Investment 101 for Dummies

[cheeryble]

No-one seems to have mentioned the all-important factor of what your long term plans are geographically (IF you know at your age).

This will affect what your base currency should be.

Example, I am almost certain to stay in Thailand so I can load up on Thai assets knowing that even if they go up or down internationally I will still have the same baht spending power.

You are also in the fortunate position of being able at your age to invest in moderately risky assets like stocks (yes amazingly conservative investments go lean on stocks and heavy on long term poorer payers fixed income) as if you stay invested they will almost certainly pay off over your time horizon.

[DogNo1]

The U.S. taxes any profits on collectibles and precious metals at the full income tax rate. Unless you have a huge income, capital gains taxes are kinder to your pocketbook. Also, you cannot deduct losses on precious metals the way you can deduct capital losses.

[Naam]

Stay away from funds, as they ALL take fees from 1-3%. Instead, find a gold shop that sells silver in pellet form. Buy 3kgs of silver in 3 seperate bags. And every month buy 1kg with your funds, regardless if the price is up or down. Dont try to time it, just establish a position. Keep at it and soon will will have a nice nest egg that is out of sight, very liquid and an inflation hedge.

Best to you...

reading that kind of advice makes my neck hair stand up. the only thing that's missing is "after a few years buy a wheel barrow and move your nice nest egg from one point out of sight to the next one out of sight!"

[panork]

I would also like to obtain details of the "simple business social networking business, referred to by isaco54.

[isawasnake]

Stay away from funds, as they ALL take fees from 1-3%. Instead, find a gold shop that sells silver in pellet form. Buy 3kgs of silver in 3 seperate bags. And every month buy 1kg with your funds, regardless if the price is up or down. Dont try to time it, just establish a position. Keep at it and soon will will have a nice nest egg that is out of sight, very liquid and an inflation hedge.

Best to you...

Here are some 5 year figures on some good Thai mutual funds. Click on "5 years" at the end if it doesn't load automatically. 10 years I am guessing would show many of those funds earning 10 to 15% per year. Worth paying 3% in fees?

http://siamchart.com/fund-compare/EQ_THAI

[cheeryble]

Isawasnake...

A thought

Doesn't the mere fact that the funds perform ABOUT the same suggest they are not performing better than each other (and probably therefore others in the market) and one would be considerably better off "tracking". 3% may not be so noticeable when one happens to have an exceptionally strong bull as the last five years, but I bet it would make the pips squeak if things were going the other way.

In fact it's easier than that.

This little graph suggests you don't need a fund you need a dartboard

http://www.scbam.com/v2/app/popupset.asp?l=th

(Click the little drop down box and hit 5 or better 10บี)

ps is it really 3% or less ouchy?

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

Edited April 20, 2014 by cheeryble

[Naam]

Stay away from funds, as they ALL take fees from 1-3%. Instead, find a gold shop that sells silver in pellet form. Buy 3kgs of silver in 3 seperate bags. And every month buy 1kg with your funds, regardless if the price is up or down. Dont try to time it, just establish a position. Keep at it and soon will will have a nice nest egg that is out of sight, very liquid and an inflation hedge.

Best to you...

reading that kind of advice makes my neck hair stand up. the only thing that's missing is "after a few years buy a wheel barrow and move your nice nest egg from one point out of sight to the next one out of sight!"

Sooo, you are saying that because silver is bulky that its not a wise investment?? Storage is one issue when buying physical metals, but its easy to overcome. I have rented safe deposit boxes the size of suit cases before. As have I seen that a 25Kg "sack" of silver fits into a large safe. But the fact is, there is safety in diversification, and one would soon discover NOT to keep all their eggs in one basket, and that the most visible place is also the most secure. Many folks tend to enjoy the task of determining where to hide their metals.....

please tell me one bank in Thailand where a deposit box (any size) and without huge fees for insurance (payable several years in advance) is easily available.

the financial wisdom of holding precious metals is debatable but if "PMs" then it should be gold which (especially in Thailand) which is easy to store and to carry and which can be bought and sold nearly 24/7 without any problems.

[Thailand J]

No-one seems to have mentioned the all-important factor of what your long term plans are geographically (IF you know at your age).

This will affect what your base currency should be.

Example, I am almost certain to stay in Thailand so I can load up on Thai assets knowing that even if they go up or down internationally I will still have the same baht spending power.

