would it affect u?

[leosuntime]

If, im not saying when, but if there was a bank run in thailand, or the value of the baht plummeted, or even if there was an extended bank holiday.

How bad would it affect you and your family?

Similar things are happening all over the world at the moment. If you are interested you can read about it in the link below.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-24/20-early-warning-signs-we-are-approaching-global-economic-meltdown

[ubonjoe]

Moved to general topics.

[wym]

Why do you think every non-destitute Thai family keeps significant percentage of their wealth in portable gold?

Makes hooking up with farm girls look better and better - just make sure the family crops are edible, and that you're bringing more to the family than "mere cash".

Bangkok and resort areas won't be the places to be living if any of this actually happens.

[leosuntime]

Why do you think every non-destitute Thai family keeps significant percentage of their wealth in portable gold?

Makes hooking up with farm girls look better and better - just make sure the family crops are edible, and that you're bringing more to the family than "mere cash".

Bangkok and resort areas won't be the places to be living if any of this actually happens.

I bet u that the common thai citizen doesnt own gold, and I bet that most thais dont have more than 5000 baht in savings.

thats why we r seeing protests

but this post is not about thai people its about TVF members who have something to lose...

putting that aside

would a thai banking crisis hurt u? if u could not with draw baht from the bank are u prepared? ????

anyone?

[h90]

Why do you think every non-destitute Thai family keeps significant percentage of their wealth in portable gold?

Makes hooking up with farm girls look better and better - just make sure the family crops are edible, and that you're bringing more to the family than "mere cash".

Bangkok and resort areas won't be the places to be living if any of this actually happens.

I don't know any Thai family that owns gold

[leosuntime]

another article on bank troubles in china, and comments about suspicious bank policies on withdrawals in Britain.

These policies exist all over the west...

if u r interested u can read it here

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-24/bank-run-fears-continue-hsbc-restricts-large-cash-withdrawals

[speedtripler]

dont never keep all your savings as cash in a thai bank

get stocks ,shares ,bonds ,property ,bitcoins ,gold ,silver ,diamonds ,a safe deposit box

save some other currencies as well ,in case the thai baht plummets you have dollars ,pounds

or euros to fall back on

[CharlieH]

As the saying goes, "dont keep all your eggs in one basket" and I add to that , balance the baskets according to risk !

If you look closely most Thais have Gold jewellery of some description, and "pawn it" when times are hard and get it back out when times are better. You wont see them wear it everyday but you will see it on special occasions, like wedding etc, unless they are showing off for some reason.

Atleast thats the picture here out in the sticks, other areas may vary.

[wym]

I bet u that the common thai citizen doesnt own gold, and I bet that most thais dont have more than 5000 baht in savings.

Dunno, that's a pretty low number, but then "most Thais" are very poor that's true.

But at the low end of that part of the population that does have liquid assets, a VERY high proportion of that would be in gold. My most recent MiL has several hundred baht squirreled away in various safe locations, and as far as I know only a few hundred thousand in bank accounts.

I don't know any Thai family that owns gold

Just means you don't know any Thai family that has been willing to discuss the matter with you.

It isn't just poor people, one of my students told me his dad's given him a swiss kilobar each birthday, very secure basement safe at their grandfather's country home.

He wants to get a Bugatti Veyron when he turns 20, dad thinks it's not a good idea. . .

[suthansman]

Rare you actually see their gold. They generally have it someplace secure or hidden.

[zeichen]

Since I have most of my money in foreign currencies Baht dropping to the floor will help me a lot since the cost of living has increased about 45% in the past 10 years.

I know a lot of Thais that keep their money spread out between dollar accounts, gold and other commodities.

For the poor people the lower Baht wouldn't effect them directly anyway. It would help the export farmers a great deal.

However I don't think that the Baht will crash anytime soon. The markets are pretty stable and imports/exports are relatively consistent. The problems of the Asian Crash back in 1998 are not present. A little political turmoil doesn't change things usually. Tourism is actually up in most other areas of Thailand. Chiang Mai is flooded with Chinese tourists that are spending like crazy.

[leosuntime]

I bet u that the common thai citizen doesnt own gold, and I bet that most thais dont have more than 5000 baht in savings.

Dunno, that's a pretty low number, but then "most Thais" are very poor that's true.

But at the low end of that part of the population that does have liquid assets, a VERY high proportion of that would be in gold. My most recent MiL has several hundred baht squirreled away in various safe locations, and as far as I know only a few hundred thousand in bank accounts.

I don't know any Thai family that owns gold

Just means you don't know any Thai family that has been willing to discuss the matter with you.

It isn't just poor people, one of my students told me his dad's given him a swiss kilobar each birthday, very secure basement safe at their grandfather's country home.

He wants to get a Bugatti Veyron when he turns 20, dad thinks it's not a good idea. . .

recent mil = several hundred baht rofl?

wut?

only 100 one baht bars is two million baht

several hundred??? 4 mil +

when was your recent mil? 2002?

You come across extremely arrogant wym, every where u post

[mogandave]

I have some money in the the bank here, and if I lost it I would not be happy about it, but I think I'd be okay.

[wym]

recent mil = several hundred baht rofl?

wut?

only 100 one baht bars is two million baht

several hundred??? 4 mil +

when was your recent mil? 2002?

