moontang

I think you are talkig about the oldest profession, but you could also add the second oldest profession: teaching. If you look at a few of the FB groups, the people advertising are often illegal, and it appears that there is near zero chance of you ever being legal. Almost as brazen as the whacky weed sellers.

I bought some RDSA last week, but no, a brokerage accou t is not guaranteed under the Thai deposit insurance scheme. I would be careful with the credit unions and coops, as well. I have a Kim eng account, and as a foreigner, it is way down the list of places to trade.

CIMB and Krungsri both offer savings accounts in the 1.3% range. A high percentage of offices accept FD, which simply call for a forfeiture of some interest if redeemed early.

Does misrepresenting bank interest in Thailand really help anyone?

bank accounts get levied in the US on a daily basis, state of California is notorious. Dutch man brought over millions from a weed business. The reality is that the Thai banking system is a safe haven, and that is causing pain at the exchange booth. Recent reports by IMF say Thai banks are on par with Singapore and Hong Kong.

Or you could just take 2% here and then only pay 1900 every year, and 100 for the letter. You really need a banking presence here, anyways.

Just stick with fundamentals. Chinese are willing to pay 35 times annual rent in some prime areas.. seems foolish to me. However, no property taxes here and condo fees aren't bad, compared to sitting on a unit in NYC or SFO. 16 times rent is more realistic. Heard the song about no lights on for 15 years.. Most of the clientele don't waste electric.. balcony lights are as rare as a functional crosswalk. I have heard of units in Hua hin going for a third off super inflated prices, but nothing like the giveaways in Phoenix and Vegas in 2009-2011.

At least they weren't Amazon resellers. Seems like a good starting point of people to avoid is those who are too cool to have a mobile phone, almost as bad as the iPhone 13 guys. The self proclaimed experts on everything Buddha are about as interesting as white pain drying. I don't mind the stock market experts, because it is too easy for me to tell, who the pretenders are.

annual fee on Thai amex?

oh, and who remembers the Hollywood Bar at NEP...never seen anything better since. Did a grand mariner and got a juice glass filled to the rim.

Cathouse certainly offered value with AYCD Heineken from 4-8 for 300 THB...fun crowd minus the teacher cliques.

UVa also got creamed during the crisis, with a similar MO.

I just returned from the States, too. Gained weight, but was eating steaks and oven fries galore.. much cheaper than here, but lower end restaurant food sucked.. including 21.50 us for two at Five Guys, which people rave about, but is Wendy with 50% higher prices. Green grapes at 89 cents per pound, otherwise uninspiring produce. But stuff like mustard, almonds, BBQ sauce, pickles.. much cheaper than LOS. People seemed rude as Hell at retail, and was even hard to find an open cashier to pay for my package of Calvin Klein underwear at Macy, which were about 80% less than Central. Got a nice stash of Partagas, too. Parents started with zero and did well, watch tons of baseball, and got a post it note on the fridge that says "2019." I am very glad to be back in BKK. It ain't perfect, but it's home.

Reminds me of trying to use a Citi card at Makro... It is the only one they accept.. but not us Citi.. and of course Citi is a US company.

I recall they fared worse during the crisis, also.. but if you look at a 50 year SPY chart, the GFC is just a divet in an upward ski slope.