Starting a saving account for children 2500 baht month which one?

[kwak250]

I have been currently saving 2500 baht each for my two children for a few years with any bank that gave the best interest!

Now over the last few years i have around 200,000 baht that just finished a fixed saving 6 months

My question is would it be better to put in a long term saving 10-15years

Is there any scheme that offers insurance /accidents

i dont want to buy gold / invest in stocks just interested in a easy way to save money i understand it wont be worth much in years to come and worth less than it is now with inflation but still its going to be a nice chunk of money one day also land is out of the question we bought some 8 years ago and now a new market area has been built and this area is deserted just a factory next door .

Any help would be great as interest rates are low and would love a long term plan thanks

[kwak250]

If Naam is reading this i would love your input you may be an annoying "£^T to many

but your Knowledge is very good on these subjects

[Torrens54]

My wife and I are doing the same for our daughter. Don't know of anything safer than the existing "Fixed Term" account for a year or so and then rolling it over into another "Fixed Term." Like you, we don't want to try our luck (her luck) with Gold or Land, just want to ensure she has some Hard Cash in the future along with the house etc., I'd suggest you keep doing what you've been doing.

[prakhonchai nick]

Village loans at a reasonable interest rate. Been doing it for 8 years. Kids have close on 3 million baht (half transferred to the UK and put into Premium Bonds). Originally gave them 1000baht a month each. Total defaults to date..1,500Baht! Let the wife manage it with people she knows and trusts.

[Kabula]

Storable food, water and medicines!

Prices worldwide are increasing rapidly. Great to barter with in a crises and a great price saver over time when consumed.

What would a hungry person pay if not available?

History has shown us paper currency always fails over time.

Check it out for yourself!

The trolls will disagree, but they will be the first to beg!

[TechnikaIII]

The best bank account is the one your kids can't touch, your wife can't touch, and most of all the mother in law can't touch.

The problem for the children will be the extended family who see them as the "rich kids". Family is family ... and in Thailand that means anyone who can claim to be a relative. In Thailand they feel they have a right to share in the spoils. There is no health and accident insurance, ....well, who needs it when there are rich relatives.

I started bank accounts for two children in my neighborhood. To protect the accounts, I had the school principle sign as guardian for the accounts, with the bank books kept in the principle's office. When I returned from Australia after a 2 month absence, I went to deposit a few more baht in each. I found that the accounts had been closed, money gone. The irresponsible shit-bag mother of one, had put pressure on the school to hand over her daughter's account. The other girl was pressured to follow suit. End of episode one.

Edited September 10, 2014 by TechnikaIII

[Thailaw]

The best bank account is the one your kids can't touch, your wife can't touch, and most of all the mother in law can't touch.

The problem for the children will be the extended family who see them as the "rich kids". Family is family ... and in Thailand that means anyone who can claim to be a relative. In Thailand they feel they have a right to share in the spoils. There is no health and accident insurance, ....well, who needs it when there are rich relatives.

I started bank accounts for two children in my neighborhood. To protect the accounts, I had the school principle sign as guardian for the accounts, with the bank books kept in the principle's office. When I returned from Australia after a 2 month absence, I went to deposit a few more baht in each. I found that the accounts had been closed, money gone. The irresponsible shit-bag mother of one, had put pressure on the school to hand over her daughter's account. The other girl was pressured to follow suit. End of episode one.

Your efforts to help these children are commendable, but hopefully the same actions would not have happened if the children were your own and the mother(s) were your wife. She (the wife) would have had other sources of money than robbing from her child's account. I think that the perception changes when the mother needs to feed/clothe her family (including the child you are trying to help) and there is money sitting in the bank that could be used to fill needs now. As for insurance, who needs it when you can't afford to pay for it, and the government offers a B30 medical scheme/scam -- one of the reasons Taksin & Co. gets all of the votes in Issan.

And while your point may be valid, I do not see that it applies in a "family" (husband, wife and child) relationship. If you want to help children in need, perhaps it is better to give money to an organized charity who can administer the money for the benefit of the children.

