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Strong Baht Weak Baht


pdogg

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20 hours ago, xyzzy said:

the vote

Right, that went well:biggrin:

 

17 hours ago, Pdoggg said:

Once everything is resolved once and for all, whether it be leaving or remaining, the pound should stabilize though

I hope so, along with the euro. Not convinced this will happen this year though.

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On 8/7/2019 at 5:48 PM, 36O said:

If you want to believe Kyle Bass it's only a matter of time before the Chinese economy implodes which in turn will send the rest of Asia on a downward spiral. When is the big question....

 

On 8/7/2019 at 5:54 PM, 36O said:

since I'm an equal opportunity kind of guy I will also mention that according to Ray Dalio the U.S. dollar is on the brink of losing its status as the world's reserve currency which will be  interesting to say the least and definitely not good news for the US economy 

I know these are old posts. But make up your mind. :biggrin: If China implodes, which I can believe can happen since they are turning their economic policies back to days gone by, the yuan will likely drop like a rock and there will be no challenger to the US Dollar. Unless Trump kills the dollar.

I see the British got no near term help with the currency in Parliament today.

As I see it the Kurds will eventually take over the world as they are the only ones with any balls! B) 

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1 hour ago, seven said:

The Thai Baht Reached a New 6-Year High. Here’s Why It’s Surging

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/thai-baht-reached-6-high-013953785.html

For the past couple of months I have being mentally preparing myself for the Baht to be 30 to the € when I arrive.  So while the rate today is something just over 33, which is still shit, psychologically I won’t feel so hard done by once it stays over 30 while I am there.  
 

It’s just a matter of staying in a few nights more and going to bars which are better value such as Katty bar for a night out.  60 B beers compared to 90 B ones make a difference on a long trip.

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It has been hovering around the 20 and a bit baht for about 12 months or so for us in Aus , I am always hoping it will get to even 25 baht but I think those days are over .

    I certainly don't waste money like I used to when in town ,I have my budget and stick to it .Sure I have the shop for a back up , after Dao uses what she needs for expenses and buying some personal stuff we send the remaining profit home for the new farm .

   I have customers here say how cheap it is in Thailand but it's not when you sit down and work it all out , fuel works out the same as it is here ( $ 1.40 per litre here in Aus on a good day ) so same same but different. 

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16 minutes ago, stoolpusher said:

   I have customers here say how cheap it is in Thailand but it's not when you sit down and work it all out , fuel works out the same as it is here ( $ 1.40 per litre here in Aus on a good day ) so same same but different. 

I fully agree SP regarding some daily items.  I tend to buy things like bread, cold meats, tins of tuna and sardines along with fruit juices in Pattaya and with the exchange rate now they are actually double the price of home.  Even a 90 B bottle of beer in a bar is not far off what it is in Ireland and certain brands of beer in supermarkets here are way cheaper than in Family or 7/11.

But hey there is a price to living anywhere and with restaurant and street food being quite reasonable it all balances out and of course the X factor of Los can’t be had anywhere else.  It’s all a matter of sticking to a budget and having the odd splurge when the mood takes, a bit like at home.  

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14 hours ago, stoolpusher said:

I certainly don't waste money like I used to when in town

I think many guys on their first few trips spend money like a drunken sailor but once coming to Thailand becomes a habit or even an addiction, to afford multiple trips they cut back on much of the waste that brings little return.  A prime example is buying a drink for a bargirl's friend or an uphelpful mamasan.  

 In response to this drink for friend question my knee jerk reply is "check bin" as I instantly lose interest in talking to a girl that in a rare splurge I bought a drink for.

But I don't really need to economize because I have mostly lost interest in going to hostess bars.

On 10/26/2019 at 4:57 AM, bumblebee said:

It’s just a matter of staying in a few nights more and going to bars which are better value such as Katty bar for a night out.  60 B beers compared to 90 B ones make a difference on a long trip.

I don't go out too much so it actually doesn't affect me that much if I'm in a 90 baht joint and I'm having a good time.  But when I go to a bar that's not enjoyable then I'm thinking what the hell are we doing here?

