Secure, long-term financial support for Thai family....!? HELP!

[fletchsmile]

Fletch!

You got me interested =)

Do you mind providing me with more information about the Singapore investment you mentioned? Either through here or private message is fine too. And are foreigners allowed or only local residents. I would definitely consider Singapore, and South Korea is the next on my list too. I would really appreciate it if you could share some details as to how to get this investment.

Thanks!

Jac,

Singapore REITs I currently hold, that are worth a look are:

ART, FCT, FCOT, OUEHT all listed on SGX

http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ART:SP

http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/FCOT:SP

http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/FCT:SP

http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/OUEHT:SP

The quoted yields on the above are between 5.8% and 7.1%, with price/book or NAV between 0.87 to 1.03

Characteristics are similar to what you mentioned for the Thai REITS, eg one of the Fraser ones expanding in Australia. OUEHT recently added Changi property.

So if Thai REITs appeal, there's a good chance these would too for the same reasons. Nothing to do for tax, capital gains. Just collect distributions and nothing further to do,

They're quite easy to buy. You just need a brokerage account. I buy thru Stan Chart in Singapore, as I bank with them and share trading on the Singapore Exchange (SGX ) is 0.2% thru them for me. The quirks with the SGX are that you have to purchase in lots of 1,000. This can be an issue for some higher price stocks, but the above are all in the 0.90 to 1.90 sort of range, so minimum trades are SGD 900 to SGD 1,900 for each. SGX also uses its own tickers so the tickers are:

A68U for ART ND8U for FCOT J69U for FCT SK7 for OUEHT

There's a lot of info out there, including blogs dedicated to Singapore REITs, for example if you google you come up with things like below to help look at the individual REITs

http://sreit.reitdata.com/

http://www.sreitinvestmentblog.sg/

I struggle to find anything like that that's decent for Thai REITs. The homepages/ websites of the REITs themselves are also more useful than the Thai ones, and generally more professional with better invetsor info.

SGX press releases (like SET) and are generally a lot more transparent and decent info, eg. you can look at the wider sector here:

http://www.sgx.com/wps/portal/sgxweb/home/marketinfo/securities/reits

http://www.sgx.com/wps/wcm/connect/9c37f180479642b1a253a2cb70e00a63/SGX-REITs.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=9c37f180479642b1a253a2cb70e00a63

Plus better coverage from brokers, if you look at say CIMB, OCBC, OUB, Phillips and others

In terms of real estate for Singapore it's amuch more mature market than Thailand, property is a big part of the way of life, and when you look at such a small country as land space is limited, there's less scope for oversupply in certain areas compared to Thailand.

Based on everything you wrote above, it's likely they'd appeal to you. I've also experimented with US and Australian REITs but just find them more hassle, plus tax issues and less tax efficient.

No idea on South Korea REITs though...

Cheers

Fletch

[AyG]

Singapore REITs I currently hold, that are worth a look are:

How do you manage the currency aspect of buying Singapore stock?

I see a number of options:

1. Buy using my GBP account with my Singapore broker, which has a 0.5% charge for FX.

2. Perform an FX spot transaction in the market GBP/SGD.

3. Instruct my bank to send SGD by SWIFT (my bank then performing the FX conversion).

One option that isn't available is using a specialist currency broker since with money laundering regulations the money must come from an account in my name.

None is particularly attractive.

With #1 I don't like the charge. #2 scares me since I have no experience or expertise in this area. #3 I suspect the rates from my bank will be poor.

[fletchsmile]

I have SGD bank accounts and in the past have been paid in SGD.

SGD is my preferred foreign currency for excess cash.

It also means that the bank accounts are covered by the Singapore deposit guarantee scheme similar to guarantees here on THB only.

I also hold other investments in SGD which I can switch.

So no need for me to exchange.

Cheers

Fletch

[moonseeker]

Thanks to all. Interesting views and some good advise. Well, the smaller part of 4-5 Mio. will be split up here in Thailand in Land, K-Money, K-Ghealth & some fixed deposits. The main part of a roughly 400K$ will stay with my brother's and my financial adviser, making 4-7% net/yr. long-term, low risk. The setup will allow for pay-out of max. 80% of income-flow. Now need to concentrate on the fight against C, for what it is worth. Thanks all. MS>

[StefanBBK]

Well done. Wishing you all the best for your fight!

[jpinx]

Singapore REITs I currently hold, that are worth a look are:

How do you manage the currency aspect of buying Singapore stock?

I see a number of options:

1. Buy using my GBP account with my Singapore broker, which has a 0.5% charge for FX.

2. Perform an FX spot transaction in the market GBP/SGD.

3. Instruct my bank to send SGD by SWIFT (my bank then performing the FX conversion).

One option that isn't available is using a specialist currency broker since with money laundering regulations the money must come from an account in my name.

None is particularly attractive.

With #1 I don't like the charge. #2 scares me since I have no experience or expertise in this area. #3 I suspect the rates from my bank will be poor.

I'm not sure about SGD's but with other "hard" ccurrencies your option 3 is best. Thai banks like to buy hard currency

Best of luck to the OP -- I'm glad to see he has a solution that will give him peace of mind.

Now get into the positive frame of mind that chases cancer down the road !!

[CWMcMurray]

Annuity is one idea that would meet your needs..

The property or land for rent is also a good idea... If afraid that some one would sell it..

You can always put it in the name of the children, then would not be able to sell without a court order ( so long as the kids are minors)

Although once the kids grow up.. 18-20 years old, then they can sell it on their own... Not sure how fiscally responsible a 20yr old would be with millions of THB..

[PMK]

I'm not sure I understand the details here, but if the family you want to help is a 30 yo mother with young kids, then you might look at what I did in a vaguely similar situation. I bought a house (but I only had 2 million and also needed a place to live) and put it in a kid's name. At least neither she nor mom can sell it without a court order until the child is 20. You could do the same with rental units.

An alternative, but I'm not sure about a usufruct for a minor, - perhaps someone else can clear that up - If it can be done, then put it in mom's name with usufructs for the kids. Usufruct entities a person to occupy the land for a period of time, which can be their lifetime. That will also prevent her from selling it without the children's permission (until all of them reach adulthood) without a court order, and that would be near impossible to get. And when the kids get to be adults they would all have to agree to the sale. Neither is perfect, but one thing is both are very doable and while not simple, probably simpler, than a lot of the alternatives, and involve little expense other than the purchase and/or construction of the land and units.

BTW, I saw a comment here "never buy land in Thailand" which is an absurd generality, IMO.

You cannot plan the rest of their lives though. Nothing will prevent them indefinitely from doing something foolish or getting cheated so you just have to trust in God, fate, karma or whatever you believe in and not torment yourself with that. Life goes on - people adjust and things generally work out better than we fear. Just do what you can do and be at peace with it.