You are also in the fortunate position of being able at your age to invest in moderately risky assets like stocks (yes amazingly conservative investments go lean on stocks and heavy on long term poorer payers fixed income) as if you stay invested they will almost certainly pay off over your time horizon.

It is convenient you don’t ever have to look at USD to Thai Baht conversion chart again for any reasons now that you have moved all your money to Thailand. I surely hope you got a good rate when you did that. Personally it is not that important where I may live. There is nothing wrong or “inappropriate” to keep my investment in USD instead of Thai B. The currency fluctuations may help me just as much as it may hurt me..some how that does not worry me

I hope the 1997 Asian currency crisis does not happen again..if it does, imagine 55B to 1 USD .

[Naam]

the "fees" i referred to is the insurance premium. your THB 7k did not cover a high value. we are SCB clients since 2004 and it took us 4 years to be "awarded" a locker, which we then declined after discussing insurance.

try to sell your pellets in a shop where you did not buy them and then report the procedure.

[cheeryble]

try to sell your pellets in a shop where you did not buy them and then report the procedure.

They're pellets?

I can tell you what used to happen in Hatton Garden for gold and PGMs if you wanted to sell them.

They have to be melted into a bar for homogeneity, then several (2 or 3?) cores drilled and fire assayed.

There was a warning of a large batch of tungsten-filled gold bars some time ago and skullduggery's certainly happened with silver.

Edited April 21, 2014 by cheeryble

[SheungWan]

Buying and holding gold or silver is not an investment, it is a bet on the end of the world, so I guess it really is investment for dummies. If you are not generating income then you are depleting your capital. I cannot think of an investment strategy more ridiculous than the small-time accumulation of pellets. One for the pigeons.

[Naam]

Buying and holding gold or silver is not an investment, it is a bet on the end of the world, so I guess it really is investment for dummies. If you are not generating income then you are depleting your capital. I cannot think of an investment strategy more ridiculous than the small-time accumulation of pellets. One for the pigeons.

don't forget that the shooting of werewolves requires silver bullets!

[cheeryble]

Naam whatever you do don't invest in wine you'll be stealing from your own vault.

Or perhaps you should give me the key.

I live to serve.

(Visions of morning gluhweining in lovely old stube on the piste down to Zermatt)

Edited April 21, 2014 by cheeryble

[AyG]

Buying and holding gold or silver is not an investment, it is a bet on the end of the world, so I guess it really is investment for dummies. If you are not generating income then you are depleting your capital. I cannot think of an investment strategy more ridiculous than the small-time accumulation of pellets. One for the pigeons.

Ummm, thats one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. Every one on this forum is now dumber for having read your words. Really.

Tell Eric Sprott what you think, sure he needs a good laugh.

My initial reaction was "who the tarnation is Eric Sprott"? (I'm not American, but it's possible that American investors have heard of him.)

My (albeit limited) investigations inform me he makes a living by hyping precious metal funds (along with other questionable investments) and raking off a nice commission.

He may claims that he invests the vast bulk of his wealth in shiny stuff, though I couldn't find any evidence to that effect. I suspect he's smarter than to do so.

Sprott is building his wealth at the expense of millennialists and other ill-informed, apocalyptic idiots who believe his spiel.

I don't always agree with SheungWan, but this time he is spot on: I can't think of an investment strategy more ridiculous.

[SheungWan]

Buying and holding gold or silver is not an investment, it is a bet on the end of the world, so I guess it really is investment for dummies. If you are not generating income then you are depleting your capital. I cannot think of an investment strategy more ridiculous than the small-time accumulation of pellets. One for the pigeons.

Ummm, thats one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. Every one on this forum is now dumber for having read your words. Really.

Tell Eric Sprott what you think, sure he needs a good laugh.

https://www.sprott.com/

And tell all the people that bought silver at $20 then sold it at $40, and went short back down to $20. All all the hedge funds that own SLV and other silver ETFs. Or all the futures traders that hold futures contracts on silver. All the spot silver investors. Or the investors that hold mining companies.

Buying coins is not possible in Thailand. Silver pellets is what they use, there is spread between a buy and a sell price. I have seen some individuals buy extreamly large quantities of the pellet silver here, and make money from it.

