8 hours ago, JustinTyme said:

Imagine there is a war, and you need a vehicle full of fuel to try and escape. Paper Money will be worthless. No one is coming to buy your house. You open a box of gold, and by sunset, you are behind the wheel of an auto and on your way.

No need to imagine anything. Just ahead of the first Gulf War, and fed up being held "hostage" by Saddam, we bought a couple of 4x4 SUV's in Baghdad using US$ exchanged on the black market. Got both of them for about 600 bucks equivalent, filled them up, packed some water and sandwiches and headed for the Syrian border. The rest, as they say, is history.

11 hours ago, JustinTyme said:

At about 35,000 THB / Baht Thai people stopped wearing their gold. They were becoming targets for snatch and grab criminals. You clearly do not understand that Gold has been viewed over time as an asset that buys things instantly, can cross borders, the government can't "lock the account" etc. The key concept is "instant liquidity." Imagine there is a war, and you need a vehicle full of fuel to try and escape. Paper Money will be worthless. No one is coming to buy your house. You open a box of gold, and by sunset, you are behind the wheel of an auto and on your way. I nearly burst out laughing when you said "large houses to show off with instead, that is real wealth" I could explain to you why that is absurd, but can not "understand it for you" ... and know nothing will change your mind. Also, what value do Thai People place on diamonds??? Close to nothing really. Go look at a 25 year chart of gold prices. Notice anything???

This chat is about Thais having a few ounces of gold, so all the rich people are stupid then, they should be walking around covered in gold rather than putting it into a house or houses.

I am not on the same level as most really rich people but I bought houses in the UK for example one in 1994 for £175k and sold it in 2021 for £750k totally tax free.

I can not live on a pile of gold, but I can live in a house, there was no rent to pay for the decades I was there which would have been money washed down the drain.

Now compare properly

🏡 Property path

• Final wealth: £750,000

• Rent paid: £0

• Tax: £0

🪙 Gold + renting path

• Gold value: ~£820,000

• Rent paid: −£486,000

• Net: ~£334,000

👉 I am roughly £400k better off owning that one house

So I would say to you: Go look at a 27 year chart of house prices in England . Notice anything??? 😀

Now multiply that over three houses and you will see that property wins by a long chalk as these houses have been producing rent. About £2.4 million total value.

Now tell me I do not know what I am talking about.

And try walking around with gold in your pocked when your vision of armageddon strikes and cash became worthless, there will be nothing left to buy if the West got to that state, but you could try eating the gold I suppose.

Oh and thanks for your attempted infantile mocking comments, they made me laugh.

Edited May 2May 2 by JamesPhuket10

15 hours ago, JustinTyme said:

Agreed, I would love to invest in silver, but it is just about impossible here since there is no physical silver market.

There absolutely is a physical market in Thailand. They might not have it at hand and have to order it for you, but it's definitely available as a friend of mine in Bangkok buys silver there frequently. I'll ask him and I'll get back to you.

Just now, JamesPhuket10 said:

This chat is about Thais having a few ounces of gold, so all the rich people are stupid then, they should be walking around covered in gold rather than putting it into a house or houses.

I am not on the same level as most really rich people but I bought houses in the UK for example one in 1994 for £175k and sold it in 2021 for £750k totally tax free.

I can not live on a pile of gold, but I can live in a house, there was no rent to pay for the decades I was there which would have been money washed down the drain.

Now compare properly

🏡 Property path

• Final wealth: £750,000

• Rent paid: £0

• Tax: £0

🪙 Gold + renting path

• Gold value: ~£820,000

• Rent paid: −£486,000

• Net: ~£334,000

👉 I am roughly £400k better off owning that one house

So I would say to you: Go look at a 27 year chart of house prices in England . Notice anything??? 😀

Now multiply that over three houses and you will see that property wins by a long chalk as these houses have been producing rent. About £2.4 million total value.

Now tell me I do not know what I am talking about.

And try walking around with gold in your pocked when your vision of armageddon strikes and cash became worthless, there will be nothing left to buy if the West got to that state, but you could try eating the gold I suppose.

Oh and thanks for your attempted infantile mocking comments, they made me laugh.