[Thailaw]

I am not aware of any banks in Thailand offering fixed deposits for 10 or more years. The longest that I know if is 36 months. And those accounts are taxable, they will deduct 15% tax from the interest earned. And 10 to 15 years is too long to keep money tied up in Thailand, as the situation here is too volatile. IMO, 3 years for a fixed interest rate instrument is long enough. Corporate bonds may be available for terms of 10 years and more, but I am not sure if denominations are as small as B200,000. You would need to check with a broker.

The "builder's accounts" where you add a specified equal amount of money each month are among the most attractive for Thai children, as the earnings are tax free. You could open a 36 month builder's account to deposit, for example, B5555, and use the proceeds from your earlier deposits to fund this account, which will deplete the B200,000 in 36 months. The B200,000 could be deposited in a savings account with automatic monthly withdrawals to fund the builder's account, and earn interest in the savings account pre-transfer. Of course, the interest on a savings account will be less than on a 2 to 3 year fixed account, but the difference is not that much, probably less than 1 percent. This will probably produce a total yield that is greater than just putting the money in a 3 year fixed term account, but you would need to run the numbers. The highest interest rates on savings and fixed accounts that I have found are at Land & House Bank. I have fixed term (after tax interest @2.65%) and builder's accounts (tax fee interest @ 4.1% (not sure what their current rates are)) for my daughters at L&H Bank, and all accounts are insured up to B1 million by the GoT.

The amount that you are working with at present is not large enough to do much searching or spreading of the risk, but "all or nothing" is probably not the best approach if the amount grows -- having some portion of the money in good Thai stocks (financials and retail are good sectors) is IMO a reasonable risk and the best way to "share" in the benefit of the growing Thai economy over the long term.

[Utley]

Do any Thai banks pay compound interest or do they all pay simple interest? If you can find one that pays compound interest (you earn interest on your interest) then that would be the one I would choose for a long term savings account. I just did a quick search on Google but could not find the answer.

[Thailaw]

Do any Thai banks pay compound interest or do they all pay simple interest? If you can find one that pays compound interest (you earn interest on your interest) then that would be the one I would choose for a long term savings account. I just did a quick search on Google but could not find the answer.

Most banks in Thailand, to my knowledge, pay and post interest semi-annually. I seem to recall that one bank paid interest monthly on longer maturity fixed term accounts, but I do now recall which one if my recollection is indeed correct. One "game' that Thai banks play is to pay the interest from a higher yielding fixed term account into a companion lower interest savings account, so the interest paid does not get the benefit of earning the higher fixed term rate.

Compounding interest is helpful, but it is just one element of deciding what bank and what account/term is most attractive. A bank offering a higher simple interest rate account may be preferable to a lower "continuously compounded" interest rate account of equal term -- it is the "effective yield" that really matters. In the US banks are required to provide the "APR" (annual percentage rate), which is the simple interest equivalent rate to what ever product the bank is offering, so that a prospective saver (borrower) can compare offered rates and terms on an "apples-to-apples" basis. I am not aware of any Thai bank that provides an APR, APY or similar concept of a standardized measure of the interest rates paid on deposit accounts, although there may be such a disclosure required for interest charged on credit cards or consumer loans.

[54321]

Hello

I have no idea with regards to interest rates, but may I quote (and probably annoy) you

"i dont want to buy gold / invest in stocks just interested in a easy way to save money i understand it wont be worth much in years to come and worth less than it is now with inflation but still its going to be a nice chunk of money one day"

I just wanted to mention that as you have recognised holding cash in a bank account means it grows slowly and can indeed become worth less due to inflation, I would urge anyone in a similar position with long term savings goal to have a mixture of assets.

If I had children and wanted to put away some savings for them then during the ages 1-15 (when there was no way they would need the funds) 100% would be in shares,, as they approached 18 (when the money would be theirs) I would be inclined to move the money into cash (to avoid any short term blips in the markets). Its all about risk management and not being forced to sell the shares when they are low.

Again, forgive me, but for someone in a position similar to yours (risk adverse) and dependent on the age of the children , I would put half of the 200,000 in a mixture of 3 or 4 quality stocks,