There is a world of difference between those who are traders (of stocks, commodities etc) and those who are investors who are told to buy, buy, buy at any price because it is a safe harbour. At least those who trade concede that the price can go down as well as up which is a story never sold to the new investor. And if one is trading there is no need to hump bags of pellets around. ETFs will suffice. Still, I have yet to see a gold/silver bug suggest to a new investor buy at this price and sell at that price. And probably too ashamed to admit that they were all gung ho on silver at $49. Whatever, none of it is suitable as an investment strategy as there is no income and without income you have to sell. Its as simple as that.

[cheeryble]

try to sell your pellets in a shop where you did not buy them and then report the procedure.

They're pellets?

I can tell you what used to happen in Hatton Garden for gold and PGMs if you wanted to sell them.

They have to be melted into a bar for homogeneity, then several (2 or 3?) cores drilled and fire assayed.

There was a warning of a large batch of tungsten-filled gold bars some time ago and skullduggery's certainly happened with silver.

Did this happen to you? Never heard of any shop in CM asking for the metals to be melted down just so they can take a sample. If they want a sample, taking a few pellets out would be easy, no? Anyways, like I said, they shops dont bat an eye when selling back to them.

Yes it's happened when I've sold PGM concentrate, about 24% Platinum, 2% Palladium, 1% Gold and other PGMs, and the rest mostly base metals.

In fact the first time I gave a batch to a buyer's lab they didn't know how to handle it and overheated it with an induction furnace and blew at least 5000 quid up the chimney. Honourably they still paid me for it, not bad for a small lab. So much for the delights of assaying. I later did my own chemistry and sold our product as platinum black approaching pure, a much easier product to handle and sell.

Only thing I sold since then was some Kruggerrands years ago to Baird and Co by post, cheque arrived promptly.

Never bought or sold in Thailand.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

Edited April 21, 2014 by cheeryble

[Androider]

Buying and holding gold or silver is not an investment, it is a bet on the end of the world, so I guess it really is investment for dummies. If you are not generating income then you are depleting your capital. I cannot think of an investment strategy more ridiculous than the small-time accumulation of pellets. One for the pigeons.

Ummm, thats one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. Every one on this forum is now dumber for having read your words. Really.

Tell Eric Sprott what you think, sure he needs a good laugh.

https://www.sprott.com/

And tell all the people that bought silver at $20 then sold it at $40, and went short back down to $20. All all the hedge funds that own SLV and other silver ETFs. Or all the futures traders that hold futures contracts on silver. All the spot silver investors. Or the investors that hold mining companies.

Buying coins is not possible in Thailand. Silver pellets is what they use, there is spread between a buy and a sell price. I have seen some individuals buy extreamly large quantities of the pellet silver here, and make money from it.

There is a world of difference between those who are traders (of stocks, commodities etc) and those who are investors who are told to buy, buy, buy at any price because it is a safe harbour. At least those who trade concede that the price can go down as well as up which is a story never sold to the new investor. And if one is trading there is no need to hump bags of pellets around. ETFs will suffice. Still, I have yet to see a gold/silver bug suggest to a new investor buy at this price and sell at that price. And probably too ashamed to admit that they were all gung ho on silver at $49. Whatever, none of it is suitable as an investment strategy as there is no income and without income you have to sell. Its as simple as that.

Well. I admitted that I bought gold before the protest in Bangkok because I did not want to keep baht at that point (we all knew baht value would go down because of Bangkok Shutdown). But I would not keep it as my investment.

[AyG]

Well, I consider myself a novice investor, and I an NOT american and have heard about Eric Sprott for a long time. So just the fact that you have never heard who he is gives me a pulse on your level of investment knowledge. As far as you not being able to find any evidence that he invests in metals, well, thats just stupid. Why would you even try, and why would you think you have the ability to find the details of his asset holdings??

I hadn't heard of Eric Sprott because I don't follow so-called "experts" who hype investments of any type. One need only to look at this blog which tracks his pronouncements to see that he falls into this category. http://ericsprott.blogspot.com/

I wanted to find evidence that he invests himself as he encourages others to do. I'm pretty sure he's a snake oil salesman and I strongly suspect that he doesn't take his own medicine.

Silver's price history shows long periods of going nowhere, then spiking dramatically. Not a characteristic I appreciate in an investment. The extreme kurtosis of the returns and wide dispersion (from -9% to +19%) are also a warning signs that this is not a safe investment.

