Buying And Storing Gold In Thailand

[simcity]

if you want to buy gold, one way to do it is from the stocks market / GOLD

Actually that is buying a piece of paper based on the price of gold.

ticker symbol GOLD on the stock market is...........( there are others too like GLD etc. )

Randgold Resources Ltd. is engaged in gold mining, exploration and related activities. Its activities are focused on West and East Africa. In Mali, it has an 80% controlling interest in the Loulo mine through Societe des Mines de Loulo S.A. The Loulo mine is mining from two open pits and one underground mine, and is developing a further underground mine. The Company also owns 50% of Morila Limited, which in turn owns 80% of Morila SA, the owner of the Morila mine in Mali. In addition, it owns an effective 84% controlling interest in the development-stage Tongon project located in Cote d’Ivoire. It owns an effective 83% controlling interest in the Massawa project in Senegal. It also has exploration permits and licenses covering substantial areas in Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Senegal and Tanzania. In October 2009, Randgold Resources Limited and AngloGold Ashanti Limited, through their indirect jointly owned subsidiary, 0858065 BC Ltd., acquired Moto Goldmines Limited.

These papers should not be considered the same as holding physical metals....You are not given the option of taking physical delivery like on the COMEX contracts.

As all you did in reality is swap one type of paper for another.

Paper gold is good for traders who like to go in & our on a regular basis

What you talking about? do not be so negative on the two items i just mention (Perth mint certificate) AND GOLD (ASX)

Gold ASX have physical holding in UK

Secondly you can be Perth mint certificates in Allocated (segregated) or an unallocated (un-segregated)

[flying]

if you want to buy gold, one way to do it is from the stocks market / GOLD

What you talking about? do not be so negative on the two items i just mention (Perth mint certificate) AND GOLD (ASX)

Gold ASX have physical holding in UK

Secondly you can be Perth mint certificates in Allocated (segregated) or an unallocated (un-segregated)

Kor Tort.........

As you can see I did not quote your mention of Perth

I only quoted your mention of GOLD ( as in ticker symbol ) on the stock market.

Did not mean to be negative but certificates/papers either in the stock market or that read you have some *holding* somewhere is still just that......Paper

A far cry from what the OP is asking about.

Again if you dont hold it you dont own it when speaking about Precious Metals.

No negativity implied just facts.

Edited March 10, 2010 by flying

[bartender100]

So in theory you could legally transport, say 100, $50 face value Maple Leaf One Ounce Gold Coin over the UK border, so avoiding the £10,000 declaration, but with a true valuation of roughly £100,000

[Tagaa]

After reading all the posts it is clear that some of you just don't get it...without naming names & quoting specific posts I will respond to a few of the issues raised.

Gold is the ULTIMATE liquid investment. In Thailand, you can take your Thai Gold to any gold shop & sell it 6 days a week. Most gold bars sold here are 5 or 10 Baht bars. True, a 400 gram bar may not be as liquid, but that is NOT what we are referring to when we discuss Thai Gold.

PAPER GOLD...I don't recall the exact numbers, however, if you add up ALL the gold that the central banks SAY they have in storage, it is approximately 3 times the amount of gold that has ever been mined in the history of mankind. These certificates may be fine for short term trading, but when the excrement hits the world economic fan & you want your gold in your hand, you will be greatly disappointed. Large institutional investors, ie JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, George Soros & his ilk will get theirs, but the little guy like you & me will be left holding the bag...AGAIN. If you don't hold it in your own 2 hands, you really don't know if you have any gold or not now, do you? You have a promise to pay, but hey, that's what fiat currency is, only a promise to pay. Good luck with that when the entire world erupts into economic turmoil.

