Would you invest in your wife / girlfriend? If so, how?

[loong]

About 7 years ago, my missus wanted to buy a "restaurant". I checked it out and it seemed quite busy with about 6 employees. No books, of course, but it was well positioned and looked ok.

So I agreed.

6 months later, she had repayed my investment and was doing well.

Unfortunately, some time later, there was a lot of buildings erected in the area and she lost the parking area that she rented which was a blow on such a narrow soi. With all the new buildings (shophouses) a lot of new businesses selling food opened up. There was not enough customers for everyone and takings dropped dramatically. She could have probably survived if she still had the parking area. She sold up because the return just wasn;t worth the amount of time that she was putting in.

She ended up failing because of this Thai trait of too many businesses of the same type opening in the same area. She certainly put in the effort.

[georgemandm]

Also i payed for her teenage daughter to do a hair and beauty course,and built a salon,but they seemed more interested in lying around in hammocks,and eating 10 times a day than ever actually chasing custom,same with the shop,as my ex has now opened a resturant,which has zero customers,she has closed her shop,which actually did have customers,turn over,profit and loss,forget it,she called the other night,"i am worried for the future'' i replied dont worry ,you dont have one.

Haha you made me laugh, go one with the replay to the ex wife haha .

[djayz]

About 3 years ago the wife wanted to open a little coffee shop in her village, where we now both live.

I gave her most of the money she needed to build her little coffee shop on her parents land and she had to save and put the rest to it herself.

3 years later she's still in business and offers very good western food as well as coffee, ice-cream, etc. The coffee shop business seems to have gone sluggish (mainly because of all the copy cats who initially laughed at her for opening a cafe in the village, but then copied her when they saw the number of customers she had). Just recently she started baking cakes and that is booming! She's turning out cakes daily and they're selling pretty well with a decent profit margin.

Overall, I'm quite satisfied with what she has achieved. She's happy to be back home, she very seldom has to ask me for money and she's now independent.

At the end of the day, I think I made the right decision 3 years ago. It was money well spent.

[villagefarang]

I have invested and continue to invest with time, love, travel, advanced education and shared experiences. There has been no real monetary return but that has not been my goal.

[georgemandm]

Most thais do not save or budget they buy on impulse , lending money for a business is usually designed for them to cheat you, glad to see a positive outcome but this is a exception .

Very , very true dose not happen a lot .

But why would you come and live in thailand and sent your wife or gf up in a business? .

Most come here to retire and be with the wife or gf and have fun .

And most business in thailand make f??k all .

Never make a thai selfish , she can piss you off like most will do when they have their own money.

[georgemandm]

I would invest in whatever she wanted, in fact I should read we. I am currently away business and left an ATM card for an account with iced a million baht in just in case she needed money. What's your point? If you do not trust your wife you have problems

So you trust a woman do you and a thai one at that are you joking me or are you ?.

[williamgeorgeallen]

Do not invest anything you can not afford to lose...

you would be better to assume you have already lost anything you invest in your thai girl. seriously, chances are about 1 in 100. problem is everyone thinks they are the 1.

[Rob8891]

@ VF. An interesting take on 'investment'. Great answer.

@ georgemandm. It's possible that people care enough about their wives that they want to give them some chance of security after we shuffle off. Your posts are very negative; would you like to share something with us - it helps to talk about the bad stuff. ;-)

[spidermike007]

Don't do the investing in rice farms where you lend them money and they pay you 20% back for 3 years,then you can supposedely claim your capitol back,! they never have the capitol they are Thai,they spend the lot,2 the papers are in your wife's name,so you loose the lot when you split up[like i did],sounds to good to be true ,usually is,though i had to laugh when i found out my ex had only clawed back about 10,000 baht from the lot this year,low price and no rain,she will have to cut down on condoms for her waste of space Thai boyfriend.