Out of curiosity, I calculated the internal rate of return over rolling 10 year periods from 1960 to the present, assuming equal investments each year. The chart shows the distribution of returns for 44 of the 45 periods. (For one period I couldn't calculate the IRR).

For 13 of those periods (30%) the return was zero or negative.

The mean IRR was 4.5% over all periods, which is pretty pathetic for an investment that doesn't provide any income.

In short: the silver price can be highly volatile, with over a 10 year period a high probability of actually making a loss, even with regular investment.

Avoid.

[Donnie Brasco]

I'd like to suggest take you limit your investment in any particular fund /stock/bond etc to between 3-5% of your total portfolio. Any investment can go sideways when you least expect it. MSFT, INTC and Cisco were considered safe back in the middle to late 90s and some of us were too concentrated in them and lost a bundle!

$4300 is hardly enough to build a portfolio as 5% = $21.50.

a journey of 10,000 miles starts with the first step

Yeah, you can say that again.

As my Granny used to say . . . . . "That's just enough money to get yourself into trouble"

And a hit bait thread usually starts with an OP like this one.

In any case in the years after the Hong Kong handover there was a whole mob of these investment mavens that washed up in Thailand. Most of them had a hundred grand or so in their jeans. ( ¥£€$ . . . . . . You pick the currency)

They're mostly all gone now.

Just go to Yaowarat and buy physical gold from a reputable gold shop for now.

And yeah, yeah Gold's being beaten down by paper ETF's and paper futures and a lot of other ooga booga nonsense trades right now but you will be safe with gold.

Don't trust anybody with your money.

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit. . . . "

[cheeryble]

Oh, and read this book......well worth the 5 bucks.

http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/loren-howe/the-real-story-of-money-health-and-religion/paperback/product-4107059.html

How odd I had an email correspondence with this chap about property some years ago.

The book probably is worth reading he does his best whilst possibly not realising his limitations (like many of us of course), but he noticeably misses out on broader significances for example that his most important thing of all.....love/compassion.....is a manifestation of the deeper essence, non-duality with everything "else". When you "get" that you have a much broader and more useful perspective.

(Like the reporter made the pizza joke with the Dalai Lama.....Make me one with everything.)

He doesn't even mention recognising reality and illusion and the limitations of concept/language which really is baby steps for anyone who wants to be espousing to others, well perhaps not baby steps but it's come up again and again from Buddha to Wittgenstein......it's the perennial philosophy.

However he can sometimes be quite refreshing about matters as mundane as mortgages.

ps probably going off topic here.

pps Lorax's little book can be had for free.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

Edited April 22, 2014 by cheeryble

[SheungWan]

I'd like to suggest take you limit your investment in any particular fund /stock/bond etc to between 3-5% of your total portfolio. Any investment can go sideways when you least expect it. MSFT, INTC and Cisco were considered safe back in the middle to late 90s and some of us were too concentrated in them and lost a bundle!

$4300 is hardly enough to build a portfolio as 5% = $21.50.

a journey of 10,000 miles starts with the first step

Yeah, you can say that again.

As my Granny used to say . . . . . "That's just enough money to get yourself into trouble"

And a hit bait thread usually starts with an OP like this one.

In any case in the years after the Hong Kong handover there was a whole mob of these investment mavens that washed up in Thailand. Most of them had a hundred grand or so in their jeans. ( ¥£$ . . . . . . You pick the currency)

They're mostly all gone now.

Just go to Yaowarat and buy physical gold from a reputable gold shop for now.

And yeah, yeah Gold's being beaten down by paper ETF's and paper futures and a lot of other ooga booga nonsense trades right now but you will be safe with gold.

Don't trust anybody with your money.

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit. . . . "

Don't trust anybody. Trust me telling you to buy gold. OK, guv.

[Donnie Brasco]

I'd like to suggest take you limit your investment in any particular fund /stock/bond etc to between 3-5% of your total portfolio. Any investment can go sideways when you least expect it. MSFT, INTC and Cisco were considered safe back in the middle to late 90s and some of us were too concentrated in them and lost a bundle!

$4300 is hardly enough to build a portfolio as 5% = $21.50.

a journey of 10,000 miles starts with the first step

Yeah, you can say that again.

As my Granny used to say . . . . . "That's just enough money to get yourself into trouble"

And a hit bait thread usually starts with an OP like this one.

