Thailand Lounge and Chat area

[MrHappyKat]

Unless you're very familiar with Asians, I think you should be more worried. I sometimes enjoyed playing the "is that a ladyboy?" game with thai girls while having a cup of coffee in a shopping mall, or seeing a LB and farang walking hand in hand, and even thai girls get it wrong from a distance many times. Probably because it's not a thing they need to concern themselves with much, but still. Some literally look like a dude in a wig and it has to be obvious even to a blind man, but there are enough small, petite, feminine looking ladyboys too.

Your best bet is to just ask to see their ID. You can flatter her by saying it is because she looks so young, and you want to make sure she's over 18. Their ID will say "Mr. " or "Miss" somewhere on it.

Is because I DO ask, almost always. I too have seen the occasional LB show up for a (in my case PinaLove) meeting. Fortunately, I always have them meet me in the hotel lobby or some place nearby. I addition, I tip the hotel security guard when I check in and ask him to watch my back. That small investment has paid off rather well. Finally, I ask; sometimes it's done playfully or jokingly, sometimes it's just direct.

Good discussion. Thanks for your reply and the replies of others.

[AggieDad1]

That's true, I read somewhere that during the Cuban missile crisis, people were still buying stocks, enough that during the second half of that 2 week crisis, the stock market recovered most of its losses. So, even with the threat of nuclear annihilation, people were like 'fuck it'. Let's just buy some stocks.

So this is what's making this whole situation so weird. It's tariffs and shit, deepseek and bla bla bla. Not the threat of the literal end of the world, so how come stocks and the economy are crashing like never before? At this point it might as well be the end of the world. That's it, I'm selling everything. Most of my positions is in the mag 7 anyway and it looks like they're never going to recover. I don't understand how literally overnight, people have stopped using their Microsoft accounts for work, stopped using Google to search for porn, threw away their Iphones, and stopped buying shit on Amazon. Because that be the only reason to explain why they're crashing. I get why Tesla is crashing, cause that's a shit company. But MSFT? AAPL? NVDA?

Fuck it, I'm typing this on my Imac right now, but as soon as I log out, I'm taking it out to the trash. Going to by me a PC instead. But wait, PCs run on Windows! But no one is using MSFT software anymore. What the fuck is happening? None of this makes sense. FML.

Lot of effort into propping up the economy in 2024, so certain people would not look bad. That is gone along with all that money. Of course there are a lot of individual stories. NVDA was hurt by the belief that the AI players are set and the demand for high end GPU's is slacking off. TIm Cook has been running AApl into the ground for years and reality is catching up. MSFT is feeling the effect of the world wide recession. Hang in there. I learned my lesson in the late 80's. Had a stock that reached $100 a share before a market crash dropped it to $80. Swore if it hit $100 again I would sell. It took three years but to hit $100 again and I sold. But fuck me if 12 months later it was at $150.

[Newton York]

I'm down 100 k USD on my stocks over the past month. It's impossible for a private investor to time the market. The situation now is not yet as bad as it got during COVID. It's just that we feel more concerned now because COVID felt like the end of the World and we didn't even care. I'm waiting for a further 10-percent dip to buy.

Didn't Buffet say the opposite?

That's true, I read somewhere that during the Cuban missile crisis, people were still buying stocks, enough that during the second half of that 2 week crisis, the stock market recovered most of its losses. So, even with the threat of nuclear annihilation, people were like 'fuck it'. Let's just buy some stocks.

So this is what's making this whole situation so weird. It's tariffs and shit, deepseek and bla bla bla. Not the threat of the literal end of the world, so how come stocks and the economy are crashing like never before? At this point it might as well be the end of the world. That's it, I'm selling everything. Most of my positions is in the mag 7 anyway and it looks like they're never going to recover. I don't understand how literally overnight, people have stopped using their Microsoft accounts for work, stopped using Google to search for porn, threw away their Iphones, and stopped buying shit on Amazon. Because that be the only reason to explain why they're crashing. I get why Tesla is crashing, cause that's a shit company. But MSFT? AAPL? NVDA?

