that it makes one bit of difference regarding advice sought or given but no where does it mention a she or a he .Good luck either way nice you are thinking of there future 

 

Stay on topic, noting you're gender sensitive.....LOL

[scorecard]

Contact Tokio Marine, they might have what you're looking for.

[scorecard]

10 hours ago, sidjameson said:

Plastic surgery so she can attract another foreigner after you've gone. 

 

Just kidding but sadly as others have noted Thais are terrible at financial management.

Many westerners too.

[Mike Teavee]

Might be too late at 70 but is there anything you can do in your home country that could set up annuity style payments for your partner? 
 

Mine will receive 1/2 of my private (not State) pensions when I die which should give her enough money to have a reasonable lifestyle even if she spends/sells everything else she’ll get. 
 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Mike Teavee

[4MyEgo]

14 hours ago, mikey88 said:

I’m thinking of a long term …safe….investment .

Something that I might be able to add to over the remaining years and something they can access in 20 or so years…?

 

I don't know about Thai law, but in the old country there was a thing called "Life Estate" for real property.

 

If it's the same here, you might want to purchase a condominium and either live in it, if you haven't already purchased one, and or lease it out, making sure that the lawyers advise the Land Titles Office that it is a "Life Estate" meaning your partner gets to live in it for the remainder of their life or can lease it for the remainder of their life, after that the government gets it, unless you nominate someone else to inherit it, i.e. a child if your partner has children.

 

I am sure you can also lease it now and Will it to her in 20 years, at the time of your passing they will receive the rent until they pass.

 

I have a long term partner who I have Willed everything to, what happens to it after I am gone, is up to them, suffice to say, educating them on how to save, invest and plan for the future does help as has been show to me by my partner, and of course, education is free and rewarding at the same time in situations like this.

[Mike Lister]

There have been a number of threads on this subject over the years and they all seem to conclude in the same way. The financial services system here doesn't provide products that most westerners are used to seeing plus the charges imposed by banks and brokers are restrictive. If you try to invest on your partners behalf, outside Thailand, there's then currency issues and taxation. Buying bonds on the secondary market could work, if interest rates were higher and if brokerage fees didn't reduce the return by so much. So you're kinds left with fixed assets such as land, property income (potentially) or cash/gold. 

[Dave0206]

11 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

 

Stay on topic, noting you're gender sensitive.....LOL

I'm not gender sensitive but first few replies jumped to the assumption it's a she I don't give a flying duck if its a he or she

[scorecard]

18 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

 

I don't know about Thai law, but in the old country there was a thing called "Life Estate" for real property.

 

If it's the same here, you might want to purchase a condominium and either live in it, if you haven't already purchased one, and or lease it out, making sure that the lawyers advise the Land Titles Office that it is a "Life Estate" meaning your partner gets to live in it for the remainder of their life or can lease it for the remainder of their life, after that the government gets it, unless you nominate someone else to inherit it, i.e. a child if your partner has children.

 

I am sure you can also lease it now and Will it to her in 20 years, at the time of your passing they will receive the rent until they pass.

 

I have a long term partner who I have Willed everything to, what happens to it after I am gone, is up to them, suffice to say, educating them on how to save, invest and plan for the future does help as has been show to me by my partner, and of course, education is free and rewarding at the same time in situations like this.

Agree on the 'educating' part and from experience it takes a long time to get the 'student' to fully understand and to ultimately buy in. Keep in mind the educations needs to be in small slow steps because at first it's totally daunting to the student. And quite likely the student feels intimidated and feels completely out of place with the subject, the forms, the gov't agencies / banks / lawyers that might be involved.  Slowly slowly. 

[KhunLA]

Land and or house (s) as investment.  Best & safest, as not making any more land, and people always need a place to live.  If partner not the sharpest tack in the box, you could set up a 'trust fund', that dishes out monthly payments, if your assets allow..

 

Wife has assets (land/house) w/nice retirement fund.  If she uses that up in her later years, she can always sell the house & land she's too old to maintain, and would replenish her retirement fund.  She's savvy and one reason we have the assets we do.  No worries there.

 

Daughter is chip of the ol' block, and followed my advice on RE, already has one townhouse that renters of paying for, so in 20 yrs, at latest, that will be free & clear, earning 20k a month, and she'll only be 44 yrs old.  Hopefully she'll have 2 or 3 more by that time and also free & clear.   Hard to lose w/RE, unless overpay or crap financing.  Read the fine print.   

