How To Cope In Thailand While Losing Money Abroad

[ChiangMaiFun]

I get a return of 7/8% net on my rented out condos - they may not appreciate but the income is good

[KeyserSoze01]

Interesting thread which offers some insight into how people invest and manage their assets.

I will not comment on the various instruments some have listed as their preferred strategies.

My personal choice is to actively manage my assets by trading various equity & futures markets. This is not as simple as placing your faith in a country's banking system, rates of return, real estate valuations, occupancy rates or 'guessing' the direction a country will take regarding fiscal policies... What is does do is allow me to move assets into or out of particular markets quickly, depending on geo-political & economic sentiment and technical indicators. While this is not as simple as placing faith in a fund manager or clipping coupons or collecting rental checks, it does allow for a much higher rate of return than these traditional investment strategies. Plus I enjoy it, as I always know where my $$$ is and what it is doing.

[JurgenG]

Interesting thread which offers some insight into how people invest and manage their assets.

I will not comment on the various instruments some have listed as their preferred strategies.

My personal choice is to actively manage my assets by trading various equity & futures markets. This is not as simple as placing your faith in a country's banking system, rates of return, real estate valuations, occupancy rates or 'guessing' the direction a country will take regarding fiscal policies... What is does do is allow me to move assets into or out of particular markets quickly, depending on geo-political & economic sentiment and technical indicators. While this is not as simple as placing faith in a fund manager or clipping coupons or collecting rental checks, it does allow for a much higher rate of return than these traditional investment strategies. Plus I enjoy it, as I always know where my $$ is and what it is doing.

For this kind of investment, what is the minimum amount required, and what kind of return are you expecting ?

Also have you ever experienced a big loss ? What is your strategy to avoid this kind of situation ?

[Lancelot]

in my [not so] humble view there are three major possibilities to invest in currencies.

1. become a daytrader and when you have some success post (boast) in Thaivisa "yesterday i made x-pips in y-time".

1. =

2. =

3. =

Yeah, day trading and bragging rights

[KeyserSoze01]

For this kind of investment, what is the minimum amount required, and what kind of return are you expecting ?

Also have you ever experienced a big loss ? What is your strategy to avoid this kind of situation ?

Investing in global markets is not magic, but work like any other profession. Yes, there is a learning curve and yes, you are likely to lose a bit of $$$ as you develop a trading strategy.

You can start with as little or as much as you want to put at risk. I began several years ago with a $5,000 USD trading account and built from there. As I became more confident in my skills, I added more $$$ to my trading account.

Yes, I have suffered large losses and in the early days would panic in these situations. Now, I realize that equity / futures prices are subject to emotional price swings based on a variety of factors, such as news releases, poor earnings, geo-political situations, etc... If an position goes negative, there is a good chance that it will recover and retrace to it's previous level. It's just a matter of time. Case in point, I recently invested in a global energy company after it had reported poor earnings due to the Macondo oil field issues in the Gulf of Mexico. The stock dipped, then began to retrace upward. I bought at the lower level and was anticipating a nice gain. All technical indicators pointed at this trend. Instead of going up, it dropped 15% as soon as I placed by buy order and I did not even have time to set a 'Stop Loss' trade to mitigate my risk. Instead of panicking, I held my position, and actually purchased more stock at the lower level to 'average down' my overall cost per share. Within 15 days, the stock had recovered and I made a nice profit on the trade. You have to remove emotion and fear from your trading strategy.

You can mitigate your risk by placing 'Stops' on a position. You can set the stop loss prices to whatever you choose, based on how much you are willing to lose if the trade does not go your way. There are issues with this also, as most stocks will fluctuate in price and you could get 'Stopped Out' as the price swings negative.

Folks can scoff at day traders and swing traders, but you would have to convince me that all Hedge Fund managers and larger brokerage firms are wrong, as this is how the markets operate these days. The days of buy and hold are only for those who have little knowledge of trading the markets and want long-term growth for their investments.

Now for the big question, what type of returns am I getting? I am earning between 0.5% - 1.0+% per day on my investments and have not had a losing trade in over 120 days. I do not trade every day as I perform due diligence on all trades that I make.

There is a wealth of free information and training material on the Internet to learn this profession. But as with most things in life, you must avoid the snake oil salesmen and focus on the basics. There is no easy method to learn any profession and it takes time, energy and $$$ to succeed.

[LaoPo]

How To Cope In Thailand While Losing Money Abroad

Interesting

Better don't cope in LOS and get the heck back and stop losing money.

LaoPo

[craigt3365]

One of my best friends use to be a broker. He made big money back in the 90's while working the "rich" crowd in Santa Barbara, California. I had sold my condo in New York and was sitting on a fairly large pile of cash about 6 years ago. I asked him what his advise was regarding stock investments. His reply was the only ones really making money in that biz were the brokers. More often than not, the average investor did not do that well. I'm sure the same applies to hedge funds, fee based mutual funds, etc.