Fuck it, I'm typing this on my Imac right now, but as soon as I log out, I'm taking it out to the trash. Going to by me a PC instead. But wait, PCs run on Windows! But no one is using MSFT software anymore. What the fuck is happening? None of this makes sense. FML.

[Werqweq]

So I have a question for those of you with boots on the ground. It's about identifying Ladyboys. No hate here. I live in LOS Angeles, and everyone gets to be whoever they want to be. It's live and let live. Some of my best friends are _ (insert whatever term you want). I can cite more cliche's, but you get the idea.

However, I am a bit discerning about who I pay for play. And that means I choose to stick with women and avoid Ladyboys. Honestly, I had no problems identifying LB's in Angeles City. I am not really worried that I will be "fooled" in Thailand. But:

Unless you're very familiar with Asians, I think you should be more worried. I sometimes enjoyed playing the "is that a ladyboy?" game with thai girls while having a cup of coffee in a shopping mall, or seeing a LB and farang walking hand in hand, and even thai girls get it wrong from a distance many times. Probably because it's not a thing they need to concern themselves with much, but still. Some literally look like a dude in a wig and it has to be obvious even to a blind man, but there are enough small, petite, feminine looking ladyboys too.

Your best bet is to just ask to see their ID. You can flatter her by saying it is because she looks so young, and you want to make sure she's over 18. Their ID will say "Mr. " or "Miss" somewhere on it.

I've had a few LB hookers arrive from dating sites. The small, petite, feminine type. I had no idea from the photos, but when they started walking towards me, I could see something was off, and told them they were a ladyboy after I had a closer look at their face. Sometimes they strongly denied it, at which point I asked to see their ID just for fucks sake. They often started to look for it in their purse, but then could somehow never find it. Thais learn to carry their ID with them at all time, so if somebody does not have it, something's fishy. Possibly underage, possibly not Thai, but most likely, it's a small dude masquerading in his sister's skirt.

[Werqweq]

Eureka like a mf. I think you have a point. And remember the tattoos that ladies get differ from the tattoos that men get. No man walks around with a dream catcher on his thigh. You really don't see ladyboys with tattoos at all. If you see someone with a man tattoo, but they are dressed up like a woman, then you know it is a ladyboy.

I also wanted to reply, but I was worried admitting I have seen enough of a ladyboy's body, and enough ladyboys bodies, to say they mostly don't have tattoos would forever cast a shadow of suspicion over my reputation here.

[SubCmdr]

I just got finished with a most excellent class on how to ride a motorbike. Highly recommended. The Co-Founder speaks Spanish, English and Thai. I'm a beginner, already I am confident enough to buy one. I'll be using the profits I took during December of 2024 and January 2025 to make my purchase. Holla!

https://g.co/kgs/fdUqqjR

[Mr Enternational]

It seems that generally LB's do not get as many (or any) tatts as the women. Anyone there who actually knows from experience (unlike me) if my theory is correct?

Eureka like a mf. I think you have a point. And remember the tattoos that ladies get differ from the tattoos that men get. No man walks around with a dream catcher on his thigh. You really don't see ladyboys with tattoos at all. If you see someone with a man tattoo, but they are dressed up like a woman, then you know it is a ladyboy.

[LittleBigMan]

I'm not expert, but the advice I've been given all makes sense and I'm thankful for it. Like pussy to invest or not like everything is an individual choice! The rule of thumb advice given.

" Just because you are retired doesn't mean that should be the end of the road " I stay very conservative invested is it my top priority NO, but doing so is because of inflation inflation is what? Prices goes up food, utilities, gas, airfare, medical etc. Your pension when drawn is frozen, you S.S. gets a minimum COLA if you are in U.S. prices goes up it is a no brainer.

One just never know what is around the corner it doesn't hurt for me. LOL As I noted the last time this discussion came up, my portfolio last 3 years 10%, What goes up comes down what goes down comes up! LOL!