Banks to store gold...As I said before, I don't trust banks anymore. When the excrement hits the world economic fan, the banks will all take a "holiday" while The Fed, ECB, IMF, et. al. try to figure out what to do. They may decide to outlaw the private holding of gold, which means that while the banks are on holiday (closed to you & me) they will inspect ALL the safe deposit boxes, take the gold & give you a nice IOU. I'm not saying this will happen, but it is a possibility. If you possess physical gold Baht bars, as small as 1 Bt, you will still be able carry on while your neighbors stare at the ATM & wonder how they will survive in the coming weeks, months & years.

Fiat Currency...when this economic meltdown occurs, paper money (fiat currency) will be worth less at best & worthless at worst. Gold is REAL MONEY & if you have some in your hot little hands, you will be in much better shape than your neighbor. Remember that guy staring at the ATM? He may have hundreds of thousands of dollars, euros or baht in the bank, but that is of little comfort when a litre of fuel costs 50,000 (insert your favorite fiat currency here). That is an over dramatization, but you get my drift.

Pay attention to the predictions noted above. Even if all of them do not come to pass, having gold in your hands will get you through the ones that do become your new reality.

Also remember that gold is not going up in value, your fiat currency is going down in value. In Roman times an ounce of gold would buy an upper class gentleman a nice toga (suit of clothes) a nice belt & a nice pair of sandals. Today an ounce of gold at $1122 (current NY Spot price) will buy an upper class gentleman about the same things. In the 1920's, 30's & 40's. a loaf of bread cost a nickel, now it's over a dollar. And so it goes...

Edited March 10, 2010 by Tagaa

[Tagaa]

As far as places to store your gold, safe deposit boxes in banks are the usual choice, but I don't trust banks. Put your thinking cap on & you will come up with something. The main thing to remember is don't tell ANYONE you have it or are thinking about buying gold (especially the wife) and don't divulge to ANYONE where it is stored/hidden. If you want the wife to have it in the event of your untimely demise, tell a friend that lives outside the country where it is, with instructions to tell the wife ONLY AFTER they burn your remains.

makes me wonder what kind of wife you have

Naam, I forgot about you. As a direct response, I don't have a wife, thank you. I live here & have seen every farang I know, save two, go through a divorce where the root cause was money, property, motorcy's or vehicles disappearing at the hands of the wife. You may have a different situation, but if you do, yours is the exception to the rule.

Maybe one day you will actually have something intelligent & cogent to add to the stated topic or discussion. I await that day with baited breath.

[reallyok]

You dont need to buy gold in Thailand. There are many places you can buy ONLINE !.............For example, The Perth mint in West Australia, they will just store it for you and sell when you want at current prices. My mate digs quite a lot up in the goldfields of WA stores it in the mint and sells when price is up.

By the way he tells me that he has quite a bit put aside till it reaches $2000 oz. Not sure if he is correct, but he says it will eventually reach that mark. So sounds like a good investment.

As a matter of interest, gold found in Australia is "Tax free"

[flying]

PAPER GOLD..

A very informative and correct post, I agree with everything in it,

As do I......I snipped to save space but I feel as Tagaa posted & act accordingly.

That was the point I tried to make regarding paper without going into detail.

All I would add is dont discount Silver

[p_brownstone]

PAPER GOLD..

A very informative and correct post, I agree with everything in it,

As do I......I snipped to save space but I feel as Tagaa posted & act accordingly.

That was the point I tried to make regarding paper without going into detail.

Seconded here.

At the end of the day a piece of paper saying you own " x " ounces of Gold in some Companys' vault is no different from holding British Pound notes which solemnly bear words something like "the Governor of the Bank of England promises to pay the Bearer .................... " .

Not only - as already pointed out - is the amount of Gold currently being traded far more than the physical amount in existence, the actual metal is also in increasingly short supply as Mines are being exhausted.

Physical Gold, in your own hands, is the best security.

Patrick

[simcity]

if you want to buy gold, one way to do it is from the stocks market / GOLD

What you talking about? do not be so negative on the two items i just mention (Perth mint certificate) AND GOLD (ASX)

Gold ASX have physical holding in UK

Secondly you can be Perth mint certificates in Allocated (segregated) or an unallocated (un-segregated)

Kor Tort.........