In any case in the years after the Hong Kong handover there was a whole mob of these investment mavens that washed up in Thailand. Most of them had a hundred grand or so in their jeans. ( ¥£$ . . . . . . You pick the currency)

They're mostly all gone now.

Just go to Yaowarat and buy physical gold from a reputable gold shop for now.

And yeah, yeah Gold's being beaten down by paper ETF's and paper futures and a lot of other ooga booga nonsense trades right now but you will be safe with gold.

Don't trust anybody with your money.

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit. . . . "

Don't trust anybody. Trust me telling you to buy gold. OK, guv.

You can trust anyone who tells you to buy gold because

a)there's no "end" in it for the guy who's advising and

people with so little to invest need some kind of forced savings plan

c) the reasons for buying gold and silver differ dramatically from the reasons to buy real estate and commodities (second choice) d) the historical benefits are matters of fact not opinion and trend.

and finally, your keen appreciation for the fact that I advised him not to take advice and yet advised him anyway is quite well taken. In a stoopid, pig-headed, childish, doon-ta-poob, jejune, follow your own council sort of way you have seized upon one of the cornerstones of drunken debate all across the UK.

In future correspondence with people like you I'll just spell everything out ad nauseam then shall I

Fork man, I thought I'd already done that.

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit. . . . "

[SheungWan]

You can trust anyone who tells you to buy gold because

a)there's no "end" in it for the guy who's advising and

people with so little to invest need some kind of forced savings plan

c) the reasons for buying gold and silver differ dramatically from the reasons to buy real estate and commodities (second choice) d) the historical benefits are matters of fact not opinion and trend.

and finally, your keen appreciation for the fact that I advised him not to take advice and yet advised him anyway is quite well taken. In a stoopid, pig-headed, childish, doon-ta-poob, jejune, follow your own council sort of way you have seized upon one of the cornerstones of drunken debate all across the UK.

In future correspondence with people like you I'll just spell everything out ad nauseam then shall I

Fork man, I thought I'd already done that.

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit. . . . "

So now we have a virtual magical mystery tour as to why someone should buy gold as an investment. That over the last year it is useless (and the year before that) sort of escapes Mr 'Fuggedabowdit' but at least the OP has some idea what lurks in the corners. As for the claimed disinterested advice from the gold bugs, well even the most cursory glance at the end of the world panic websites has them littered with buy gold get rich quick schemes. They are flogging 'matters of fact' but none of it quite adds up apart from the losses that is.

[Donnie Brasco]

You can trust anyone who tells you to buy gold because

a)there's no "end" in it for the guy who's advising and

people with so little to invest need some kind of forced savings plan

c) the reasons for buying gold and silver differ dramatically from the reasons to buy real estate and commodities (second choice) d) the historical benefits are matters of fact not opinion and trend.

and finally, your keen appreciation for the fact that I advised him not to take advice and yet advised him anyway is quite well taken. In a stoopid, pig-headed, childish, doon-ta-poob, jejune, follow your own council sort of way you have seized upon one of the cornerstones of drunken debate all across the UK.

In future correspondence with people like you I'll just spell everything out ad nauseam then shall I

Fork man, I thought I'd already done that.

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit. . . . "

So now we have a virtual magical mystery tour as to why someone should buy gold as an investment. That over the last year it is useless (and the year before that) sort of escapes Mr 'Fuggedabowdit' but at least the OP has some idea what lurks in the corners. As for the claimed disinterested advice from the gold bugs, well even the most cursory glance at the end of the world panic websites has them littered with buy gold get rich quick schemes. They are flogging 'matters of fact' but none of it quite adds up apart from the losses that is.

I'm not recommending the OP buy gold last year or the year before.

I have already debunked the ETF/gold price scam and warned him off that ass-fly, goof-garrison of You-Kaay financial wizards that will take anybody's money.

And if these guys see a trace of stoopidity or even a lack of extreme skepticism in the eyes of their mark they go in for long term "portfolio" action. He's free to do as he pleases and win or lose, pay commissions in and out

Then, trying to make me an easier mark, I guess, you rave on about websites and losses.

Is THAT the best you can do ?

I hold gold and silver and real estate for other reasons.

"Gold is the poor man's real estate" . . . . Real estate is the rich man's gold" (Donnie the Jeweller)

And your screaming bluddy straw-man murder and making up allegations I NEVER stated, on a website like this, just shows the frailty of your position.