Just now, JamesPhuket10 said:

This chat is about Thais having a few ounces of gold, so all the rich people are stupid then, they should be walking around covered in gold rather than putting it into a house or houses.

I am not on the same level as most really rich people but I bought houses in the UK for example one in 1994 for £175k and sold it in 2021 for £750k totally tax free.

I can not live on a pile of gold, but I can live in a house, there was no rent to pay for the decades I was there which would have been money washed down the drain.

Now compare properly

🏡 Property path

• Final wealth: £750,000

• Rent paid: £0

• Tax: £0

🪙 Gold + renting path

• Gold value: ~£820,000

• Rent paid: −£486,000

• Net: ~£334,000

👉 I am roughly £400k better off owning that one house

So I would say to you: Go look at a 27 year chart of house prices in England . Notice anything??? 😀

Now multiply that over three houses and you will see that property wins by a long chalk as these houses have been producing rent. About £2.4 million total value.

Now tell me I do not know what I am talking about.

And try walking around with gold in your pocked when your vision of armageddon strikes and cash became worthless, there will be nothing left to buy if the West got to that state, but you could try eating the gold I suppose.

Oh and thanks for your attempted infantile mocking comments, they made me laugh.

In 1994 you could have bought roughly about 700 ounces of gold for the 175'000 pounds because the average price for an ounce back then in the UK was around 250 pounds, while the price of an ounce of gold in British pound today is roughly about 3400 pounds. 3400 x 700 equals 2'380'000 pounds, minus the 486'000 in rent leaves you with 1'894'000....

Inflation in the UK from 1994 to today is 115%. So, if you were to buy that 175K house today, you'd have to pay around 376K for it. But this doesn't mean that your house increased in value. All it means is that your paper currency decreased in buying power. In regards to the selling prices of houses, eventually the market value will get so high that people will stop buying and then the prices will have to come down considerably.

Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not saying that real estate is a bad investment, because it's clearly not, but your math ain't mathing with the numbers you've stated.

Edited May 2May 2 by pacovl46

17 hours ago, JustinTyme said:

Agreed, I would love to invest in silver, but it is just about impossible here since there is no physical silver market.

My friend got back to me. It's a silver smelting company called Bowins Silver. It's off Kanchanaphisek Frontage Road near Sukhaphiban Soi 31. Google maps has an entry on it. As of right now they only buy back their own brand, but my friend has been told by them that in the future they will extend to other LBMA approved manufacturers as well. I'm assuming, though, that they will buy back anything you bought from them. Worth a try, if you're into it.

Edited May 2May 2 by pacovl46

These are 3 credible sources that buy and sell silver bullion. I guess there are more

https://www.mtsgold.co.th/en/products/detail.php?ID=96&SCODE=ProGoldBullion

https://thesilverconnection.com/

http://www.ausiris.co.th/content/index/silver.html

Just now, pacovl46 said:

My friend got back to me. It's a silver smelting company called Bowins Silver. It's off Kanchanaphisek Frontage Road near Sukhaphiban Soi 31. Google maps has an entry on it. As of right now they only buy back their own brand, but my friend has been told by them that in the future they will extend to other LBMA approved manufacturers as well. I'm assuming, though, that they will buy back anything you bought from them. Worth a try, if you're into it.

Really appreciate the information and follow up .. Thank You!

Just now, CallumWK said:

These are 3 credible sources that buy and sell silver bullion. I guess there are more

https://www.mtsgold.co.th/en/products/detail.php?ID=96&SCODE=ProGoldBullion

https://thesilverconnection.com/

http://www.ausiris.co.th/content/index/silver.html

Much appreciated! Thank You!

Just now, JustinTyme said:

Really appreciate the information and follow up .. Thank You!

You're more than welcome, mate! 🙂

On 5/2/2026 at 1:33 AM, JustinTyme said:

Agreed, I would love to invest in silver, but it is just about impossible here since there is no physical silver market.

Actually, there is a physical silver market here. It's just not as easy to find as gold. The other problem with silver is that not only do you have to pay the spread between the bid and ask price, but you have to pay VAT (currently 7%) when you buy. Just use the search engine of your choice to ask, "Where can I buy 1 kg of 999 silver near Bangkok or Pattaya?" depending on where you live.