As you can see I did not quote your mention of Perth

I only quoted your mention of GOLD ( as in ticker symbol ) on the stock market.

Did not mean to be negative but certificates/papers either in the stock market or that read you have some *holding* somewhere is still just that......Paper

No negativity implied just facts.

GOLD ETFS METAL SECURITIES AUSTRALIA LIMITED.

ASX Code GOLD

Company Overview

GOLD is an exchange-traded commodity (ETC) that offers exposure to physical gold bullion. GOLD began trading on the ASX on 28 March 2003. The company is two-thirds owned by the World Gold Council and one-third by ETF Securities Limited. Established as a special-purpose vehicle, GOLD’s aim is to provide the public with an easy and transparent method to trade gold at a competitive rate. New gold bullion securities (GBS) can be created by approved applicants at any time for a minimum of A$500,000. The market price of GOLD will always be close to the gold spot price due to the underlying gold backing each security.

Principal activity

The company is offering an interest in physical Gold Bullion. The holder of a Gold Bullion Security will hold both a redeemable preference share of nominal value and a beneficial interest in approximately 1/10th of one fine troy ounce of physical gold.

Clear to me it is physical and not paper

edit: packing my bags now & living for Huahin tomorrow and let the revolution take it course ... one more thing flying a lot of pdf related to this GOLD with audit, they buy weekly gold to store in vault in UK to the value of the share holding, i think they take commission of 0.02%

Edited March 10, 2010 by simcity

[p_brownstone]

The company is offering an interest in physical Gold Bullion. The holder of a Gold Bullion Security will hold both a redeemable preference share of nominal value and a beneficial interest in approximately 1/10th of one fine troy ounce of physical gold.

Clear to me it is physical and not paper

Not sure if you are being serious or just facetious.

If I tell you "I am holding " x " ounces of Gold for you and here is a piece of paper to prove it".

It's NOT physical - it's a piece of paper ................. and I could issue dozens of pieces of paper, to dozens of people, covering that same amount of Gold.

Patrick

[Naam]

The company is offering an interest in physical Gold Bullion. The holder of a Gold Bullion Security will hold both a redeemable preference share of nominal value and a beneficial interest in approximately 1/10th of one fine troy ounce of physical gold.

Clear to me it is physical and not paper

Not sure if you are being serious or just facetious.

If I tell you "I am holding " x " ounces of Gold for you and here is a piece of paper to prove it".

It's NOT physical - it's a piece of paper ................. and I could issue dozens of pieces of paper, to dozens of people, covering that same amount of Gold.

Patrick

correct!

[neverdie]

Great thread, thanks for the interesting read.

[simcity]

The company is offering an interest in physical Gold Bullion. The holder of a Gold Bullion Security will hold both a redeemable preference share of nominal value and a beneficial interest in approximately 1/10th of one fine troy ounce of physical gold.

Clear to me it is physical and not paper

Not sure if you are being serious or just facetious.

If I tell you "I am holding " x " ounces of Gold for you and here is a piece of paper to prove it".

It's NOT physical - it's a piece of paper ................. and I could issue dozens of pieces of paper, to dozens of people, covering that same amount of Gold.

Patrick

you could not.

ETF Securities’ physical gold ETCs - ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU), ETFS Physical Swiss Gold (SGBS) and Gold Bullion Securities (GBS) - are all backed by “allocated” gold bars – uniquely identifiable bars which carry no bank credit risk. The precious metal bars are held in trust in London by the Custodian HSBC Bank USA N.A., the world’s leading Custodian for ETCs. The metal held with the Custodian must conform to the rules for Good Delivery of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). Securities are only issued once metal is confirmed as being deposited into the Company’s bullion account with the Custodian. Consistent with allocated gold, no precious metal is borrowed, loaned out nor does it earn any income.