[Goatscrot]

I feel that by the time someone retires anywhere a stock market portfolio ought to be the least important leg of their retirement support stool. It is perhaps especially so for an expat living in a foreign country since worthwhile job opportunites if things do go tits up in the market would likely be more challenging outside of their home country.

Rental property income, a guaranteed for life pension and the biggest Social Security check you can line up would be and actually were my planned priorities over what was once upon a time a much bigger IRA before I had fun spending down much of it to this point.

I still have a few bucks invested in a Roth IRA but I have not needed to even look at it much less withdraw a dollar from it over the past 2-3 years. It could all go tits up and I wouldn't miss it since any two of my three other income stream legs of the stool would more than cover my living and playing expenses here in Bangkok. In fact, just one particular leg would do it, my Social Security check.

Of course, that used to be a reliable income stream well into the future as long as a couple of minor tweaks were made here and there by a functioning USA Federal Government. In the past it could be relied upon to enact those tweaks at crunch time. But reliance on that now is under grave threat by an unelected Chainsaw-wielding drug addict that another blithering lunatic handed the power to do whatever the hell he wants.

So there may come a time in the near future when that particular leg of the stool is screwed off and tossed in the fire pit. Or, to avoid mixing metaphors, to get chainsawed off and reconstituted into exploding spaceship fins.

Think it depends on what you have in your investment account. If you look at returns over the past 50 years the stock market is a great place to have your money. That is providing your only pulling 4% the majority of years and maybe 5%, if you really need to. And I would say to be comfortable doing that you need 1. 5 to 2 large in your account.

[SubCmdr]

Most of you International Tricks and SexPats don't know JACK about money nor how to use it to make more money. That is why I read less than useful advice every single time I mention investments in this Thread. Here is an example:

The Chinese buyer bought the condo at a discount. You would have probably had to pay more. This is even more proof that Koreans (and Chinese) are favored over Westerners. I wouldn't be surprised if the real estate agent was female and urged the seller to accept the Chinese buyer's bid due to her preference of Koreans and Chinese. Buying a condo is not simple like buying shoes. Be careful. It's not the goldmine you think it is.

This guy is a (compound profanity redacted) idiot!

You want to know about how to invest, head over to the American Politics thread, where there have been in depth discussion about investing in Bond, Real Estate, Stocks and Crypto. The International Tricks and SexPats posting that there, well they know their money!

EDUCATE YOURSELVES and then take action.

I feel that by the time someone retires anywhere a stock market portfolio ought to be the least important leg of their retirement support stool. It is perhaps especially so for an expat living in a foreign country since worthwhile job opportunites if things do go tits up in the market would likely be more challenging outside of their home country.

Rental property income, a guaranteed for life pension and the biggest Social Security check you can line up would be and actually were my planned priorities over what was once upon a time a much bigger IRA before I had fun spending down much of it to this point.

I still have a few bucks invested in a Roth IRA but I have not needed to even look at it much less withdraw a dollar from it over the past 2-3 years. It could all go tits up and I wouldn't miss it since any two of my three other income stream legs of the stool would more than cover my living and playing expenses here in Bangkok. In fact, just one particular leg would do it, my Social Security check.

Eih Tooms just hit a drop the bat and walk off grand-slam.

Money is not a problem for me and my crew. We have multiple income sources. The stock market going down is an unfortunate but cyclical action over time. Unless your are funding you day to day expenses using dividends paying stocks, those dividends being cut is the only way the current decline in the economy of the DisUnited States of America can effect ANY individual holding stocks. The real effect is purely psychological. It is call the WEALTH effect. You see you have less wealth so you feel like you need to spend less money. Personally I have never let the up and downs of the stock market affect my day to day expenses. Me and my crew have lost some money. But we all have war chests of cash in reserve and are currently hunting for bargains.

