Warnings on Thai based Expat Financial Advisers.
Beware of Thai Expat Financial Advisers.
not met) however which gives his full name/address -and some other
information- how he invested some 350,000 US$ into a fund which then
just un-expectantly closed with no redemptions anymore possible for now. He rightly fears it’s a total loss and perhaps fraudulent?
The fund was sold to him by one of the
many expat financial experts here on location.
They make the rounds around mostly orally bad mouthing stocks and then
recommending their (often high commissioned) funds. Perhaps dubious funds which are habitually not
cleared for sale in their own countries and often incorporated in the Cayman
Islands. With auditors’ names such as “BDO Tortuga,
Cayman Islands”.
and other exotic names with obscure management styles and financial derviatives activity.
months ago, losing 3 million Baht. He did not share details as he is too embarrassed
due warning him many times in the past. Nor do I want the fine details as I am not a consumer advocate bureau
here to investigate –besides long here warned to be very careful on such.
In other words, "don’t blame me".
for the Bangkok Post, every Sunday. Often in my view confusing more people then
helping. If the BKK Post does not, some should ask: how many of his funds have closed?
ago asking why they not broaden this ever so narrow financial column? I offered to bring some Thai investor content.
But no answer came back. I also told
some SET/MAI officials as about this rogue practice here some time ago, but
they seem to think that since these do not market to Thai nationals, its not
their mandate to check them.
work, bring up their families with pride and love, pay taxes and work hard,
only then to have no clue on how to invest. How many illiquid condo or land parcels can
you own? And foreigners cannot own land. Banks
offer very low interest rates, and this so for years already, same with bonds. Thai and foreigners out there are confused
and the brokers don’t offer much help with their ever “faster trading platforms”. Kim Eng told a senior analyst not long ago
that they are very client centric in that they offer ever faster/better trading
platforms. Nothing was mentioned nor is there concern about offering more fundamental company research, so to help thousands of people
understand better in what they invest. Inducing and turning everybody into a trader
is unprofessional! Just like the Doctor
which just pushes pills for everything and for commission. What an attitude and so I just ditched their
ad at my site. No wonder new individual Thai broker accounts' remain stagnant over the long run.
and we see them everday, are fear mongered by the press and then financial
experts, which then sell them funds, under the sometimes/often disguise that such
funds are much safer and diversified. And yes many are. Yet, there seems to be more than a few that regularly
pop up over the years which just close their doors and stop all redemptions. This
has gone on for many years. Here is how one person wrote me on that:
should have listened to you from the start. I will tell my kids never to buy
funds. I see good opportunities all around but
cannot touch my own
money how frustrating is that!?. The LM-fund which “collapsed" on 19
April is still under administration, whatever that means.”
many people are and keep being financially illiterate and society and schools keeps
them so, generation after generation. They so have a difficult time empowering
themselves to step up to a good & diversified investment portfolio of
companies which operate profitable and which lead in all kinds of buoyant
economic sectors here. We do not know when stocks will rise and we even know,
that some will not and others will go down.
But what we do know is that if you put in some effort, diversify and get
some good investors ideas (like I offer here) many can lift themselves up to
higher returns, in time.
financial advisers keep operating here with face, even while regularly people report being
taken to the cleaners -with yet another of their funds just closing. How can
they keep getting regular press attention with polished English reports
in leading newspapers? Sadly we can guess the answer.
owning gold and silver, because well have you not heard, “the world is going to
hell”. How can we help these good folks,
when most newspapers here give them the voice and shun real investor pros. out? And why is it that when long standing pro’s
contribute some added value insights, they always take out the web sites' name of my web
site?
down. Some are outright dogs; others shine well beyond market performance. In the end together and with some investor discipline a
group of stocks held together will likely (always have in the past century)
over time outperform just about everything else. Plenty of evidence shows this. Most shares
here pay regular dividends and are a direct form of ownerships…and where the
stock certificates are held separately by the Thai Security Depository, not the broker.
sentiment driven and the price will jump up and down, but over time…and its
time you must have, they often if not always shine. Trouble it nobody has told the masses and
many seem to have an interest in keeping it so.
Expat financial advisers here which offer unregulated/approved funds to expats, should get some scrutiny from somebody.
