2.5 million baht to invest while living in Chiang Mai. Ideas?

[puukao]

In America, it's rather difficult to run any kind of actual business with under 200k. Taking loans out is out of the question. My passion is cycling. I have an MBA , but I find that degree rather useless. Anyhow, I have lived in CM for about a year over two separate visits, and I don't see spending significant time away from the mountains.

I am sure there are much smarter people on TV than myself, and I'm curious what ideas you might have.

I would rather not have passive income, since I would like to play an active role in the business.

I have some programmers from Microsoft I could hire, but first I would like to define a solid business model. They are friends of mine.

*The margins in selling bike parts is pretty low; most money comes from service or bike fits. bike tours do seem like a good use of time promoting. coaching is ok, but makes more sense if you are bundling that with some software. anyhow...

thanks.

Of course, if TV wants to sell me 51% of the site. lol. i probably couldn't even get 5.1%.

[mesquite]

Here are my ideas.

- Do not advertise on TV or anywhere else that you have 2.5 M THB. Don't let anybody know your financial situation.

- Keep all your money outside of Thailand.

- Somehow, make your money to spend, outside of Thailand, like an internet-based business located in the US.

- Consider asking the mods to totally delete this thread so no one knows you have 2.5M THB.

Edited December 28, 2013 by mesquite

[worgeordie]

You could open up a bar or restaurant as a lot of ex-pats do,

that have money and don't know what to do with it,you could

base it on a cycling theme ,that is if you did not have to work

hard to earn the money,as it will be easy come,easy gone !

regards Worgeordie

[Thighlander]

2.5 won't even get you preferred bank parking at Central. A lot of the stuff you mentioned requires a work permit......Trade stocks in America at night or open an account at May Bank and trade the SET, which is getting pretty reasonable. Buy some cheap condo shells, renovate and sell them, or rent them out and manage them. I once met a guy, who did debt collection calls to the US at night. Opening a bar, restaurant, or guesthouse.....you will be squeezed until you are popped like a pimple.

Edited December 28, 2013 by Thighlander

[jackr]

Lots of people sell bike parts and there are well established bike tour firms. How about learning Mandarin and offering bike tours to adventurous Chinese?... I'm sure there are some out there. Would need a work permit of course.

Stocks & shares...

Gold...

Platinum...

Btw, you probably couldn't even get 0.5% of this site. For starters -- and setting aside Adsense, hotel bookings, insurance, classifieds and the rest of it -- do you know how much it is to advertise and how many clients there are?

[andreandre]

I have a great plan..put it all in my bank account and let me shoulder the burden for you..

[orang37]

Don't do it.

~o:37;

[amexpat]

I have a great plan..put it all in my bank account and let me shoulder the burden for you..

I can't believe that didn't appear until the 6th post. Maybe TV is getting better, after all.

[infernalman7]

Coffee shops. If done right, quite high mark up per sales.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

There are some niches in cycling sales and service that are sparse and/or poor in Thailand.

Chinese carbon frames are dirt cheap on ebay/Alibaba etc but not being sold in CM.

Fork/shock service and parts. TCA does Fox and Jacky does RS? Neither are very good IMO about keeping parts in stock or detail . As far as I can tell if your on a magura, Marz or DT then your on your own.

Good quality cycling shorts and shoes hard to find.

A service shop cooperative where people can come in and rent the shop for a time period and perform some service. There would be an attendant to make sure the tools don't disappear or get damaged.

Good quality fit kit or performance tuning. Custom foot beds. A number of interesting systems out there.

Not a lot of money to be made but kind of like being a drug dealer or strip club manager. Would have its perks.

Just don't bring in money to Thailand that your not prepared to lose.

[Thighlander]

Coffee shops. If done right, quite high mark up per sales.

Way too many......you would have to have too many employees to get a work permit, the hours would be long, and you would be on tv complaining that people are spending 30 thb and staying for three hours to use the wi-fi.

[andreandre]

I have a great plan..put it all in my bank account and let me shoulder the burden for you..

I can't believe that didn't appear until the 6th post. Maybe TV is getting better, after all.

Or maybe just that not so many posters have the good Xmas spirit and really want to help out....as i do

[MadMac]

Banks give you currently something like 3.3% minus 15% tax. Not really interesting.

An option may be to buy a good located older (bigger) condo with good management and rent that out. That will give you something in the 7...8% range of return, besides a value increase. But needs some time to look around and also a bit of luck.

[beau thai]

Take care - the best way to make a small fortune in business here is to start with a large fortune.