They say that we are prone to violence, but it's home sweet home
Where personalities clash and chrome meets chrome
The coke prices up and down like it's Wall Street, holmes
But this is worse than the Dow Jones, your brains are now blown
All over that brown Brougham, one slip, you are now gone
Welcome to Hell, where you are welcome to sell - U Dont Know, Jay Z

The members of my crew who followed my lead and took profits in December of 2024 and January of 2025 are sitting pretty like me. I just looked at some reports about my portfolio and the numbers are EYE POPPING!

I remember reading a post from someone was trying to clown me over my trading results. They said they made over four hundred percent on their stock portfolio. I wonder if they also use Jedi Mind Tricks and Vulcan Mind Melds on Bar Girls as part of their investment strategy in order to get investment ideas. I hear investing in Face Sitting Technology (FST) was better than AI. Hope they took profits. ROTFLMAO!.

When you are a true trader you make money in both up and down markets. My money that remains in the stock market is house money. I have long before removed my original investment and a substantial portion of my profits. Holla!.

Ballin like Stock Market Pro!

You are so freaking wrong it isn't funny. While it is true that some USA expats have multiple sources of income and are in good financial positions, most of those that I know live off of modest Social Security plus their modest IRA. Some of the oldest expats have pensions, but the younger expats have either small pension or no pension at all. Many cashed out their pensions at retirement and those funds are now in IRAs. If the stock market goes down the IRA goes down and that expat has less money to live. I'm not an expat, but I talk nearly every evening with expats, just as I have for about 10 weeks per year for about 3 years. Most of the expats that I know live a far different life than you envision, they struggle financially and their IRAs are critical to them.

I took money out of the stock market and put it into income producing real estate.

Let's start with a very basic concept. Your personal residence is not an investment. A investment pays you money and liability causes you to pay out money. Already I see that a certain International Trick does not even understand the most basic concept of wealth generation. Buy assets not liabilities until you own enough assets to generate the income to pay for the things you wish to consume.

You have proffered nothing to indicate it was a bad investment. You spoke out of turn without having any of the details. Tell me how much time do you spend in Pattaya? Of that how much time to you take out of your International Tricking time to spend looking in the rental and purchase markets. Can you give me a specific example? If you cannot, then read following and learn.
The tools need to calculate if a real estate purchase is a good deal are learned in elementary school. It is basic arithmetic. The concept I use is: Cash on Cash return. If you are not familiar with it google it.
1,900,000 THB /120 month = 16,000 THB / month (rounded up).
If you can rent the unit for 16,000 THB / month that is a 10.1% Cash on Cash return. How much are you getting from a Treasury Bill these days?
After 120 months the rental income will have returned all your invested capital in the unit and from that point on your return is infinite because you have zero invested in it. We haven't even factored in potential capital appreciation of the 10 years it takes to break even cash wise.
The unit in question was 100 m2 double unit with two full bathrooms that could be rented as is. 10th Floor. Good view out over Soi Bon Cock. 16,000 THB of rent a month in the area and building I looked would have been stretching it. But given the size and uniqueness of there might have been a lot of appeal to a Farang in the right mindset.

The other major thing that mother fuckers who don't know shit about investing in real estate in Thailand (or another place in the world is) the Farang Name concept. Finding Thai style condos in Farang Name is not easy. I speak from experience. If anyone else would like to contradict me because they think it is easy I have got the first drink anywhere they choose so you can fill me in on your knowledge.
Appears there is more competition than just for pussy.
I would have required another 500,000 THB of renovations to bring it up to my personal Ballin standards. I only held back because I really did not want to live there. But the Chinese client snapped it up. Because indeed it was a good investment.
Yes there are. But refer to the first paragraph for some perspective. If I buy a personal residence it is not an investment. It is a personal expense. If I am going to incur that expense I want to live where I want to live. I want a direct ocean view! In a new building with modern amenities. If you are actually in the market (as I am) you will find the projects that meet my requirement quite busy with projects. Deals are being made every day. Furthermore these projects are not for those experiencing resource scarcity. Starting at about 6,300,000 THB for my favorite unit.