8 hours ago, farangkinok said:

Actually, there is a physical silver market here. It's just not as easy to find as gold. The other problem with silver is that not only do you have to pay the spread between the bid and ask price, but you have to pay VAT (currently 7%) when you buy. Just use the search engine of your choice to ask, "Where can I buy 1 kg of 999 silver near Bangkok or Pattaya?" depending on where you live.

Did you really just "enlighten" me that the internet has a search function? Wow! Thank You! Just tried it! That is so cool! By the way, I live in Isaan, far from silver sources, and have little interest in silver's "Highway Robbery" spread and taxes. I guess I will have to just settle for my 43% profit - tax free - Gold Stack. But I do have to give you kudos for the best / most accurate / user name on this entire site. "Perfect"

My wife doesnt care about it, she doesnt wear gold or hardly ever any jewellery, have bought her diamonds etc and they just sit in a draw, she says people only wear it to show how much money etc they have, she doesnt care, she earns a great wage but doesnt need to advertize it like many thais do. We do go down to Nakon si Thammarat sometimes and walk along the "silver" street where all the shops sell silver jewelery etc, its very interesting and a great place to buy silver for gifts but gold just doesnt inteets her.

Edited May 4May 4 by seajae

Just now, seajae said:

My wife doesnt care about it, she doesnt wear gold or hardly ever any jewellery, have bought her diamonds etc and they just sit in a draw, she says people only wear it to show how much money etc they have, she doesnt care, she earns a great wage but doesnt need to advertize it like many thais do. We do go down to Nakon si Thammarat sometimes and walk along the "silver" street where all the shops sell silver jewelery etc, its very interesting and a great place to buy silver for gifts but gold just doesnt inteets her.

The actual context here is the Thai (all of Asia really) tradition / belief in buying gold bars and holding them, often for a lifetime. The spread on jewelry is higher than gold bars. The days of women wearing old in public mostly ended at about 30,000 THB / Gold Baht. Too risky for snatch and grab theft. My wife does not own gold jewelry, but has a nice "retirement box" of Thai Gold.

On 5/3/2026 at 12:44 AM, pacovl46 said:

In 1994 you could have bought roughly about 700 ounces of gold for the 175'000 pounds because the average price for an ounce back then in the UK was around 250 pounds, while the price of an ounce of gold in British pound today is roughly about 3400 pounds. 3400 x 700 equals 2'380'000 pounds, minus the 486'000 in rent leaves you with 1'894'000....

Inflation in the UK from 1994 to today is 115%. So, if you were to buy that 175K house today, you'd have to pay around 376K for it. But this doesn't mean that your house increased in value. All it means is that your paper currency decreased in buying power. In regards to the selling prices of houses, eventually the market value will get so high that people will stop buying and then the prices will have to come down considerably.

Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not saying that real estate is a bad investment, because it's clearly not, but your math ain't mathing with the numbers you've stated.

The maths is good as I did buy the house in 1994 for £175K and I did sell it back in 2021 for £750k not for £376K as you stated as house inflation has gone up 428% not 115% as you stated.

The maths is also good as I did not have £175,000 in cash back in 1994, I only had £40k in cash which went into the house purchase, I used the banks money in the form of a mortgage to pay for the rest.

My figures stack up very well, I am better off by £400k by taking the house purchasing route over buying gold back in 1994 as it was also very easy to borrow the money in the form of a mortgage but almost impossible to borrow £175k to buy gold at the time and also the interest rate would have been punishing financially over a cheap house mortgage.

Now multiply that by a few house purchases over time and you will see it is much better investment than gold.

Over a million pounds more than betting in gold over time.

19 hours ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

The maths is good as I did buy the house in 1994 for £175K and I did sell it back in 2021 for £750k not for £376K as you stated as house inflation has gone up 428% not 115% as you stated.

The maths is also good as I did not have £175,000 in cash back in 1994, I only had £40k in cash which went into the house purchase, I used the banks money in the form of a mortgage to pay for the rest.

My figures stack up very well, I am better off by £400k by taking the house purchasing route over buying gold back in 1994 as it was also very easy to borrow the money in the form of a mortgage but almost impossible to borrow £175k to buy gold at the time and also the interest rate would have been punishing financially over a cheap house mortgage.