I know they say you can always tell an MBA-but you cant tell them much, but you evidently have some business smarts. Is there some software stuff you can do using cheap competent staff in India (bangalore etc). ?

So many websites need improving although the owners dont see it, and search engine optimization is a never ending need-everywhere. Everyone wants to be on page one of google without paying their ad rates.

And try to find something that doesnt make you a prisoner of your business 24/7

Best of luck

[Dante99]

Don't do it.

~o:37;

That is correct, do not do it. If you are asking here, you do not have it together at all.

[FiftyTwo]

2.5M will last you five years with quite a good life style.

Just spend it.

Very few successful foreign owned business in Thailand.

I know of two, "Tony's big bikes" and "The Dukes".

Tony sold out at a profit, Duke is still going strong.

I can name a load who lost the lot, many returned to their home countries.

For every 1 that makes money, 999 lose the lot and quickly.

People ask, why so hard to make money in Thailand?

The answer is really easy, to be legit a foreigner needs to employ at least two Thais + himself.

That's 3 wages, while a Thai doing the same business, needs only pay himself.

Lots of foreigners working illegally (making peanuts), but if you are going to do that ....................

Edited December 28, 2013 by FiftyTwo

[donniereadit]

What do programmers have to do with opening a biking business? Most business here would be local referrals. Are you American, or a Thai citizen?

Anyhow, if you were a sole proprietor somewhere like Switzerland I could see doing this. Renting a small shop, maybe buying some bikes wholesale and renting them out, or even doing just guided tours and working on the bikes the rest of the time, maybe even hiring some friends later on, but not here...

Why?

You would have to hire 2 Thai employees and deal with a lot of red tape like vacation pay, medical, etc. I'm not even sure if your allowed to work on bikes with a work permit (something definately worth looking up). Even foreigners that own restaurants and coffee shops can't work the register etc. due to strict regulations. Also, a business has to be 51% Thai owned from what I understand. Just that in itself is a no go for me. Why? Because it always ends in disaster (every time) as my long term friends here say. Sometimes even the 49% foreigner owner showing up for money and being run off the property. The usual ethics and fair play your used to are just not the norm here.

The BS would likely rob you from any satisfaction you would otherwise get from the endeavor. I hope you don't need to do this for living expenses. If so, you need to improve your situation before settling here.

Edited December 28, 2013 by donniereadit

[jackr]

A karaoke bar with farang 'interests'.

[ttthailand]

Chiang Mai could use another gogo

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

For a cycling enthusiast a carbon fiber frame repair service could be pretty interesting.

Currently the import/export and shipping costs and regs are onerous but with ASEAN opening things up it might be world competitive at some point.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/10/bikes-and-tech/carbon-repair-options-for-repairing-carbon-bike-frames_196178

Detail skills of the repair/painting etc are well suited to Thai labor skills. It would involve a learning curve and investment in a thermal imager or similar to assess often hidden damage.

I'm not a fan of the dust and chemicals etc from a health standpoint but have been intrigued by this business.

Carbon is not going away and it does crack.

[Jose]

Just spend it.

+1

Or...

1) stick your 2.5 mill (2013 Baht) in a bank acc or under the matress (little difference, but probably safer in your possesion);

2) withdraw it all in 10 years;

3) buy yourself a cup of coffee with your 2024 2.5 mill Baht.

[DaamNaam]

Keep enough for your return ticket home.

[Rancid]

The problem with investing in todays highly manipulated environment is that what should happen often doesn't. The US (and many other western countries) is a debt basket case just waiting to collapse, the market is currently doing well, it is all about when to pull the plug in time so you don't have a deckchair on the Titanic. Not that the Thai environment is any safer, saw a rare article on zero hedge discussing Thailand's grim propsects tonight.

Gold is currently getting hammered, if you are patient you can park money there and hope for a quick economic collapse, that could see a nice spike although charts suggest not yet.

Another wait for the crash scenario is to cash up and wait for some real estate bargains, yes they are slow to appear, but appear they eventually do as banks feel the pain of excess non-productive assets. However they only attain value as the economy recovers.

The real question is how long can the world debt ponzi/money printing scam last? Many thought it should have folded already and now have egg on their faces. I also obviously don't know, but I am planning on cashing in on the crash as am in no hurry for an immediate return.

[baywatch82]

Spend it all in one night in Chiang Mai. Write a book about it. Let somebody to translate it in Thai. It will be bestseller.