For sure some make good money in stocks...but for most, it's a tough slog to really do well. Like mentioned above, index funds are a great way to go.

[JurgenG]

^ I recommend this very funny yet very instructive book : Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis

Wiki : The book is an unflattering, but accurate, portrayal of Wall Street traders and salesmen, their personalities, their beliefs, and their work practices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar%27s_Poker

[craigt3365]

^ I recommend this very funny yet very instructive book : Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis

Wiki : The book is an unflattering, but accurate, portrayal of Wall Street traders and salesmen, their personalities, their beliefs, and their work practices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar%27s_Poker

I was a global account rep for a large software company from 95' to 2005. Sold mainly to the financial institutions in Manhattan. Salomon, Citi, Morgan, Goldman, Deutsche Bank, etc. I was on the trading floor several times and got to see the guys in action. I actually witnessed this. A broker was having a problem with his PC screen. The guy I was with was an installer for the floor. He said, open a ticket and get it in the queue. We'll get it assigned ASAP (P.S. I sold the trouble ticketing software). The broker said "F that! Here's a hundred dollars....fix it now." My customer did and pocketed the bill. Which was good money back in 1999/2000. These guys made huge money, had private cars and drivers, and partied like there was no tomorrow. Unreal.

[Naam]

^ I recommend this very funny yet very instructive book : Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis

Wiki : The book is an unflattering, but accurate, portrayal of Wall Street traders and salesmen, their personalities, their beliefs, and their work practices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar%27s_Poker

how does reading these books help to "cope in Thailand while losing money abroad"?

[JurgenG]

^ I recommend this very funny yet very instructive book : Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis

Wiki : The book is an unflattering, but accurate, portrayal of Wall Street traders and salesmen, their personalities, their beliefs, and their work practices.

http://en.wikipedia..../Liar%27s_Poker

how does reading these books help to "cope in Thailand while losing money abroad"?

If you mean really, literally, answering the question, it's quite simple : if you're losing money, you should cut your expenses. Forget the fancy restaurants, eat home, watch TV, no more air cond, use a fan ...

[Heng]

Bread and water.

[LaoPo]

^ I recommend this very funny yet very instructive book : Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis

Wiki : The book is an unflattering, but accurate, portrayal of Wall Street traders and salesmen, their personalities, their beliefs, and their work practices.

http://en.wikipedia..../Liar%27s_Poker

how does reading these books help to "cope in Thailand while losing money abroad"?

If you mean really, literally, answering the question, it's quite simple : if you're losing money, you should cut your expenses. Forget the fancy restaurants, eat home, watch TV, no more air cond, use a fan ...

Cutting -private- expenses has nothing to do with losing money on a collapsing stock market, declining prices in real estate or simply burning money for your ex wife(s).

Like Heng said: BREAD & WATER...doesn't cut on losing money abroad.

Like I said before: stop coping in LOS and go the heck back, and try to stop losing money abroad.

LaoPo

[Naam]

Bread and water.

not a bit of rice and prikh naam pla?

[Naam]

^ I recommend this very funny yet very instructive book : Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis

Wiki : The book is an unflattering, but accurate, portrayal of Wall Street traders and salesmen, their personalities, their beliefs, and their work practices.

http://en.wikipedia..../Liar%27s_Poker

how does reading these books help to "cope in Thailand while losing money abroad"?

If you mean really, literally, answering the question, it's quite simple : if you're losing money, you should cut your expenses. Forget the fancy restaurants, eat home, watch TV, no more air cond, use a fan ...

and that the book "Liar's Poker" suggests?

[Heng]

A fun read though. I think I've gotten about a dozen copies as gifts over the years from friends with that Cobra Kai/Solomon Bros/Caddy Shack mindset.

[Heng]

^ I recommend this very funny yet very instructive book : Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis

Wiki : The book is an unflattering, but accurate, portrayal of Wall Street traders and salesmen, their personalities, their beliefs, and their work practices.

http://en.wikipedia..../Liar%27s_Poker

how does reading these books help to "cope in Thailand while losing money abroad"?

If you mean really, literally, answering the question, it's quite simple : if you're losing money, you should cut your expenses. Forget the fancy restaurants, eat home, watch TV, no more air cond, use a fan ...

Cutting -private- expenses has nothing to do with losing money on a collapsing stock market, declining prices in real estate or simply burning money for your ex wife(s).

Like Heng said: BREAD & WATER...doesn't cut on losing money abroad.

Like I said before: stop coping in LOS and go the heck back, and try to stop losing money abroad.

LaoPo

Well, 'going back' might only be a change of thread title from abroad to 'locally' or 'in my life.' Cutting expenses is pretty proven, it's how Jews, Chinamen, and everyone else with similar mindsets have weathered the storm and lived to prosper on some other day for thousands of years.

