How to start investing/trading on the Thai Stockexchange for complete newb.

[Oxx]

9 hours ago, martijn12345 said:

While I am certainly interested in some Thai stocks/trading SET. I would also like to have the opportunity to invest in major western indices. Do all/any of these brokers give this option?

 

While I do enjoy stock picking, I also realize i might be better off with a mutual fund, especially for my wife as I understand some of them are tax deductible. I'd interested in one with a decent track record and decent dividend yield. Any advise on this?

 

Some brokers provide access to international markets, e.g. http://www.scbs.com/en/product/product-offshore

 

However, personally I prefer to hold international stocks in an offshore brokerage account.  It can work out cheaper.

 

Being pedantic, you can't invest in "major western indices" - or indeed, any index.  You can, however, invest in ETFs and funds which attempt to track such indices.  Thanks to charges they usually underperform the index they're tracking.

 

LTFs (Long Term Equity Funds) and RMFs (Retirement Mutual Funds) have tax advantages for income tax payers.  However, they come with mandatory holding periods if you are to get the tax advantages.

 

There's a description of LTFs at http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/BuildYourWealth/MutualFunds/BBLAM/LTF/Pages/default.aspx

 

It's best to avoid dividend paying funds since the income is subject to income tax.  Just cash in a small amount of an accumulation fund each year to get income.

 

You can compare funds at Morningstar Thailand.  Unfortunately, it's pretty much Thai language only, but if you can't read Thai there's always Google Translate.

 

http://tools.morningstarthailand.com/th/fundquickrank/default.aspx?Site=th&LanguageId=en-TH

 

 

[martijn12345]

Hi Oxx, thanks for the info. My line about investing in major indices was indeed a bit strange. I mean stocks that trade on Nasdaq/SP500/DOW/DAX/FTSE and so on. 

I have an investment account in homecountry (Netherlands) and I am trying to work out if I would be better of shipping money there (inconvenient and slow OR costly) and having to pay tax on it there. Or simply open an account here and buy the stocks here, I am not sure about tax implications. I personally like dividend focussed funds or stocks, so thanks for the advise that I should be aware of the tax implications vs taking profits in something that accumulates. 

My investment horizon is 15-20 years so I don't mind a part of the funds being locked up or tide up into investments if its worth it in the long run.

What kind of fees should I expect when trading with Thai brokers, fees in the Netherlands are very, it depends what you buy/sell but often 1 or 2 euro + 0,05% something like that or just a 2 euro flat rate.

I think I will let my wife dive into the LTFs en RMFs as this would be for her more than for me.