 

Off topic, love the constant Thai bashing, as if foreigners are great investors in their future....NOT

[stupidfarang]

Land with palm on it, 20rai will give around 50,000 baht a month, there are costs like fertiliser and wages for Burmese workers to look after the land but can be a good income for a Thai. Or buy land and build rooms and rent them out, 2,000 to 3,000 each a month, depending on what part of Thailand you live in. But need a strong person to deal with tenants.

[4MyEgo]

22 minutes ago, Dave0206 said:

I'm not gender sensitive but first few replies jumped to the assumption it's a she I don't give a flying duck if its a he or she

 

And what if they did, you responded because you do give a flying duck, otherwise you wouldn't have responded.

 

I think it a natural instinct to assume it is a she, e.g. when I was typing I wrote she every time and then changed it to their and they, fact of the matter is we have all been hardwired (programmed) to think in a certain way, change is hard, and some of us try, those of us that aren't lazy, that is.

 

I do get what your saying though, ducks can fly 🙂

 

[Mike Lister]

4 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

 

And what if they did, you responded because you do give a flying duck, otherwise you wouldn't have responded.

 

I think it a natural instinct to assume it is a she, e.g. when I was typing I wrote she every time and then changed it to their and they, fact of the matter is we have all been hardwired (programmed) to think in a certain way, change is hard, and some of us try, those of us that aren't lazy, that is.

 

I do get what your saying though, ducks can fly 🙂

 

It's not widely known but there are several species of ducks that can't fly, including the Pekin and Moulard. 🤣

[scorecard]

17 minutes ago, stupidfarang said:

Land with palm on it, 20rai will give around 50,000 baht a month, there are costs like fertiliser and wages for Burmese workers to look after the land but can be a good income for a Thai. Or buy land and build rooms and rent them out, 2,000 to 3,000 each a month, depending on what part of Thailand you live in. But need a strong person to deal with tenants.

 How do you know there will be Burmese workers around 10 or 20 years from now. Maybe by that time the Burmese are the controllers?

[arithai12]

53 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

 

Stay on topic, noting you're gender sensitive.....LOL

It is on topic, the OP starts with partner (singular) and continues with "they" (plural), so one might imagine it could be a same sex relationship, which is none of my business but it makes a lot of a difference in terms of what kind of investments or inheritance would be appropriate. The OP also is completely vague on the amount, how many zeroes. I could suggest life insurance with payouts, but it depends on the above.

[Mike Lister]

Stop it, for the love of god!

[patongphil]

43 minutes ago, Dave0206 said:

I'm not gender sensitive but first few replies jumped to the assumption it's a she I don't give a flying duck if its a he or she

It's clearly non binary as per the repeated use of they in the OP. 😘

[BKKBike09]

Buying land is a gamble because it will be in the partner's name and can be mortgaged.

[stupidfarang]

14 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 How do you know there will be Burmese workers around 10 or 20 years from now. Maybe by that time the Burmese are the controllers?

WTF are you on about? Please add only meaningful comments to the conversation.

[Mike Lister]

I see in the Bangkok Post this morning that the GSB is starting to offer reverse home loans or real estate equity loans, for the first time. This is the problem with using land or houses in an attempt to provide security during older years, the banks will come along and profit from the scheme. 

[kingstonkid]

15 hours ago, jaideedave said:

Good point.Several years ago I  purchased an IPO unit for 100,00 baht thru ING Bkk for a "then" long term gf.

I told her to just hang on to it as an investment.

2 months later we had a fight and she moved out.Upon checking with ING it turned out she sold the whole lot while we were still together. 555

A lot of them will only know poverty their whole life.A chum of mine had his gf borrow money against the house he had built for her and ended up losing it to the lenders  (mafia)

There are endless stories just like these.

Maybe land won't be so liquid.

I did the same thing but the difference was that I had the account in my access, not hers.

 

My suggestion is that you can do exactly the same thing BUT have it in your name with it going to her in the will.  In the meantime teach her about money so that she is a little smarter than the average Thai lady.

 

No matter what you do once her family and "friends" find out she has money she is going to be very popular for all the wrong reasons.

 

She needs to learn about money and investments so while you are doing it teach her what you are doing and explain how she should handle it

[Mike Lister]

Perhaps a better option is to open the account in both names but instead of being X and Y, make it X or Y and keep the book hidden. That way, when you pass on, she can operate the account without needing it to go through probate or be subject to a will. My wife and I operate several of our accounts this way, fixed deposits and savings interest accounts. When I die, my wife can use the accounts as is without any changes of approvals. The only thing she can't do is close the account, without my permission which if I'm dead, is a moot point.