Even the lowest riced bars, say 50 baht for a Leo in Kateseree or New Plaza doesn't come close to the 15 baht drafts in Phnom Penh but to be fair in Phnom Penh hostess bars the typical price for a draft is 45 baht which doesn't compare all that unfavorably to Pattaya gogos that have a cheap draft beer option.

But I'm willing to spend if there is value for money.  Kink on LK Metro is a good example as they don't have cheap draft or happy hours but a much better experience than a typical LK Metro gogo.  

Things get even more complicated for guys who don't drink booze as a small glass of Coke can be quite expensive in some gogos.  The price of Singha Light also varies greatly.  It's cheaper than Leo in a 7/11 but more expensive in bars.

 

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I one again have to draw the distinction between those of us that are and are not in a permanent relation ship with a LB. I will likely go to Katty Bar a number of times during the up coming trip. But I don't go because the beer is 60 baht. 

But in cheap charlie mode KINK is a rare example of a GoGo where I actually go that doesn't have a cheap draft. But even KINK is a lot better some nights than others. 

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It really depends on one's particular circumstances. I live here (Phitsanulok) full time. On one hand costs are cheap - go to the market, food stalls, bread 36 baht a loaf, water 7 to 10 baht a bottle, etc, etc. On the other hand the funds that finance this lifestyle come from Australia, my army super, and so the exchange rate has affected the extras I can buy. When I came her 10 plus years ago I got around 25 baht to the dollar; now it's just over 20, so my slush fund has taken a hit.

Having said that, I have no intention of going back. Home is here now, but I do hope for a rise in the Aussie dollar, sooner rather than later.

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14 hours ago, xyzzy said:

. I will likely go to Katty Bar a number of times during the up coming trip. But I don't go because the beer is 60 baht. 

That’s the bonus of Katty bar for me, it’s  the kind of place I’d normally like to hang out in anyway, and the cheaper beer just adds to the experience.  In more expensive bars I’d sometimes hesitate about having one more for the road, but at 60B I just drink till moving on calls.

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I guess some people have a problem with Nidcha but I go in from time to time. Katty Bar is a better place to just hang out IMO. I can go alone and likely end up chatting with some other guys. Nidcha, just for drinking, is probably better done with a group of guys. Last trip I did end up getting a few crazy/weird Russians on the baht buses coming back to Pattaya late night from Jomtien. :blink:  Makes the trip home a bit less enjoyable on occasion.

The USD, on the street, is still barely hanging in above 30. I've seen below 30 on the street before (first time 2008). But that is nothing compared to the mess the   and  are in at the moment. I guess the dollar would have to be down around 25 for me to feel that pain.

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I don't worry too much about how much I spend in los. It's my annual holiday so I'm not counting the pennies. I usually take about twice what I actually spend.

I don't see any point in leaving money in my bank account. The Government will take 40% of what I leave in inheritance tax when I die, so I reckon I'm only spending 60% of what I actually spend. So if I pay 100 Baht for a glass of red wine, I think of it as actually costing me 60 Baht, and the other 40 Baht would only have gone to the Government. I'd rather spend it in a lb bar.

A glass of red wine at 100 Baht is still less than £3 at current exchange rates. A glass of wine in a London pub cost around twice that, and you don't have the nice lbs.

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The BOT cut interest rates today.  This caused the baht to weaken 5 satang per dollar.   I was walking by a couple TT exchanges an hour ago and the rate was 30.18 and now it's 30.23.  

 

Quote

On 6 November 2019, the MPC voted 5 to 2 to reduce the policy rate by 0.25 percentage point from 1.50 to 1.25 percent, effective immediately. Two members voted to maintain the policy rate at 1.50 percent.

The latest cut brings the Bot’s policy rate to an historical low, which the bank maintained from April 2009 to July 2010 during the subprime global financial crisis.

 

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On 11/4/2019 at 8:55 PM, Quietguy said:

The Government will take 40% of what I leave in inheritance tax when I die

There are numerous reasons why that will not be the case and many ways to avoid the 40% threshold, especially if you plan accordingly.