Get right wit ya!

[HorseTrader]

I feel that by the time someone retires anywhere a stock market portfolio ought to be the least important leg of their retirement support stool.

Yes, that's the way it should be. I have multiple friends in their 70's and 80's who still have visions of getting rich through risky investments, including commodities and individual stocks. None of said friends have gotten rich, one has found his way from upper middle class to the poor house.

[MrHappyKat]

So I have a question for those of you with boots on the ground. It's about identifying Ladyboys. No hate here. I live in LOS Angeles, and everyone gets to be whoever they want to be. It's live and let live. Some of my best friends are _ (insert whatever term you want). I can cite more cliche's, but you get the idea.

However, I am a bit discerning about who I pay for play. And that means I choose to stick with women and avoid Ladyboys. Honestly, I had no problems identifying LB's in Angeles City. I am not really worried that I will be "fooled" in Thailand. But:

I have been watching a lot of YouTube vids, because what the fuck else am I going to do while waiting for my flight day? And I have a question based solely on my empirical observations:

It seems that generally LB's do not get as many (or any) tatts as the women. Anyone there who actually knows from experience (unlike me) if my theory is correct?

[EihTooms]

You are so freaking wrong it isn't funny. While it is true that some USA expats have multiple sources of income and are in good financial positions, most of those that I know live off of Social Security plus their IRA. Some of the oldest have pensions, but the younger expats have either small pension or no pension at all. Many cashed out their pensions at retirement and those funds are now in IRAs. If the stock market goes down the IRA goes down and that expat has less money to live. I'm not an expat, but I talk nearly every evening with expats, just as I have for about 10 weeks per year for about 3 years. Most of the expats that I know live a far different life than you envision, they struggle financially and their IRAs are critical to them.

I feel that by the time someone retires anywhere a stock market portfolio ought to be the least important leg of their retirement support stool. It is perhaps especially so for an expat living in a foreign country since worthwhile job opportunites if things do go tits up in the market would likely be more challenging outside of their home country.

Rental property income, a guaranteed for life pension and the biggest Social Security check you can line up would be and actually were my planned priorities over what was once upon a time a much bigger IRA before I had fun spending down much of it to this point.

I still have a few bucks invested in a Roth IRA but I have not needed to even look at it much less withdraw a dollar from it over the past 2-3 years. It could all go tits up and I wouldn't miss it since any two of my three other income stream legs of the stool would more than cover my living and playing expenses here in Bangkok. In fact, just one particular leg would do it, my Social Security check.

Of course, that used to be a reliable income stream well into the future as long as a couple of minor tweaks were made here and there by a functioning USA Federal Government. In the past it could be relied upon to enact those tweaks at crunch time. But reliance on that now is under grave threat by an unelected Chainsaw-wielding drug addict that another blithering lunatic handed the power to do whatever the hell he wants.

So there may come a time in the near future when that particular leg of the stool is screwed off and tossed in the fire pit. Or, to avoid mixing metaphors, to get chainsawed off and reconstituted into exploding spaceship fins.

[HorseTrader]

How does the US stock market crashing affect farang retirees in Thailand? It's not like you guys live off of your 401 ks or anything like that. I bet most of you have pensions, a crashing US economy ain't going to be touching your cushy pensions there

You are so freaking wrong it isn't funny. While it is true that some USA expats have multiple sources of income and are in good financial positions, most of those that I know live off of modest Social Security plus their modest IRA. Some of the oldest expats have pensions, but the younger expats have either small pension or no pension at all. Many cashed out their pensions at retirement and those funds are now in IRAs. If the stock market goes down the IRA goes down and that expat has less money to live. I'm not an expat, but I talk nearly every evening with expats, just as I have for about 10 weeks per year for about 3 years. Most of the expats that I know live a far different life than you envision, they struggle financially and their IRAs are critical to them.

[SubCmdr]

Taking cash out of the Stock Market and buying income producing real estate with it.

If the US stock market keeps going down, it's going to become very quiet here.