Rice is single handedly the world's worst crop to grow. Just the very act of growing rice demonstrates a tremendous lack of creativity, and forward thinking. It is the crop that keeps the masses enslaved. It is a nice crop to eat. But a horrendous crop to grow. The profit margins are so minimal, that it ensures that one will remain poor for the rest of their lives.

Try more creative crops. Hydroponic herbs, exotic fruits, etc. But, not rice. Definitely not rice. All of the powers that be, want you to grow rice. It ensures that the masses remain poor, and enslaved.

[little mary sunshine]

Absolutely!! We have been happily married for a year now.

After we celebrate our silver wedding anniversary (25 years)

I will build her, and her family,the house of their dreams....

I'm currently 78y/o.555555555555555555

[marioc]

I keep seeing threads like this, and I'm shaking my head.

A thai wife would milk you for money? And one back home wouldnt???

Sheesh, just the extra difference in rent/mortgage Id pay back in my home country for the McMansion Id need for a wife here....would cover EVERYTHING for my wife, daughter and her parents in Thailand.

So after a kid or two, she dumps you, gets a good for nothing thai boyfriend.....tell me it all still doesnt add up to 1/3 of what the same thing would cost you back home

Holy words!!!!!!!!!

[Nomyai]

I keep seeing threads like this, and I'm shaking my head.

A thai wife would milk you for money? And one back home wouldnt???

Sheesh, just the extra difference in rent/mortgage Id pay back in my home country for the McMansion Id need for a wife here....would cover EVERYTHING for my wife, daughter and her parents in Thailand.

So after a kid or two, she dumps you, gets a good for nothing thai boyfriend.....tell me it all still doesnt add up to 1/3 of what the same thing would cost you back home

Holy words!!!!!!!!!

A good for nothing thai bf has a lot more in common than the no good for nothing farang......................hahahahahahaha.

[spidermike007]

I think if it is not a huge amount of money and you are with someone you have taken the time to get to know, and feel you can really trust them, it may be worth it. Do not expect a return. In my opinion it is always best done as a gift. In my case, my girlfriend at the time, who is now my wife, came from a relatively modest, but very hard working family in Issan. They are modest, but not poor, as there is decent amount of land in the family, from the grandmother, who has since given the land to the grandkids. I got to know her parents, siblings, and grandparents, and really liked them all. I could see how earnest and hard working every last one of them were. Her father had tried many, many different types of work, and was serious about providing a decent living for the family. I could see he was intelligent, and not afraid of hard work. He just never had a good break in life. He was earning very little, at the time, doing some farming.

They own some land, in the village on the main road, and wanted to open a mini mart. I asked her to have her father draft a business plan, with details, funds needed for investment, inventory, etc. He came back to us with drawings for the plans of the shop, inventory lists, projected income, etc. Rather than lend him the money, I gave him 700,000 baht. I had known my woman for over 2 years at that time, and adored her, and knew how earnest and honest she was. I had faith in her family. The built the store for about 500,000 baht. The rest was used for inventory. That was about 8 years ago. The store has been a great success. It is kind of a gathering spot in the town, and a popular shop. And it has allowed him to parlay that success into a position as a county (tambon?) supervisor, where he earns a nice salary, and is on the local planning commission. His entire life changed, as did that of his family. They made a success out of this relatively modest amount of money I gave them, and they have never had to ask my wife for money since. She has actually gotten money from them, as I made her insist that she be a 50% partner. She rarely takes a portion of the profits, but if something happened to me, I know she would have that security.

I have derived great satisfaction from witnessing this success, and her family have always treated me with a great deal of kindness, love and generosity. No doubt all of this has made my wife happy, and secure, and the entire process seems to have brought alot of pride to her family.

So, use your judgment. But, take your time, and really get to know her first, before investing anything. Many try to push the agenda. Don't work on their timeframe, but rather yours. Don't allow yourself to get pushed around. It is your hard earned money at stake here. There is no room for foolishness with an endeavor like this.

