Keeping money safe / savings / accounts / cash, etc

[backdoorpooloss]

At this point I lose all interest in this topic. I'm not going to waste my time on someone who appears to be a criminal fantasist.

And I won't be wasting my time with some sad <deleted> thaivisa wanna be detective tit with too much time on his hands.

[denby45]

Your story has just reminded me I have some nice Emmental cheese in the fridge. Lovely Jubly.

Thanks for that.

[timendres]

I keep significant cash here: http://www.safedepositboxbangkok.com/

Private, secure, affordable. Of course, I would not keep huge amounts (say more than 10% of my cash) there.

Then cash in two separate Thai banks. Other cash in two US banks. Then spending cash in a safe in my room.

Roughly: 10% in the safe deposit box, 5% in the two Thai banks, 5% in my room safe, and 80% on the States.

Of course, being American, and having a government that has gone off the rails, I put less in Thai banks than I would otherwise. I just hate having to file the mandatory Treasury reports of my cash holdings in foreign banks. Not because I am hiding money, but because I despise paperwork and governments.

[Berkshire]

Always prepare for the worst. I've been here 15 years now and seen a lot in my time. Your life here can change in an instant.

I had one friend who killed a local in his car. The local ran a red light and my friend hit him head on. The locals wanted blood and my friend didn't have millions of baht to settle so he had to leave very quickly.

Anything can happen here so be prepared.

Was he drunk? Its just that he was not the one in the wrong was he? Or was he? I found there is always more to a story like this.

No, he doesn't drink. He also had a dash cam which was taken by the local police and not seen again showing he wasn't at fault.

The guys family were local bumpkins. Farang shouldn't be here in our country. If Farang not here accident not happen. Their logic. They came after him, he did one.

Man, you were ok until you start repeating that tired nonsense. No, a farang does not always get the blame in auto accidents...unless he was in fact at fault. So you're just another basher disguised as a successful expat?

[Paul Laycock]

I need to go for a good crap.

[natway09]

The Thai banks (Big 5) have survived the 3 semi melt downs including 1997 & are actually among the top banks in the world

in terms of liquidity.

An older hand than me always opened another bank account when the balance reached 1mi.

If you plan on living here & spending the Baht here (later) just bank it.

Best of Luck.

If it does melt down, I will see you in the soup kitchen.

The Oze $ in the last 12 months for example against the Bht is down 17% so who knows what is coming next

[GOLDBUGGY]

Congrats on turning your business into a profit!

I wouldn't keep the bulk of my money here! There is just too much unforeseen risk for me to do that. Keep what you need to keep your business liquid, visa's, and play money, and send the rest of your money out if you can.

If you are a non-resident to your home country, which I suspect you would be by now, send you money to your home bank. I then recommend you find a safe Dividend Paying Stock and put your money in that. If you are not sure where to look, your bank stock is probably as good a place as any. Most good bank stocks pay quarterly dividends and they are about as safe as you can get. If all the banks go bankrupt, your money isn't worth a hill of beans anyway, and no matter where you put it.

As a non-resident you are not required to file and/or pay income taxes. The bank will withhold 15% of your dividend, or at least they do in Canada, which is the lowest tax rate, which is considered the end to your tax obligation. There is ways to file and retrieve some of this money if you have no other worldly income, but I never tried that. I was happy to pay 15% tax on a stock profit when I normally paid 40%.

Through my home bank I keep 4 separate accounts, which are my Checking Account, (My ATM Bank Card plus the ability to write large checks) my Investment Account (where I can buy and sell stocks) Visa Account (which I can pay or top-up anytime) and my Savings Account (where I send my money to and hold until I want to invest). I can easily move money from any account online. I keep 2 cards, namely my Bank Card (for ATM Withdraws up to 27,000 Baht per day) and my Visa Card (for withdraws from a bank here up to 150,000 Baht a day, and 300,000 Baht per week). I have never needed more. When I did I wrote a Check.

The Offshore Account was fine a long time ago when it was a way a person could hide his cash, but it isn't that way anymore. You government can now stick their nose in their as easy as they can back home. So I see no reason to keep my money on some Island someplace where they pay you very low interest on your money, more difficult to get your money out and in, and one Tsunami can wipe them off the map.

[GOLDBUGGY]

Thanks for the ideas.

I'm not to keen on keeping a safe in the house as it's too obvious where cash is stored. Also, you'll quickly open it if someone has a gun to your child's head. It can happen here...

Maybe an obvious safe with a small amount of cash and some fake watches inside - then your real cash somewhere else...

Ideally I'd like to buy land and a house in the future. I'm married to a Thai with two children. I would never put the house in her name, but possibly in to a company.