[anonymouse]

I have owned business's in Chiang Mai and while the initial start up might seem small, the chances of success are even slimmer that in your home country, my business's failed and I have seen countless other well intentioned hard working people fail over the years.

As someone mentioned before there are a handful of successful Farang owned business's in Chiang Mai that have survived more than 5 years. There are many others that are breaking even or failing but are propped up by western pensions and quiet often just vanity projects.

My advice would be to find work locally and look for business opportunities once you have a couple of years living here full-time under your belt or set up a business that you can run online and target Western Consumers.

[eyecatcher]

It is a bit naive to come on here proclaiming what you have with you and really no idea what to do with it.

If you wanted to set up a business then you should already have your ideas, business plan, and how much to set it up.

Then and only then do you transfer an amount that you need, no more initially.

have you got family in your fatherland? Just remember that you are potentially also spurning any of your inheritance. When your assets are here its a mammoth task for anyone after your death to lay claim to your "millions" without a will.

I suggest you read the excellent thread on this forum about wills and what happens if you die here without one. Its frightening unless you are sorted.

Bringing money into thailand is like gambling on a horse, only do it if you can afford to lose it.

As 52 says that's 5yrs of good living without even thinking, so unless you are serious at risking all that much in a business, then send it back from whence it came and draw yourself a 500k a year salary.

[thrilled]

A bike shop,I think risky.Um not even A restaurant/ bar,more risky.Maybe get A schwab account,buy good dividend stocks that give 4-6% interest A year.Just saying there have been so many investing in A business in Thailand.A high percentage go under.I'm just saying I wouldn't take the risk.

[puukao]

all good answers, thanks. yea, this line of reasoning makes sense. the software aspect? strava dot com is really good, and microsoft maps are open source. carbon fixing? yea, i have seen that in my home city. oh, i didn't even get one PM asking for anything. i'm not rich by any means.

i've been "lazy" about this for about 4-5 months because i keep coming back to the same conclusions noted here.

i even had a "friend" work for him and steal about 100k. another "friend" of another store stole tons of equipment. and dealing with high turnover doesn't seem fun.

day trading stocks at night in CM? I am very well versed in the market; ES, YM, NQ, bond futures, stocks, ETF's, munis for investments, and even bitcoins.

anyhow, thanks again for the great input.

mods.......you can drop the hammer now.

[arunsakda]

There are some niches in cycling sales and service that are sparse and/or poor in Thailand.

Chinese carbon frames are dirt cheap on ebay/Alibaba etc but not being sold in CM.

Fork/shock service and parts. TCA does Fox and Jacky does RS? Neither are very good IMO about keeping parts in stock or detail . As far as I can tell if your on a magura, Marz or DT then your on your own.

Good quality cycling shorts and shoes hard to find.

A service shop cooperative where people can come in and rent the shop for a time period and perform some service. There would be an attendant to make sure the tools don't disappear or get damaged.

Good quality fit kit or performance tuning. Custom foot beds. A number of interesting systems out there.

Not a lot of money to be made but kind of like being a drug dealer or strip club manager. Would have its perks.

Just don't bring in money to Thailand that your not prepared to lose.

Carbon has massive sales appeal fueled by images of world class athletes powering up mountains . True I haven't seen much in CM. I myself once longed for carbon but, it's not for me. Google carbon/crash/broken bones and you'll see why. A repaired crack on a carbon frame will be stronger than before, but adds weight. The rest of the structure will be just as susceptible to damage and hidden flaws invisible to the eye, likely to fail again. When you prang a metal frame it will most likely just bend a little. You might still finish your ride. Carbon tends to fail suddenly and completely. Think dangerous loss of control and ground contact. (Did you hear about the dude who took a broken seat post up his 'taint?)

Fine for the team riders with constant sponsored supply of new bikes. Most enthusiasts are be better off staying on steel or aluminum. Money to be spent shaving a few hundred GRAMS with carbon goodies used elsewhere, and get in shape and lose a a few KILOS weight off ones ass for free! Ti on the other hand, might get me to loosen my pursestrings .

Edited December 28, 2013 by arunsakda

[Mark1971]

OP

I think you need to ask yourself many questions & add more details before anyone here can help you.

How much of your 2.5M Baht are you prepared to risk loosing?

What would you do if the business failed & you lost your entire investment?

How much income do you need to generate?

Have you any experience setting up & running a business?

How long do you plan to stay in Chiang Mai for?

Do you have a Thai partner you trust?

Do you have kids, or do you plan to have kids in the future?