Anyway, some people like to be safe at home around they gold bullion, I do not.

I sleep well with my certificates / mining shares / gold fund / and ASX GOLD .

As they said in the restaurant industry, all-time live the till open with 200 dollars inside when you shut the place.

The few baht I have a home are for the same principal, I will not have my corps photo in the front page newspaper been murder for my gold!

You said allocated gold hold for you in a vault or at Perth mint in storage are no secure, what i said it is, only non allocated gold is not secure by physical gold.

Why I am paying storage and cost for it, if it is not!

Patrick If you said “I am holding " x " ounces etcetera ....., i will said NON to you, as you do not have any credential.

Edited March 10, 2010 by simcity

[simcity]

You dont need to buy gold in Thailand. There are many places you can buy ONLINE !.............For example, The Perth mint in West Australia, they will just store it for you and sell when you want at current prices. My mate digs quite a lot up in the goldfields of WA stores it in the mint and sells when price is up.

By the way he tells me that he has quite a bit put aside till it reaches $2000 oz. Not sure if he is correct, but he says it will eventually reach that mark. So sounds like a good investment.

As a matter of interest, gold found in Australia is "Tax free"

Once again, I have to point out the fact that they could not provide physical to all the holders of the certs in a timely fashion. There was a 6 month waiting list to take delivery of sliver during the 2008 crash. During the time you need it most, it was not available to you. Like someone said, if you dont hold it, you dont own it.

This problems have been mainly blow out proportion by the media, allocated silver and gold were available, non allocated gold / silver (who can be physical transfer to customers) had a delay, but commitment were made and certificates were sold et paid for without delay.

[flying]

Principal activity

The company is offering an interest in physical Gold Bullion. The holder of a Gold Bullion Security will hold both a redeemable preference share of nominal value and a beneficial interest in approximately 1/10th of one fine troy ounce of physical gold.

Clear to me it is physical and not paper

edit: one more thing flying a lot of pdf related to this GOLD with audit, they buy weekly gold to store in vault in UK to the value of the share holding, i think they take commission of 0.02%

Yes well I am glad it is clear to you But for me that would be paper.

They say there is over 8000 tons in Fort Knox too.

They say it too is audited......But of course they do the auditing themselves.

Fort Knox has not been independently audited in over 50 years.

Bernie Madoff was audited a number of times & also by the SEC

That did nothing to help all his victims in the end.

If your happy with the paper that reads you have gold....That is the main thing.

I mean that in all sincerity because everyone needs to decide for themselves what works for their tolerance.

Edited March 10, 2010 by flying

[Captain Ron]

So OK..

I appreciate your help with all this... but actually i dont have a wife. So what are the dangers of storing gold in a bank safety deposit box? To collect the gold i need my passport or ID plus the key for my box, is that right?

Why is a bank vault a problem for storing gold? I want to store around 100 baht of gold only.

Thanks

I'm thinking like you Crossbones. I'd like to store a little gold in thailand in safety box bank or private box. My thai wife and I still live in US but we may live in thailand someday or maybe things will get so bad here we'll have to. Anyway we'd like to store some of our bullion in thailand and a safety box is the only thing that makes sense to me otherwise it's with Mom and while I trust her stuff happens.

Not worried about total collapse of a banks-we all know they'll give us all the paper money necessary.

it's nice we all have our own well informed opinions about how to own it and to each their own. I have all of the mentioned forms of owning it, but I don't have an outside the US physical storage place.

Also appreciate the info about Canadian Maples, thought I would have to bring cash and buy some 10B bars.

Does one not have to declare gold coins when bringing them into Thailand? or is there a limit??

Wife has an account at Bangkok bank but we keep getting the runaround about SD boxes. Seems they're in high demand and it's leg work going from branch to branch.

So does anyone have any leads on where to find available SD boxes to help out me and the OP?