Now multiply that by a few house purchases over time and you will see it is much better investment than gold.

Over a million pounds more than betting in gold over time.

Well, the 750K don't have the same buying power as back in 1994. Also, the 376K is what you would have to pay today simply based on the inflation of the British Pound. Of course the final price is determined by other factors as well. Either way, you seem to have done well for yourself and in the end that's all that matters.

2 minutes ago, pacovl46 said:

Well, the 750K don't have the same buying power as back in 1994. Also, the 376K is what you would have to pay today simply based on the inflation of the British Pound. Of course the final price is determined by other factors as well. Either way, you seem to have done well for yourself and in the end that's all that matters.

True £ 750k does not have the buying power of 1994, no amount of money today no matter if it came from gold or property is the same, I don't understand why that is a factor.

There is no way the same house could be bought for 376k today as 1) I sold it for the correct market value of 750k in 2021, 2) the property has recently been sold for £875k as I checked the England land registry which is open to anyone after I saw it advertise with an online agent.

The money from my sale was then put into smaller properties which have generate rent for me over the last five years and the values of the property have continued to rise.

Gold is unstable, if the current war situation was quickly solved the price of gold would drop like a brick where properly will always go up over a long period and produce and income in a secure way, hanging onto gold produces no income to live on.

9 minutes ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

True £ 750k does not have the buying power of 1994, no amount of money today no matter if it came from gold or property is the same, I don't understand why that is a factor.

There is no way the same house could be bought for 376k today as 1) I sold it for the correct market value of 750k in 2021, 2) the property has recently been sold for £875k as I checked the England land registry which is open to anyone after I saw it advertise with an online agent.

The money from my sale was then put into smaller properties which have generate rent for me over the last five years and the values of the property have continued to rise.

Gold is unstable, if the current war situation was quickly solved the price of gold would drop like a brick where properly will always go up over a long period and produce and income in a secure way, hanging onto gold produces no income to live on.

One of the main reasons why house prices go up is because of inflation. And again, if you had had 175K in cash and would've bought gold, you'd be pretty well off.

Gold isn't really that volatile either, especially not in comparison to a paper currency! The pound lost 115% of its buying power, while the price of Gold increased at least 16-fold since the mid 90s! You can take the lowest point of every year over the past 200 years and connect them with a line and it's a more or less steady upwards trajectory. I also don't think that the price of gold will fall by that much if the thing in the Middle East gets resolved, and the price won't stay there for long either. Gold and silver are definitely good investments, and so is real estate. I've been saying this all along.

7 minutes ago, pacovl46 said:

One of the main reasons why house prices go up is because of inflation. And again, if you had had 175K in cash and would've bought gold, you'd be pretty well off.

Gold isn't really that volatile either, especially not in comparison to a paper currency! The pound lost 115% of its buying power, while the price of Gold increased at least 16-fold since the mid 90s! You can take the lowest point of every year over the past 200 years and connect them with a line and it's a more or less steady upwards trajectory. I also don't think that the price of gold will fall by that much if the thing in the Middle East gets resolved, and the price won't stay there for long either. Gold and silver are definitely good investments, and so is real estate. I've been saying this all along.

I stated in my first reply I would be about 400k worse off if I had put the money into gold at the time in 1994 even if I had the initial 175k in cash which I didn't, the price of gold now, the money I would have had to pay in rent instead of buying that one house have been taking into account over the time period from 1994 until 2021.

We are agreeing in general, the only thing we disagree about are the numbers which I put though a set of maths functions and the result has stated I would have been 400k worse off with a gold investment.

That is just for one house.

Plus gold does not produce a monthly income to live on, as a retired person money can pay for a good lifestyle here in Thailand, there is no point me putting money in gold, no return, lower standard of living and then when I go my children who area already successful in life financially inherit the gold. 😁

I am better off having it in property, the rental income is added to my pension for me to live on, if I have to go back and live in the UK due to health matters later on then I will also have somewhere to live.

I can easily live on £ 35k a year net here in Thailand and so the rest of the money just keeps on accumulating for a rainy day if it ever happens.

Edited May 6May 6 by JamesPhuket10
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