If we were sitting across from each other right now, I would let you go on for a while and then I would just bring up my savings account page.

You could make up stories to shoot your gob off at the SIX figures I am waiting to place.

That's my current task.

it's only gonna get worse when I start divesting RE (not paper funds) and I have to place seven figures.

Are you getting this yet ??

I have NO debt.

Like the OP, (who is very likely trolling ANYWAY) . . . . . I too am looking around and wondering where to put my cash for now.and after speaking with financial advisors in three major world capitals and corresponding with others I feel that buy and hold is the way to go. I am not really looking for growth but as with gold over the past ten years I'll take it if it comes along.

And I am leaning to gold, silver and RE for this play.

And YOU, . . . . . which whiz-bang financial instrument, security, tax-free account are YOU gonna put YOUR SIX figures into, hot-shot ?

It's ok kid.

I'll get this one.

(There won't be another.)

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit. . . . "

[SheungWan]

You can trust anyone who tells you to buy gold because

a)there's no "end" in it for the guy who's advising and

people with so little to invest need some kind of forced savings plan

c) the reasons for buying gold and silver differ dramatically from the reasons to buy real estate and commodities (second choice) d) the historical benefits are matters of fact not opinion and trend.

and finally, your keen appreciation for the fact that I advised him not to take advice and yet advised him anyway is quite well taken. In a stoopid, pig-headed, childish, doon-ta-poob, jejune, follow your own council sort of way you have seized upon one of the cornerstones of drunken debate all across the UK.

In future correspondence with people like you I'll just spell everything out ad nauseam then shall I

Fork man, I thought I'd already done that.

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit. . . . "

So now we have a virtual magical mystery tour as to why someone should buy gold as an investment. That over the last year it is useless (and the year before that) sort of escapes Mr 'Fuggedabowdit' but at least the OP has some idea what lurks in the corners. As for the claimed disinterested advice from the gold bugs, well even the most cursory glance at the end of the world panic websites has them littered with buy gold get rich quick schemes. They are flogging 'matters of fact' but none of it quite adds up apart from the losses that is.

I'm not recommending the OP buy gold last year or the year before.

I have already debunked the ETF/gold price scam and warned him off that ass-fly, goof-garrison of You-Kaay financial wizards that will take anybody's money.

And if these guys see a trace of stoopidity or even a lack of extreme skepticism in the eyes of their mark they go in for long term "portfolio" action. He's free to do as he pleases and win or lose, pay commissions in and out

Then, trying to make me an easier mark, I guess, you rave on about websites and losses.

Is THAT the best you can do ?

I hold gold and silver and real estate for other reasons.

"Gold is the poor man's real estate" . . . . Real estate is the rich man's gold" (Donnie the Jeweller)

And your screaming bluddy straw-man murder and making up allegations I NEVER stated, on a website like this, just shows the frailty of your position.

If we were sitting across from each other right now, I would let you go on for a while and then I would just bring up my savings account page.

You could make up stories to shoot your gob off at the SIX figures I am waiting to place.

That's my current task.

it's only gonna get worse when I start divesting RE (not paper funds) and I have to place seven figures.

Are you getting this yet ??

I have NO debt.

Like the OP, (who is very likely trolling ANYWAY) . . . . . I too am looking around and wondering where to put my cash for now.and after speaking with financial advisors in three major world capitals and corresponding with others I feel that buy and hold is the way to go. I am not really looking for growth but as with gold over the past ten years I'll take it if it comes along.

And I am leaning to gold, silver and RE for this play.

And YOU, . . . . . which whiz-bang financial instrument, security, tax-free account are YOU gonna put YOUR SIX figures into, hot-shot ?

It's ok kid.

I'll get this one.

(There won't be another.)

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit. . . . "

Oh gosh its all about you? Well no, the thread is about what options a new investor should investigate in order to generate some returns presumably better than the 2%+ he might get from putting it in a bank term deposit. So what do our gold bugs offer. Hey you can do better than 2%, you can get 0% (that is zero percent) with gold. Just daft. As for property, this has and does provide an excellent income stream for many retirees in Thailand who have rented out their houses in their home country. However, property has a relatively high entry price (at least in prime areas) and it is unlikely that a new investor has the sort of money to get in here, unless he wants to buy condos in Thailand which I have reservations about. Maybe, in the unlikely event he does have a spare $1,000,000 burning a hole in his pocket I can make a few recommendations. But it won't be lumps of metal doing nothing. And a tax free loss of 25% the last year. What new investors are mostly wanting is to generate sufficient income to keep ahead of eating into their capital. For these objectives buying into PMs is simply facing backwards.