Don't worry so much about the land in your wife's name. There is ways to protect yourself. You are already protect somewhat as you are married and divorce laws are the same here as anywhere else, which is 50/50. Farm Land and a House on it is not really a good investment as far as a return, but it is something your wife and kids can have after you are gone, and can make enough on to live. What do they have now?

What you need to worry about is getting hit by a train on the way to work and leaving your wife and 2 kids with nothing, as you buried your money in a deep hole in the ground someplace, and nobody knows where it is. I am sure that they were a greater part of you being a success today. So perhaps you should consider them first now, as they probably did for you when you weren't showing a profit.

Just a thought!.

[JLCrab]

IMHO the safest way to keep cash in Thailand is American Express Traveler's Checks especially given some of the possible scenarios mentioned above.

[Guest]

IMHO the safest way to keep cash in Thailand is American Express Traveler's Checks especially given some of the possible scenarios mentioned above.

I have three metods to store money:

(1) The bulk of it is in three different Thai Banks.

(2) About 30 % sits in American Express Checks, in the USD, so over the past years,,,ironically .. they have appreciated more than many "excellent investments"

All you need to do is carefully scan them all, save those files on OneDrive or DropBox, along with an excel Spreadsheet to track those you actually DO spend.

Should they all be lost, showing up at Amex with a perfect and accurate record .. makes recovery of lost or stolen checks child's play.

(3) I keep my Passport and all my important and original documents (Birth Certificate, College Diplomas, etc) in water proof sleeves, and all that in another waterproof sleeve ... in by waterproof briefcase close at hand. I also have a backpack next to my desk to dump the laptop into, and anything important on my desk right then.

Did I mention "waterproof" ??? 555

Along with that, I keep 150,000 Baht in mostly large bills, but 20,000 in small money to get around with no hassles. (Imagine a flood and all the ATM'S are down, paying 1,000 for a 3 kilometer rides and soup is going to get old ... fast!

Because I have escaped both fire and flood in my lifetime, let me tell you .. what a relief it is to walk calmly out the door, get to a safe hotel, and wake up the next morning, able to start over ... easily.

(4) Lastly, despite all the grief I get on Thai Visa, I scan ALL my documents, passport, credit cards (both sides) etc .. and those images live in the cloud along will 100% of all my daily writing and spreadsheets.

Well, 3 weeks ago, my laptop simply blew up. I went to Pantip, replaced 1 terabyte hard drive, reinstalled windows, all of Office and Photoshop .. etc .. total? (2,300 THB)

The data was not recoverable.

No worries, went home, downloaded One Drive, and 10 minutes later was up and running like nothing ever happened.

Do not know a nice way to put it .., but to everyone on Thai Visa who breaks my balls about storing ALL my data in the cloud .. suck it .. 10 minutes .. 100% restoration of E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.

So I applaud you for thinking ahead and beginning a process that answers the question "If there was an earthquake, fire and flood, and I had 3 minutes to pack up and run for it, what would that look like?"

In your case, two and a half minutes to grab the wife and kids, and 30 seconds to grab the briefcase is a good answer to be able to have.

JLCrab is correct, do not underestimate the peace of mind those Amex checks provide !

[mot788]

Agreed: diversify! Use big, banks with good reputations, send some home, keep a bit of cash on hand according to your needs. Since you cannot possible cover all contingencies, be happy don't worry (too much). I know how you feel as I have many of the same "what if" thoughts.

[chiang mai]

Travelers cheques, yeh, right! and each year their value reduces by the amount of annual inflation so instead of your nest egg being +3% each year your funds are worth -4% at year end, do that for ten years and see where it gets you.

[Colabamumbai]

Your crotch is always the safest place,, but for a larger amount outside of Thailand would be better than inside.

Somewhere that you can get it within 30 minutes.

[Colabamumbai]

If you cannot pack and move everything you own within 30 minutes, you have too much.

[JLCrab]

Travelers cheques, yeh, right! and each year their value reduces by the amount of annual inflation so instead of your nest egg being +3% each year your funds are worth -4% at year end, do that for ten years and see where it gets you.

Well I knew someone would say it -- but the guy asked what is the 'safest' way to keep cash in Thailand.

[personchester]

The Thai bank deposit guarantee was 50MB per person per bank for a long time. It's dropping to 25MB about now, and may drop again to 1MB next year some time.

I think the trick is to think in terms of eggs and baskets, all over the world.

Hi, Bad news indeed, please outline more details about the bank items you stated above.

[chiang mai]

This thread explains: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/607556-50m-baht-thai-bank-deposit-ins-extended-to-2015/

Basically, deposit insurance was extended at the unusually high levels and then a planned phased lowering of those levels was agreed. Nothing really untoward about it all, it's just returning to near normal.