I'm not interested in your personal circumstances, but for a single person anything in your estate over £325k will be taxed at 40%, £650k if you're married. Personal pensions are exempt and tax free to nominated benificiaries if you expire before 75 years of age etc.. There are also property considerations as well,  plus other ways to legally lessen your inheritance tax liabilities. Perhaps do some research, if you're wealthy, or get some legal advice on the matter.

Uninformed comments sometimes require correction as they may mentally impact the lesser informed in a negatve manner. Please don't be offended.

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3 hours ago, Pdoggg said:

The BOT cut interest rates today.  This caused the baht to weaken 5 satang per dollar.   I was walking by a couple TT exchanges an hour ago and the rate was 30.18 and now it's 30.23.  

Well it's at least a start and a help in the right direction :drinks:

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3 hours ago, dixon cox said:

There are numerous reasons why that will not be the case and many ways to avoid the 40% threshold, especially if you plan accordingly.

I'm not interested in your personal circumstances, but for a single person anything in your estate over £325k will be taxed at 40%, £650k if you're married. Personal pensions are exempt and tax free to nominated benificiaries if you expire before 75 years of age etc.. There are also property considerations as well,  plus other ways to legally lessen your inheritance tax liabilities. Perhaps do some research, if you're wealthy, or get some legal advice on the matter.

Uninformed comments sometimes require correction as they may mentally impact the lesser informed in a negatve manner. Please don't be offended.

A 40% tax on money that has already been taxed when you croak is an outrage!!  Its never enough for these govt leeches!!!

I am an investor but not that sophisticated.  if I were to "retire" in Thailand, then I would be at the mercy of the exchange rates.  What type of investment vehicle would one make so that if the baht gets stronger against my currency, then my pile actually goes up???

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3 hours ago, ArchieBunker said:

if I were to "retire" in Thailand, then I would be at the mercy of the exchange rates.  What type of investment vehicle would one make so that if the baht gets stronger against my currency, then my pile actually goes up???

The path of least resistance is to open up a Thai bank account or Time Deposit (CD) paying higher interest than a regular savings account.  I think a great choice is the Krungsri ( Bank of Ayudhaya) Mee Tae Dai account which currently yields 1.3% but will probably go down after today's Bank of Thailand's rate cut.

Mee Tae Dai is not designed to be an everyday savings account.  You can only withdraw (or transfer out online) twice a month without incurring a fee.  So I withdraw once a month moving spending money to my everyday account which is linked to my debit card.  I prefer this flexibilty to slightly higher Time Deposit account.

There are some ETFs which might somewhat suit your needs.   There is an American ETF with 100% exposure to Thai stocks, iShares Thailand ETF. The ticker symbol is THD. Their 10 largest holdings are below.

Quote

THD

Security         Percent of
Total Investments (a)     
PTT PCL

          8.7    % 
CP ALL PCL

          8.5     
Siam Cement PCL (The)

          5.6     
Airports of Thailand PCL

          5.3     
Advanced Info Service PCL

          4.7     
Bangkok Dusit Medical Services PCL

          3.8     
Kasikornbank PCL

          3.2     
PTT Exploration & Production PCL

          3.0     
Central Pattana PCL

          2.6     
Intouch Holdings PCL

          2.5     
 
 

 

If you want a pure currency play there is the Wisdom Tree Emerging Currency Strategy ETF.  The ticker symbol is CEW.

Quote

CEW

The Fund seeks to provide exposure to currencies and money market rates from emerging and developing economies in three regions of the world: (i) Asia, (ii) Latin America and (iii) Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Within these regions, the Fund intends to invest in a subset of the following markets: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey. 

Both of the above ETFs have a decent expense ratio but the Cheap Charlie I am prefers extraordinary to decent.  So I recommend to a friend who wanted some Southeast Asian exposure to invest in the Fidelity Emerging Markets Index Fund.  This is a stock fund. Ticker is FPADX.  But the fund has too much Hong Kong exposure for my taste and will recommend that he trim his holdings or perhaps dump it completely.