Edited April 24, 2014 by SheungWan

[Donnie Brasco]

You can trust anyone who tells you to buy gold because

a)there's no "end" in it for the guy who's advising and

people with so little to invest need some kind of forced savings plan

c) the reasons for buying gold and silver differ dramatically from the reasons to buy real estate and commodities (second choice) d) the historical benefits are matters of fact not opinion and trend.

and finally, your keen appreciation for the fact that I advised him not to take advice and yet advised him anyway is quite well taken. In a stoopid, pig-headed, childish, doon-ta-poob, jejune, follow your own council sort of way you have seized upon one of the cornerstones of drunken debate all across the UK.

In future correspondence with people like you I'll just spell everything out ad nauseam then shall I

Fork man, I thought I'd already done that.

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit. . . . "

So now we have a virtual magical mystery tour as to why someone should buy gold as an investment. That over the last year it is useless (and the year before that) sort of escapes Mr 'Fuggedabowdit' but at least the OP has some idea what lurks in the corners. As for the claimed disinterested advice from the gold bugs, well even the most cursory glance at the end of the world panic websites has them littered with buy gold get rich quick schemes. They are flogging 'matters of fact' but none of it quite adds up apart from the losses that is.

I'm not recommending the OP buy gold last year or the year before.

I have already debunked the ETF/gold price scam and warned him off that ass-fly, goof-garrison of You-Kaay financial wizards that will take anybody's money.

And if these guys see a trace of stoopidity or even a lack of extreme skepticism in the eyes of their mark they go in for long term "portfolio" action. He's free to do as he pleases and win or lose, pay commissions in and out

Then, trying to make me an easier mark, I guess, you rave on about websites and losses.

Is THAT the best you can do ?

I hold gold and silver and real estate for other reasons.

"Gold is the poor man's real estate" . . . . Real estate is the rich man's gold" (Donnie the Jeweller)

And your screaming bluddy straw-man murder and making up allegations I NEVER stated, on a website like this, just shows the frailty of your position.

If we were sitting across from each other right now, I would let you go on for a while and then I would just bring up my savings account page.

You could make up stories to shoot your gob off at the SIX figures I am waiting to place.

That's my current task.

it's only gonna get worse when I start divesting RE (not paper funds) and I have to place seven figures.

Are you getting this yet ??

I have NO debt.

Like the OP, (who is very likely trolling ANYWAY) . . . . . I too am looking around and wondering where to put my cash for now.and after speaking with financial advisors in three major world capitals and corresponding with others I feel that buy and hold is the way to go. I am not really looking for growth but as with gold over the past ten years I'll take it if it comes along.

And I am leaning to gold, silver and RE for this play.

And YOU, . . . . . which whiz-bang financial instrument, security, tax-free account are YOU gonna put YOUR SIX figures into, hot-shot ?

It's ok kid.

I'll get this one.

(There won't be another.)

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit. . . . "

Oh gosh its all about you? Well no, the thread is about what options a new investor should investigate in order to generate some returns presumably better than the 2%+ he might get from putting it in a bank term deposit. So what do our gold bugs offer. Hey you can do better than 2%, you can get 0% (that is zero percent) with gold. Just daft. As for property, this has and does provide an excellent income stream for many retirees in Thailand who have rented out their houses in their home country. However, property has a relatively high entry price (at least in prime areas) and it is unlikely that a new investor has the sort of money to get in here, unless he wants to buy condos in Thailand which I have reservations about. Maybe, in the unlikely event he does have a spare $1,000,000 burning a hole in his pocket I can make a few recommendations. But it won't be lumps of metal doing nothing. And a tax free loss of 25% the last year. What new investors are mostly wanting is to generate sufficient income to keep ahead of eating into their capital. For these objectives buying into PMs is simply facing backwards.

For the third time; stop labelling me as a gold bug.

I know it's all you got and that her where it's so easy to buy 23kt gold at almost no premium it bothers you that I would advise such a thing.