[Friendly Stranger]

This is/was a good relevant topic, until some nerves started getting pinched.

How much ppl made or have at a certain point in time is irrelevant. Do you have an accountant? I think you should speak to them about your situation/questions.

In regards to back up plans, always good to have one, but don't let it get to the point in making you paranoid.

[earthpig]

If you keep substantial money in your office or home, let no one Thai know about it. No one. The simple act of buying a safe for use at home or office can make you a marked man.

You are right to be concerned about substantial assets in a country with no effective legal system. So do what rich Thais do: put a percentage of your liquid wealth in Singapore. Use one of the banks there with a branch in Thai.

[canuckoverseas]

So someone is smart enough to set up a 'legit' business with big cash turn over...yet not smart enough to figure out what to do with it? If serious, only truly safe place is an offshore account.

As for emergencies, what are you preparing for, the apocalypse? Most one needs is $1000 in cash hidden somewhere safe, then a major credit card. Local banks are risky, what if you get kidnapped? They'll torture the pin number out of ya. Happens all the time in Africa.

Edited August 15, 2015 by canuckoverseas

[chilli42]

Nothing is 100% safe. Monetary instruments such as stock, Money, gold etc are a collective fiction. They only have value as long as people want accord them value. Humans, bring what we are change our mind form time to time so value and therefore returns can change sometimes rapidly and extremely. Hard assets such as land have the same issue. However, if everything goes to hell in a hand basket land can be used ... to live, grow food, rent etc. Why do you think the UK is safe? In a major global collapse the money may be worthless or they may be unable to let you withdraw ... it's delusional to think anything is 100% safe. A practical approach might be to lay out a couple of economic scenarios: worst case, business as usual and best case. Using your best judgement, assign a probability to each of these. Then as yourself, what would you do, how would you live, how would I fund my business under each. Then park your cash accordingly (eg keep some aside/hold in things in anticipation of the worst case, etc). You should end up with a balanced allocation of your earnings based on how you think the world could unfold. An extreme case, which I don't agree with, is being pursued by a German acquaintance of mine. His world economic view is 90% worst case ... global economic collapse rendering all paper instruments (cash, stock, bonds etc) worthless. He has therefore placed everything he owned into precious metals (for barter trading) and arable land for farming/food. Sure, the guy is nutty as a fruitcake. However, he has a world economic view, his view how ever remote is absolutely possible, and he has acted on that view to protect his savings. This is what I am saying you need to do .... though you need to also include some normal and best case scenarios as well.

[al007]

Making 1.0 M a month after short while in business, does not make sense

Worries about what to do with the money, when he can make so much in short time from start up, doe not make sense

Try some common sense

It is well known if anyone needs money around us I keep none in the house, I have built two large houses using ATM, people in the villages with shops are always getting robbed

A safe in the house unless a decoy is just plain stupid, do not put temptation in peoples way, people talk

A fool and his money is easily parted

[louse1953]

Wow a million baht! Now you are going to send your two kids to international school. When you have paid the enrollment fees, bonds, add ons you might just have enough for the first term. Then what?!

Ha! I didn't say how long it took me to save that up did I ?

I've saved up a million baht in just over a month and it's a re-occurring monthly income that's increasing steadily, so I'm sure I'll be fine with any fees. Go troll another post...

You are going to fit right in here! Sniff Sniff! Anyone smell something?

I started smelling something 10 posts back and it's getting stronger all the time.Who is gunna call it?

[perdido]

Wow a million baht! Now you are going to send your two kids to international school. When you have paid the enrollment fees, bonds, add ons you might just have enough for the first term. Then what?!

Ha! I didn't say how long it took me to save that up did I ?

I've saved up a million baht in just over a month and it's a re-occurring monthly income that's increasing steadily, so I'm sure I'll be fine with any fees. Go troll another post...

too much information revealed.....

[glegolo]

OP I am not sorry to say this. But I have read a couple of your posts, and it is completely only about your goodself, and absolutely NOT your family. Why mentioning that you are married and having a thaiwife and 2 kids?

Why,, you are certainly NOT putting the house in her name,, OK than... But to me, you are not putting anything anywhere, and to me you are not really married -you are just waiting to get screwed big time... and this just because of your own behaviour....

Trust earns trust,,,,,,, and mistrust earns mistrust..... and that is what you gets..

Good luck

Glegolo

[serendipityfox]

I came here 2 weeks ago with 20,000RMB cash and the Chinese government devalued the RMB last week

Trying to keep your money intact or growing is a circus.