Buying A Long Term Equity Fund

[prighas]

I am considering buying an LTF in Thailand. I understand a person could buy up to 300K per year and declare upto 90K reduction in personal income tax for the first year. Does anyone have any ideas about how secure/risky this is? Do you have any recommendations as to what type of fund/business a person should consider especially in Thailand? Do you think Aberdeen is a good prospect?

[samran]

Shop around, all the banks have them, and the likes of ING are in the Thai market as well.

Basically, they are managed funds which can be used as a tax deduction, in the first year only. So the same rules apply, looking at your risk appetite and the make up of each of the funds.

As for what you can invest, it is up to 15% of your gross salary, with a maximum of 300,000K per year. So if your income is only 1million baht per year, the most you can invest is 150K. If your income is 5 million baht, then 300K is your maximum investment.

Remember, you have to invest in these things for a minimum of 5 calendar years, which in actual time, means approx 3 years (ie invest on 31 December 2006, and on 1st of Jan 2007 will counted as 1 year of that time elapsed already).

Redemption dates are usaully twice a year from what I've seen, 1 Jan and 1 July.

[prighas]

Shop around, all the banks have them, and the likes of ING are in the Thai market as well.

Basically, they are managed funds which can be used as a tax deduction, in the first year only. So the same rules apply, looking at your risk appetite and the make up of each of the funds.

As for what you can invest, it is up to 15% of your gross salary, with a maximum of 300,000K per year. So if your income is only 1million baht per year, the most you can invest is 150K. If your income is 5 million baht, then 300K is your maximum investment.

Remember, you have to invest in these things for a minimum of 5 calendar years, which in actual time, means approx 3 years (ie invest on 31 December 2006, and on 1st of Jan 2007 will counted as 1 year of that time elapsed already).

Redemption dates are usaully twice a year from what I've seen, 1 Jan and 1 July.

Thanks for the clarification on this Samran. Can a person buy a fraction of 100K? In other words, can u buy something like 280K or it always has to be incremented by 100K at one time?

Besides, do you have any recommendations as to which Investment company is preferrable given different factors involved such as reputation, experience, and dealership?

[jbaldwin]

By far the most inportant thing to consider is the level of fees. You need a clear statement of all charges and fee that will be taken from your investment.