What is the best way to invest money in Thailand?

[Doctor Tom]

Don't . The best advice I was given is, never spend or invest in Thailand, any more than you are prepared to lose.  Good advice in my view . 

[oceanbluejewell]

19 hours ago, gearbox said:

Hi,

 

I opened similar thread not long ago. Do you mind sharing the stocks in your investment portfolio? You can PM me if you don't want to post it here.

 

 

I'm not an investment advisor gearbox so would rather not. I do hope you understand.

[oceanbluejewell]

@gearbox

Your question & topic is worthy of discussion. Please not take any of this comment as investment advice, I simply sharing what I have learnt often with some cost to myself. If anything I have mentioned/posted here is not correct please let me know, I am not done learning.

 

Investing in any market whether is be North America, UK, Canada or Japan all come with risk. Not meaning to say that there is not value in any of the markets but each has a built in risk premium.

From Professor Aswath Damodaran https://aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com/2024/07/country-risk-my-2024-data-update.html

or

https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/ctryprem.html

 

To some of the comments:

 

a) Anyone who comes to Thailand and visits or lives; whether they own or rent, they are in real way investing in Thailand. Each persons choice is a reflection of risk tolerance, bias and understanding, which is true in any market.

 

b) Doing what one knows is often safest but then does not address the need to learn, or at times is not practical. In my case, I found security analysis interesting so I pursued a CFP designation which in the end was not helpful for my desire to learn more about security analysis.

 

c) Understanding the local jurisdictional issues, currency fluctuations, 3rd party law related to G/F & or wife, rights and benefits like stock classifications (full or NVDR), liquidity are important. Some stocks (FULL or NVDR) are thinning traded; meaning not much volume. NVDR = Non-voting dividend receiving. My friend here lost 3 condos and all his investments to his G/F and his legal recovery process, distress and legal legal fees resulted in a zero sum game - not to mention his heart was broken. As a foreign national I am entitled to invest in Thailand if I so choose, placing those investments in my wife's name would in my mind be foolish (my opinion), not to mention the added risk assumed in such an action. Note: Thai nationals also must pay taxes on income earned. So depending on the investment choice having that investment vehicle in my wife or g/f name does nothing from a tax point of view and only adds exposure to family law in Thailand.

 

Caveat: My wife works as a CCA (Certified Charted Accountant) for the Thai government auditing high wealth Thai and foreign companies. (she doesn't even understand the dividend tax credit), thus her ability to manage investments is nominal at best, not to mention her extreme risk aversion would have her only buying GICs and gold. In the period of 2015 to late 2018 her colleague said multiple times (direct translation) "the stock market is like rice cooker for making money" When COVID hit she lost all her gains and she no longer wanted to talk much about the stock market. Lesson here is: for someone to win there needs be someone to loss.

 

d) Using a trading app in one own country seems ludicrous to me but I do know such people who trade foreign equities and absorb the trading fee, currency exchange premium fee the brokerage charges. Not to mention the lack of data or information about the equities. I found becoming a SET member was very helpful and with the BBL referral opened a BLS cash trading account. The result was access to stock screening, multiple trading platforms, local market analysis from BLS investment professionals. All of which was helpful in my learning process.

 

e) Leaving my wealth in my home country is maybe a good/safe option but does not address that one must pay the bills in Thailand in THB currency. This results is exposure to currency fluctuation and depending on your tax status in Thailand it results in tax exposure. The impact of the new tax law yet to be fully understood will not be seen until 2025. This post by @webfact can possibly help some people navigate the new structure. An interesting 2 part thread here:

 

f) Dividends in Thailand are taxed at 10% - somewhat better than the USA which is 15% see attached link for whole world https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/documents/additional-material/withholding-tax-index-values.pdf

So having a 10% tax burden on dividend income in Thai currency is very good, not to mention that capital gains are not taxed in Thailand. https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/thailand/individual/income-determination

Again, until early 2025 we will not fully understand the implementation of Thailand's new tax law.

 

g) Not all listed securities/equities on any exchange are to be considered invest-able, meaning they are not created equal; thus the need for index ETF or funds which provide mechanisms/investment tools for people who wish to invest but not want the headache of choosing what is good and what is bad. The result is a blanket approach where an investor follows the market chosen and  holds winners and losers equally. The issue here is that Thai tax law only mentions "Mutual funds" and I have no ruling on ETFs yet. Thus I choose individual stocks to avoid any problems/ better to know my exposure than not to know my exposure.

 

Please not take any of this comment as investment advice, I simply sharing what I have learnt often with some cost to myself.  If anything I have mentioned/posted here is not correct please let me know, I am not done learning.

I am not an investment professional; consult your professional investment advisor and/or legal counsel and/or professional accountant before making any investment decision. While all reasonable effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information and data contained herein, accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Past performance is not a good predictor of future performance. Results are not guaranteed and I assume no liability whatsoever for any material losses that may occur. No compensation for suggesting particular securities or financial advisors is solicited or accepted. The information in this document is not intended to be educational, nor does it constitute financial advice nor is it a suggestion or recommendation. Investing is risky and may result in substantial losses.~ oceanbluejewell

[BigStar]

21 hours ago, Photoguy21 said:

That question has been asked by others on here.

 

And answered definitively.