[mesterm]

Don't do the investing in rice farms where you lend them money and they pay you 20% back for 3 years,then you can supposedely claim your capitol back,! they never have the capitol they are Thai,they spend the lot,2 the papers are in your wife's name,so you loose the lot when you split up[like i did],sounds to good to be true ,usually is,though i had to laugh when i found out my ex had only clawed back about 10,000 baht from the lot this year,low price and no rain,she will have to cut down on condoms for her waste of space Thai boyfriend.

Awww the poor thing

[mesterm]

I hand everything over to the Mrs and she hands some back if I ask kindly.

Like your mom used to when you were 7?

[whatproblem]

Best thing to buy a Thai women is a fold up bed

[mesterm]

I would invest in whatever she wanted, in fact I should read we. I am currently away business and left an ATM card for an account with iced a million baht in just in case she needed money. What's your point? If you do not trust your wife you have problems

Yeah, or maybe she has problems. Not everyone can get the perfect life/wife you think you have alright, and most people do have stories of being swindled here in one way or another, so there is a basis to why any foreigner would be cautious.

[Nomyai]

About 3 years ago the wife wanted to open a little coffee shop in her village, where we now both live.

I gave her most of the money she needed to build her little coffee shop on her parents land and she had to save and put the rest to it herself.

3 years later she's still in business and offers very good western food as well as coffee, ice-cream, etc. The coffee shop business seems to have gone sluggish (mainly because of all the copy cats who initially laughed at her for opening a cafe in the village, but then copied her when they saw the number of customers she had). Just recently she started baking cakes and that is booming! She's turning out cakes daily and they're selling pretty well with a decent profit margin.

Overall, I'm quite satisfied with what she has achieved. She's happy to be back home, she very seldom has to ask me for money and she's now independent.

At the end of the day, I think I made the right decision 3 years ago. It was money well spent.

im crying.

[dotpoom]

The way i see it, the plain fact is......if we never gave our girlfriends money a lot of us would be living alone....it wouldn't get as far as ever marrying.

That's OK though in my eyes too.......they don't have, or ever had any money, I did have a little, but it was enough for both of us.....What do those people you were talking about (never give them money brigade) thing I should have done...perhaps take my little bank book out every night when I go to bed and "gleefully" flick through the pages drooling over how nothing has changed since the previous night.....all's still there.....and go to sleep with those pleasant thoughts floating around in my head and in the certain knowledge that I will be having another joyous exceptional opportunity again tomorrow night when I can go through the same routine. And of course, there's nothing like a nice bank book to keep you warm and cosy during the night (or day for that matter).

God protect us all from those who are too blind to see.

Edited March 4, 2016 by dotpoom

[yellowboat]

Invest in providing her skills; language or a marketable trade. Have the privilege of working with many Thai tradesmen and women. Outside of Thailand they make over B60K am month after taxes.

Edited March 4, 2016 by yellowboat

[Nowisee]

Money is evil and it makes seemingly normal people go mad and do crazy things.

Money can't solve money problems, just like food can't solve weight problems.

As was mentioned here, invest in time, love and memories.

As was mentioned here, there are a few instances of success, but they were well planned out, if you are willing to gamble on that, go for it. Just don't regret it when it goes bad.

[Autonuaq]

Nit see the difference between 'thai or non thai'.

all the people are the same around the world in the end if it goes wrong.

i know many western who are worse then the so called thai family and wife or girlfriend.

up to you. just see it as spending. and if not come back it was the same a buying a cup of coffee.

ONLY if you can miss the money, you can invest. That is even it the WEST the same.

[kannot]

It really depends on the girl doesnt it, sadly in Thailand many seem to think money falls from the sky, many are lazy, many are stupid even when given the opportunity they just cant "run with the ball" so you have to bear this in mind.

I did invest in my girl I initially bought 4 condos and she took care of them whilst I kept working in the UK, cost to me was about 4.2 million at the time 10 years ago four all 4 rooms, studios.

