Thai investment products for non-resident foreigners

[simon43]

I am currently working in Myanmar, although my home base and family are in Thailand.

 

Each month, I invest the majority of my salary in Thai ETFs, as a relatively safe, long-term and tax-free investment option that doesn't require active management.  I use KTZMICO as my broker and I'm happy with this broker and I'm happy with my ETFs.

 

But I don't want to invest 100% of my money in Thai ETFs.  It is prudent to diversify.  However, what other, reasonably safe and long-term investment should I consider?

 

I look at savings accounts with my Thai banks.  They all say 'no interest for foreigners'.  I do want to get some return on my savings, if only to offset inflation.

 

Any suggestions?  My monthly investment is not high, about $2,000 USD right now.

 

I should add that I am only considering investment options that are available in Thailand or Myanmar.  I do not have an 'international' broker and I do not want to go through the hassle of trying to open such an account from Myanmar (no decent international banking system etc).

 

One idea I had was to invest in local (Myanmar) micro-finance...

Edited March 12, 2017 by simon43

[allane]

By their very nature, ETF's provide diversification, and probably enough diversification if you have a bond one and a stock one.. As a foreigner in Thailand, you shouldn't have any problem finding people who want to dupe you.Ignore them of course. Remit some money to your home country and invest it there if you think you need more diversification.

[partington]

2 hours ago, allane said:

By their very nature, ETF's provide diversification, and probably enough diversification if you have a bond one and a stock one.. As a foreigner in Thailand, you shouldn't have any problem finding people who want to dupe you.Ignore them of course. Remit some money to your home country and invest it there if you think you need more diversification.

This is really not true at all about ETFs.

 

I think this poster is confusing index tracker ETFs with ETFs in general, and even then this is not correct. ETFs come in all variations. You can buy a gold ETF which invests in a single commodity and is therefore no diversification at all. You can buy ETFs that track a single sector (eg tech or financials) or just a single country, which again is putting all your eggs in one basket.

 

It is not the ETF that provides diversification, this is just a format.  The ETF you buy must be a diversified one. For example on the London stock exchange VWRL.L is a Vanguard ETF that tracks the entire developed world stock market weighted for value. It is the simplest and cheapest way to buy every stock in the world market.
 

EDIT: In my opinion choosing a single country ETF, especially an unstable country like Thailand isn't the wisest course of action. As well as relying heavily on one country that has a great potential to go south at any second, you are missing huge gains in countries with greater growth. 

 

For example the VWRL ETF, being 40% US stocks (as this is the proportion of the world market that US stocks comprise) has grown a very large amount in the last 3 years, because the US market has gone up about 60% (or more, I haven't checked). Sticking to one country eliminates a lot of growth potential, in addition to exposing you to single country failure.

Edited March 12, 2017 by partington

[simon43]

Quote

 

 Sticking to one country eliminates a lot of growth potential, in addition to exposing you to single country failure.
 

 

 

As I mentioned, I don't really have any choice.  I live in Myanmar - there is no system to remit funds overseas (other than $50 to pay a bill in Thailand, and even then the bank needed to see my marriage certificate...).  I hand carry USD to Thailand and deposit it into my broker account for investing in Thai ETFs, (which BTW, mostly have a good track record).

 

Yes, I am missing out on other ETFs with better return.  If you know a way of trading in these from Myanmar, then I'm happy to hear it :)

Edited March 12, 2017 by simon43

[partington]

OOPs, my bad. You are not in a good position for investments, and I didn't fully appreciate this.