 

Quote

FPADX

Currency Diversification  Currency Diversification Additional Of Fund Stocks
AS OF 9/30/2019
Hong Kong Dollar20.94%U.S. Dollar12.11%South Korean Won11.81%New Taiwan Dollar11.23%Indian Rupee8.66%Brazilian Real7.39%South African Rand4.61%Thai Baht2.84%Russian Ruble2.62%Saudi Arabian Rival2.54%Mexican Peso2.45%Chinese Yuan2.41%Indonesian Rupiah2.01%Malaysian Ringgit1.98%Philippine Peso1.06%Qatari Rial0.98%Polish Zloty0.96%Chilean Peso0.91%United Arab Emirates Dirham0.66%Turkish Lira0.57%Colombian Peso0.37%European Monetary Unit (Euro)0.30%Hungarian Forint0.28%Egyptian Pound0.15%Czech Koruna0.14%Pakistan Rupees0.02%

Bottom Line:  The most straightforward approach is a Mee Tae Dai account at Krungsri (Ayudhaya).  Thailand has a program similar to FDIC which covers you in case of bank failure with a limit of 1 million baht starting August 2020 (5 million before). I believe this is per bank and not per account. I reckon that there is a perception that Thai guarantees are not as ironclad as those in Falangland. If all the banks failed at once perhaps it could be problematic, I dunno, but I suppose that could happen in the West too. I feel it's safe enough.  

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On 11/6/2019 at 3:34 PM, Pdoggg said:

The BOT cut interest rates today.  This caused the baht to weaken 5 satang per dollar.   I was walking by a couple TT exchanges an hour ago and the rate was 30.18 and now it's 30.23. 

I guess the baht fell a bit more yesterday. If it hadn't fallen I would have been momentarily dazed and confused. My debit card has a US$1000 limit. I did a 30k baht (+220 baht fee) ATM withdrawal. I checked my bank account later and it was $999.88. It wasn't far from my limit that would cause a rejection of the transaction. But I did get caught on the wrong side a VISA FX currency rate swing. I would have done better with a cash rate. But it's worth it, for me, not carrying cash.

In the US the limit on the inheritance tax was raised a couple of times. So not as big a problem for us.   

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6 hours ago, xyzzy said:

My debit card has a US$1000 limit.

My card has a $500 limit and they won't increase it.  I asked for $1000 to save them money since they are rebating ATM fees.  A phone rep told me that the limit is really $510 though.  I guess at home people like to take out a nice round number and perhaps the extra 10 bucks is for the ATM fee although it eventually gets rebated.

I don't use 1000 baht notes when going out.  To eliminate confusion, I just carry 500s, 100s, and 20s.  I'm a little bit color blind and sometimes the 50s look like 20s.

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  • 2 weeks later...

BANGKOK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The strength of Thailand's baht is a concern for the trade-reliant economy which is expected lag the central bank's growth forecast for this year, the Bank of Thailand governor said on Monday.

"We are very worried about the baht," BOT Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob told a seminar in the southern province of Songkhla.

The baht THB=TH is Asia's best performing currency this year, rising 7.7% against the dollar, underpinned by the country's large current account surplus.

This year's economic growth is expected undershoot the central bank's forecast of 2.8%, Veerathai said.

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1 hour ago, bumblebee said:

It’s having an effect on tourist numbers now in Pattaya.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1802659/slowdown-hits-pattaya-hoteliers 

This part of the article surprised me. What are they spending it on....

Average spending for Indian tourists is 10,000 baht per person per day, compared with 5,000 baht for Chinese visitors.” 

WTF I would be hard pressed to recall a day I ever spent 10,000 baht except when paying the rent. Maybe they do a bunch of shopping and take stuff home. But since Pattaya is theoretically their first day stop they would have to carry all that stuff around.   

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3 hours ago, bumblebee said:

Average spending for Indian tourists is 10,000 baht per person per day, compared with 5,000 baht for Chinese visitors.” 

That figure seems ludicrous.

I think they're trying to spend-shame people into parting with more money by over- exaggerrating the lowest common denominator.

 

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