[Tagaa]

I think you guys advocating "investing" in gold through ETF, PHAU, GBS,SGBS whatever, just don't get where the rest of us are coming from. To invest & feel secure in these vehicles means YOU MUST TRUST THE ISSUER. I don't.

Here's a scenario:

You call up Bob's Physical Gold ETF. Bob says we have gold in the vault to back what ever paper money you invest with us. We will sell you the gold for the current price, charge you a 15% commish, & monthly storage fees. You say "Cool Beans, I want to see my gold before I invest." Bob says "Come on down!" & you trek your little butt down to Bob's Bullion Vault. Bob says to you "This is your gold right here." You say "Cool Beans, he really does have my gold." You fork over fiat currency & since Bob showed you YOUR gold, you now feel comfortable.

Tomorrow another guy calls up Bob & wants to see his gold before he invests as well. Again Bob says "Come on down." This poor schmo does the same thing you did, see's what he thinks is his gold, feels comfortable & hands over his fiat currency (we really can't call it money anymore, can we) & goes home happy dappy.

You both feel comfortable because you have actually seen YOUR gold in the vault. What you saw was gold in a vault & you have no idea how many times that gold has been sold & to how many different schmo's, who ALL feel comfortable because they have seen their physical gold with their own 2 eyes. You also feel comfortable because some gubb-ment somewhere says "we have laws to regulate these companies." Well the SEC has laws to regulate investment funds & look what Bernie Madoff got away with & how many people lost their entire savings. OK, he's in jail NOW, but his depositors money is all gone. I'm sure they feel better.

I'm sorry...I don't trust these guys & you shouldn't either. When the music stops & you NEED your gold, "Who ya gonna call? Gold Busters". I'm sure guys in bad suits carrying guns will go down to Bob's Bullion Vault for you & say "hand over his gold" at which time Bob will say "Sorry, my frat brothers from Goldman Sachs & JP Morgan Chase came & got it all yesterday after the markets closed because they knew today would be a problem." Remember...when the music stops, the little guy will be left holding the bag...AGAIN. (Gee, I think I said that before, too)

If you feel comfortable with your gold in an ETF somewhere while you hold a fancy certificate, good for you. Sleep tight. I know I do.

Remember what I said in my previous post. The amount of gold reportedly stored in vaults all over the world is approximately 3 times the gold that has been mined in the history of mankind. REMEMBER THIS BEFORE YOU INVEST IN ANYTHING YOU CAN NOT HOLD IN YOUR OWN 2 HANDS AND TAKE WITH YOU AFTER YOU BUY IT.

[Montego]

It's Going To Implode: Buy Physical Gold - NOW

Submitted by Gordon_Gekko on 03/11/2010 07:29 -0500

Ed Steer:

Today's last story was sent to me by several readers yesterday... but the first one through the door was Michael Cheverton. This is a very long piece that's posted over at zerohedge.com. The author goes under the pseudonym of Gordon Gekko. It's rather shocking news about the "Metals Select Account" over at Jacksonville, Florida-based EverBank. Part of the notice they recently sent around to holders of this account reads as follows... "We may close your Metals Select Account at anytime upon reasonable notice to you. If we believe that it is necessary to close your account immediately in order to limit losses by you or us [GG: We really don’t give a s**t about you; it’s us that we care about], we may close your account prior to providing notice to you. Notice from us to one of you is notice to all of you [GG: the nerve of these people!]. If we close your account, we reserve the right to convert your Precious Metals to U.S. dollars and tender the balance to you by mail." The headline to this essay reads "It's Going To Implode: Buy Physical Gold - NOW".

As you may already know, dear reader, I have mentioned many times in this column that pool accounts have no physical metal backing them... and if a company [any company] that offers a pool account runs into financial problems... or fails entirely... you become an unsecured creditor of that company, and your chances of seeing your precious metals [or the money you paid] goes out the window. I urge you to read this essay very carefully... and act accordingly.