I buy and sell gold elsewhere.

I hold a kilo of FREE gold and a bumper box of sliver eagles and a few bags of silver coins. The purchase price I have recouped by (you guessed it selling the first half)

Gold bug ???

I am HIGHLY suspicious of anyone who would smear the way I conserved and made that part of my wealth.

Re property

Let's see you could pull out the old "fixing toilets" chestnut. That used to work when some gearbox wanted to make me feel low about being a landlord.

Yep. Have fixed a few plumbing leaks, installed a few locks, replaced windows and built kitchens in my time as an urban real estate investor. Aside from outperforming the stock market by multiples I have had the pleasure of the odd naughty shag on the side as well.

You seem to get off shuffling whiz-bang paper.

And, if I am not mistaken, your next pitch will imply that whiz-bang paper hangers can make an investor a nice chunk of change.

How's paper hanging working out for you anywhere else but your favourite corner cubicle off to the right of the bar ?

See, the thing of it is . . . . . I know how to make money and you know how to make confused people THINK you know how to make money for them.

Anyway, I'm looking at commodities now.

Price is right.

Edibles.

Maybe farmland.

Shuffle shuffle shuffle.

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit. . . . "

[SheungWan]

For the third time; stop labelling me as a gold bug.

I know it's all you got and that her where it's so easy to buy 23kt gold at almost no premium it bothers you that I would advise such a thing.

I buy and sell gold elsewhere.

I hold a kilo of FREE gold and a bumper box of sliver eagles and a few bags of silver coins. The purchase price I have recouped by (you guessed it selling the first half)

Gold bug ???

I am HIGHLY suspicious of anyone who would smear the way I conserved and made that part of my wealth.

Re property

Let's see you could pull out the old "fixing toilets" chestnut. That used to work when some gearbox wanted to make me feel low about being a landlord.

Yep. Have fixed a few plumbing leaks, installed a few locks, replaced windows and built kitchens in my time as an urban real estate investor. Aside from outperforming the stock market by multiples I have had the pleasure of the odd naughty shag on the side as well.

You seem to get off shuffling whiz-bang paper.

And, if I am not mistaken, your next pitch will imply that whiz-bang paper hangers can make an investor a nice chunk of change.

How's paper hanging working out for you anywhere else but your favourite corner cubicle off to the right of the bar ?

See, the thing of it is . . . . . I know how to make money and you know how to make confused people THINK you know how to make money for them.

Anyway, I'm looking at commodities now.

Price is right.

Edibles.

Maybe farmland.

Shuffle shuffle shuffle.

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit. . . . "

Yet more of the 'me! me! me!' dirge and very little indeed for the new investor with some limited funds and an income generation target. About as useful as would be me advising to buy a Central London property. ie none.

[Donnie Brasco]

I'm just doing my level best to keep anyone who may be paying attentions away from such an obvious troll/marketing thread as you have orchestrated here.

My motives are altruistic . . . . Yours have an obvious end for yourself.

Your suggestions do NOTHING but make commissions for the broker (and I suspect that this broker might very well be YOU ;-)

OP if you are indeed looking for a safe haven and risking and locking up your little nest egg makes sense just buy some gold from a reputable shop in Yaowarat

You can always use it for Sinsot

But that's another troll thread ;-)

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Donnie Brasco]

Just trying to keep some real guy with a few bucks away from the likes of you.

And just for the record I think you and your little troll-baiter buddy should take your forking dog-and-dance scam to some other website.

Get a job.

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit. . . . "

Edited April 24, 2014 by Donnie Brasco

[SheungWan]

I'm just doing my level best to keep anyone who may be paying attentions away from such an obvious troll/marketing thread as you have orchestrated here.

My motives are altruistic . . . . Yours have an obvious end for yourself.

Your suggestions do NOTHING but make commissions for the broker (and I suspect that this broker might very well be YOU ;-)

OP if you are indeed looking for a safe haven and risking and locking up your little nest egg makes sense just buy some gold from a reputable shop in Yaowarat

You can always use it for Sinsot

But that's another troll thread ;-)

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Well I guess we have progress of sorts (maybe) and moved on from the big 'I am', but unfortunately segued into bogus moral high ground wearing a neon 'altruistic' hat (give us a break!). All the while dragging our new investor into the brave new world of zero dividend returns. Planet Gold has some weird inhabitants.