[LaoPo]

Well, 'going back' might only be a change of thread title from abroad to 'locally' or 'in my life.' Cutting expenses is pretty proven, it's how Jews, Chinamen, and everyone else with similar mindsets have weathered the storm and lived to prosper on some other day for thousands of years.

Oh sure; but a millionaire/bilionaire who's losing money won't cut back on his Kaviar, Jamon Jabugo or Mia Nois; he steps in his/a plane and goes there where he's losing money and will cut the losses dramatically by either firing his staff, 1.000's of people in his factories or brokers or all of them.

However, someone with a mere couple of 100K, living/coping in Thaiiland and notices his assets abroad (or locally) are declining should jump in a car/train, elephant or a plane (tourist calls of course ) and try to stop losing his money. It depends how much expenses a guy with a couple of 100K has....

LaoPo

[Heng]

You mean they should jump on a plane and log onto eTrade or Fidelity back home where the main difference is that the connection is faster?

[LaoPo]

You mean they should jump on a plane and log onto eTrade or Fidelity back home where the main difference is that the connection is faster?

I'm afraid I miss your point...

LaoPo

[Naam]

You mean they should jump on a plane and log onto eTrade or Fidelity back home where the main difference is that the connection is faster?

I'm afraid I miss your point...

LaoPo

i got Heng's point. it's of no use to go anywhere if your investments abroad lose money. whatever actions are required can be done from Nakhon Nowhere too. the problem is that most people have no idea how to act or are not in any position to act if their investments drop in value.

[LaoPo]

You mean they should jump on a plane and log onto eTrade or Fidelity back home where the main difference is that the connection is faster?

I'm afraid I miss your point...

LaoPo

i got Heng's point. it's of no use to go anywhere if your investments abroad lose money. whatever actions are required can be done from Nakhon Nowhere too. the problem is that most people have no idea how to act or are not in any position to act if their investments drop in value.

Depends what kind of investments; if you talk money invested in stocks/bond, sure, I agree.

Not if the investments are of another kind: real estate, invesments in businesses, partnerships, etc.

LaoPo

[Chunky1]

the smart money is in and has been in gold.

until the dollar collapses, the world markets are just a ponzi scheme.

you cant drown the truth in a sea of bs forever. it ALWAYS floats to the top, eventually.

[Ulysses G.]

I have to admit that I always follow chunky1's financial advice.

[Pacificperson]

I like Naan's advice in an earlier post "any investment which i don't understand within 90 seconds is a 'no-no' for me."

[craigt3365]

the smart money is in and has been in gold.

until the dollar collapses, the world markets are just a ponzi scheme.

you cant drown the truth in a sea of bs forever. it ALWAYS floats to the top, eventually.

Smart money was in gold. The future doesn't look so bright.

Doubt the dollar will collapse, at least not in my lifetime. It's the Euro that's in trouble now....

[Chunky1]

why do you say that the future does not look bright for gold?

just curious, for those of you who might be owed money by past girl friends from Isaan or the family in-law, do you list that debt on your asset column? 555

the euro's troubles are more obvious because of the nature of the euro (it can't be printed electronically at the whim of a few morons), rest assured the usd is just as screwed.

Edited November 27, 2010 by Chunky1

[craigt3365]

why do you say that the future does not look bright for gold?

just curious, for those of you who might be owed money by past girl friends from Isaan or the family in-law, do you list that debt on your asset column? 555

the euro's troubles are more obvious because of the nature of the euro (it can't be printed electronically at the whim of a few morons), rest assured the usd is just as screwed.

I'm no gold expert, but have been reading reports where people are becoming more concerned about it's future. Short term, it's great...but long term, the future is a bit shakey. Here's one article I read recently. Reminds me of oil at $140. Predictions of $200 where everywhere. And arguments about it's future were on both sides of the fence.

http://www.businessinsider.com/reasons-why-the-gold-bubble-will-burst-2010-10

For sure the USD is in trouble. It will be interesting to see what the US does about this. Something will be done, but will it work is the question.

[Chunky1]

there is no gold bubble, but there is a treasury bubble. how many of you here are purchasing or plan to purchase a five/ten/twenty/thirty year US bond at the current interest rates? of course you aren't. that article was terrible btw.

one of the biggest reasons novices like to disparage gold is that gold prices surged and then fell in the 1970's in the midst of 20% interest rates. that was when we had a trade surplus and did not have the massive deficit that we currently enjoy. that was when the us debt was owned by Americans in long term bonds, not foreign nations in 2 year bonds. Such action to save the usd would be impossible in 2010.

[Forethat]

the problem is that most people have no idea how to act or are not in any position to act if their investments drop in value.

So you're telling me not all are aware of the old "employ a biling....trilingu....multilingual gardener"-trick..? (I mean if we're speaking from a strict knowledge-perspective?) Edited November 27, 2010 by Forethat