We now have 3 rooms at about 4.5 million each

Eventually she not only took care of them but many others and started renting selling other rooms she trustworthy and folk pick up on this and so she gets more business.

We've sold the original 4 as more were built closer to the BTS and re bought nearer but now have 3 bigger and better buildings. This was done with money earnt in Thailand by her.

I since retired as she earns in excess of 300k a month sometimes 5-600k depends on buy/sell/rent which I find pretty amazing on top of that theres the rent money off our rooms of another 60k which have never been empty yet as we rent them at a good price and bought them at a good price as shes in that line of work and occasionally Thais have to sell fast so she steps in with the cash to buy.

Shes tried to help some of her friends to join her but they are too stupid to know how it "could be"

She has given up with all of them now.

There are very few here in my opinion who when given the chance grab it by both horns............but it does happen occasionally and I have been lucky or maybe careful, before going into this with her.

Married 10 years now...........only real problem is she works so much I hardly see her and when I do shes on the phone all day and night works 8 am to 12-1am every day.

[bitcoinforever]

wife of 13 years first got married wanted to buy land build house, bought land 13 years ago bought two more pieces of land. not just anywhere but great locations cheap price , now my wife's net worth is 3 times mine. she is looking to sell it all move back to my home country understands there are not opportunities for our two sons as they get older,so time to leave in coming years, real estate, stock speculation, and farming not rice like everyone and their mother does only three ways to make money here

[Chris747]

3 years ago my wife wanted to open a salon because alot of people even myself told her to do so.. "borrowed" her 200k for that purpose. Salon was all set up, beautifully with alot of fancy furniture, good equipment.. customers loved her right from the start and kept on coming back. 2 months later someone broke in, just took the cashier box with max. 1k baht.. she started not opening the salon anymore.. some weeks later someone commited suicide, threw herself in front of a train a few hundred meters away from her salon. From that day on she never set a foot inside her salon anymore.

she got lazy, depressed sat on her ass all day until 1 year ago one day she woke up and told me that she want to become a daytrader and asked me 30k baht..

No idea what was wrong with me, but i borrowed 20k to my wife, who never had a higher education and had no idea what's going on outside Thailand because she wanted to become a trader sounds like a promising plan right?

Now a good year later she made her portfolio grow to a bit over 250k just by researching by herself, buying and reading books, watching money channel all day.. she works for 13 hours 7 days a week absolutly passionate about.

It's all about commitment and the love for what you do and you can achieve everything if you trust in yourself, no matter where you come from, what education you have.. and most of all by not listening to everybody around who want to tell you what should do...

needless to say i am also very proud of her

Back to the original question: Would you invest in your Thai wife? --> sure, you never know what life prepared for you, you can never guess the outcome

[Nowisee]

...........only real problem is she works so much I hardly see her and when I do shes on the phone all day and night works 8 am to 12-1am every day.

The very reason I divorced. I was alone in a marriage.

[mcfish]

...........only real problem is she works so much I hardly see her and when I do shes on the phone all day and night works 8 am to 12-1am every day.

The very reason I divorced. I was alone in a marriage.

Good move, people can spend 20 years, a life wasted hanging on..

Sent from my SC-01D using Tapatalk

[rubyjuan]

Invest in a thai wife or girlfriend? Never ever. Never loan them money, you'll never see it again. Just gibe them a few baht.

[kannot]

...........only real problem is she works so much I hardly see her and when I do shes on the phone all day and night works 8 am to 12-1am every day.

The very reason I divorced. I was alone in a marriage.

Well that depends on what "you" want, Im quite happy with it and it also suits her, it wont be forever as at some point she'll stop but should be ok for another 20 years or so. Making her then 60 odd and me 72

Edited March 4, 2016 by kannot

[sead]

Savingsaccount,How to calculate and understand Interest rates, Inventory, Budget, Laziness. Serviceminding. Talk to her about this first and see if she gets it: 99% of Thais doesnt. If she understands then open some shop and see.

Edited March 4, 2016 by sead