[YanTree]

HSBC oldest bank in Thailand - that's where I'd get a box.

[Damacles]

HSBC oldest bank in Thailand - that's where I'd get a box.

Ditto, but because a friend of mine has just stored a significant amount of gold sovereigns there in a safety deposit box. Seems happy with the service. He went to HSBC, Im bad with road names in BKK but it has Lumphini on the other side of the road - looks like a main branch.

[bellagrego]

I would suggest to you that you could not find a worst asset in which to place your baht, dollar, sterling or whatever. Do your homework and you will find no compelling reason to hold the stuff at all. Quite the opposite. Please diversify as any financial advisor would recommend. if you want a portion in gold, buy funds or other gold instruments, not bullion.

As for the safety of your baht, relax, study Thai history, the banking system, and the government backing. Risk are zero. No doubt, your Thai girlfriend or spouse is all in favor of this as it is near instant cash with no probate.

[bartender100]

I would suggest to you that you could not find a worst asset in which to place your baht, dollar, sterling or whatever. Do your homework and you will find no compelling reason to hold the stuff at all. Quite the opposite. Please diversify as any financial advisor would recommend. if you want a portion in gold, buy funds or other gold instruments, not bullion.

As for the safety of your baht, relax, study Thai history, the banking system, and the government backing. Risk are zero. No doubt, your Thai girlfriend or spouse is all in favor of this as it is near instant cash with no probate.

I think what the OP was getting at is, that in the event of a worldwide paper currency breakdown, as being predicted in some circles, gold would be the best commodity to be holding, and i agree, there would be nothing wrong in holding 10% of your capital in gold coins stored somewhere safely, this has been done for thousands of years.

[YanTree]

HSBC oldest bank in Thailand - that's where I'd get a box.

Ditto, but because a friend of mine has just stored a significant amount of gold sovereigns there in a safety deposit box. Seems happy with the service. He went to HSBC, Im bad with road names in BKK but it has Lumphini on the other side of the road - looks like a main branch.

It is on Rama IV road. The only HSBC branch in Bangkok I'm aware of and I believe it is called the 'HSBC Building'. Tell the taxi you want to go to 'Abdulrahim Place' and walk, it is next door. Or take the BTS to Saladaeng and have a five minute walk, just around the corner.

I'm been a Premier Customer there for years. If I moved abroad I would probably keep this as my primary bank. Excellent bank. Excellent service. I'd feel comfortable leaving half my net worth in bullion in one of their boxes for fifty years.

[up-country_sinclair]

It seems to me that if you're interested in short term speculation, then you can use the ETFs.

But if you're in it for the long haul, you should hold physical.

[tok]

I haven't seen anyone recommend YLG Bullion in Bangkok yet.

They sell 1kg authenticated gold bars from recognised international mints (Perth, Suisse etc). Each bar comes with a certificate. They will also provide allocated storage for free, and you can collect your physical bars with 24 hours notice.

If they are holding your gold you can also trade spot price with them instantly over the phone, selling or buying with +2 day settlement.

[azza09]

Can anyone reccomend the best source for Canadian Maples (gold and silver) for online purchase and international delivery.

Thanks in advance..

[fletchsmile]

Our exposures to gold:

Small amount of Thai gold sat in the safe. Personally I'm not a fan of holding physical gold, because of storeage hassles and risks.

Invesments in TMB Gold Fund and MFC International Gold Fund here in Thailand. Very easy, very convenient - independent custodians as well as professional managers. TMB doesn't hedge currency, MFC can. High correlation for both to actual physical gold - my preferred way.

Investments in mining companies - not gold itself - via funds such as global resource funds or Blackrock gold and general.

All 3 have pluses and minuses, and I figure why try and pick "the best" - spread it around - better suits my risk profile and return on risk.

I'm actually more bullish on silver, but that tends to be less convenient to hold in quantities or buying funds.