You come across extremely arrogant wym, every where u post

No, 2010. Not sure I understand your confusion, you really think that's a lot of money for a Thai family? Even in the countryside there's many families with lots more than that, some still living in what you would call a shack, yard full of chickens pecking through the rubbish.

The farmland she owns is at least 50x that value too, with no debt, in fact she carries over 100 families on credit on her little front of the yard grocery shop, goes to the market every morning at 4:30am in her 70's. That's how she's accumulated her money, never asked for anything from her daughter's farang husbands either, in fact she's helped me and the kids get through some hard times in the past, sending bags of rice up to BKK.

Maybe you should get out of your farang-ghetto cocoon a little more. . .

[Bender]

yes i agree, its start to be more and more obvious. I have few friends who owns business, they feel the credit crunch is coming fast... and the thai economy is not strong as people seems to think.

[sustento]

another article on bank troubles in china, and comments about suspicious bank policies on withdrawals in Britain.

These policies exist all over the west...

if u r interested u can read it here

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-24/bank-run-fears-continue-hsbc-restricts-large-cash-withdrawals

If you actually read the BBC article that that points to you'll find that they aren't restricting large withdrawals at all. Time to don the tinfoil hat boys!

[chiang mai]

Half my cash assets are in THB in Thailand spread across banks from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, the other half is offshore in GBP and other currencies, a similar number of banks. I'm very very comfortable with that.

[chrisinth]

leosuntime, on 25 Jan 2014 - 18:19, said:

wym, on 25 Jan 2014 - 17:13, said:

leosuntime, on 25 Jan 2014 - 16:39, said:

I bet u that the common thai citizen doesnt own gold, and I bet that most thais dont have more than 5000 baht in savings.

Dunno, that's a pretty low number, but then "most Thais" are very poor that's true.

But at the low end of that part of the population that does have liquid assets, a VERY high proportion of that would be in gold. My most recent MiL has several hundred baht squirreled away in various safe locations, and as far as I know only a few hundred thousand in bank accounts.

h90, on 25 Jan 2014 - 16:48, said:

I don't know any Thai family that owns gold

Just means you don't know any Thai family that has been willing to discuss the matter with you.

It isn't just poor people, one of my students told me his dad's given him a swiss kilobar each birthday, very secure basement safe at their grandfather's country home.

He wants to get a Bugatti Veyron when he turns 20, dad thinks it's not a good idea. . .

recent mil = several hundred baht rofl?

wut?

only 100 one baht bars is two million baht

several hundred??? 4 mil +

when was your recent mil? 2002?

You come across extremely arrogant wym, every where u post

I think maybe it is you that is being arrogant with your answers. To generalize that not many Thais have assets put to one side is both naïve and foolish.

My next door neighbour's wife has just last week cashed in 150 'chain' bahts worth of gold to purchase some land. This is a middle class Thai family. Considering at the time one baht gold was about 20,000 baht, that is a good sum of money.

Spend some time off the leo and out of the sun before flaming people who probably know what they're talking about..................

[leosuntime]

Wym;
My most recent MiL has several hundred baht squirreled away in various safe locations, and as far as I know only a few hundred thousand in bank accounts.

You cant buy several hundred gold baht coin with one million baht unless you bought around 2002

you are lying lol, do you understand?

[Ajaan]

Why do you think every non-destitute Thai family keeps significant percentage of their wealth in portable gold?

Makes hooking up with farm girls look better and better - just make sure the family crops are edible, and that you're bringing more to the family than "mere cash".

Bangkok and resort areas won't be the places to be living if any of this actually happens.

I don't know any Thai family that owns gold

Hahaha, are you kidding?! Almost EVERY Thai family--especially the poor ones--owns gold!! They don't wear all of it all the time (for obvious reasons), but you better believe they own it. Same for Chinese, Cambodians, Lao, you name it...how long have you lived in Asia?!

[wym]

You cant buy several hundred gold baht coin with one million baht unless you bought around 2002

you are lying lol, do you understand?

I didn't ever say how much she spent on her gold - I have no idea! Where did you get a million baht?

And WRT the date, I thought you were asking me the year when she became my MiL.

I have no idea how long ago she bought the gold, I assume she's done it over time as she's been able to squirrel it away, most of it over the past 25 years.

I know two baht came as part of the sin sot from my marrying her daughter, and a further three in recent years as a thank you gift from me, for her so kindly feeding and looking after our children for months at a time during some hard years after the divorce and I took sole custody.

I believe the Norwegian husband of my SiL gave her three or four baht as well.

The rest came from her own hard work and savings.

[wym]

Going back over the thread I just realized the source of the misunderstanding.

My most recent MiL = mother-in-law

not million

It should have been obvious from the context I was talking about Thai culture, not my own finances.

[leosuntime]

Going back over the thread I just realized the source of the misunderstanding.

My most recent MiL = mother-in-law

not million

It should have been obvious from the context I was talking about Thai culture, not my own finances.

oh ok, sorry about that, i never heard of MiL before

[wym]

I bet u that the common thai citizen doesnt own gold, and I bet that most thais dont have more than 5000 baht in savings.

thats why we r seeing protests

And BTW that last is a bit silly, the current protests are organized by relatively wealthy people, campaigning to try to STOP the poor majority from having so much influence on Thai politics, in effect trying to suspend democracy.

I can't see poor Thais protesting just because they're poor, they're pretty used to it and resigned to the status quo.