New Gold Bars

So those bars are 23.16 karats? Can anyone expand on the 96.5% attribute?
What's the karat on the jewellery? 22k?

Silverhawk, isn't it funny that where you live people are lined up to buy electronics or toys for midnight madness but things that truly hold their value don't seem to be the "cool" thing now? Not to imply that here in Thailand people don't buy the same stuff (like fancy cell phones) that lose value very quickly, but there is a segment of the population that loves gold and it is quite large. So many Thai people seem to automatically think of gold when they have an extra few bucks in their pocket and I will admit that as I've lived here longer I get the same way. It really is fun to stack up gold, but it is also good for you! The Western media (and the "new" Asian media) just wants you to borrow money, buy a new car, buy a new cell phone or a new flat-screen TV. Nobody is ever pushing the things that are really good for you like paying down your debt and stacking gold or silver. Listen to mom and grandma is the lesson I guess. Nice to have an Asian wife because they are hesitant to let you buy junk but even hint that you are thinking about buying gold and out comes the cash! They can't get you to the gold shop fast enough!

Beautiful bars. Very interesting to hear how another culture views gold. Thank you for the pictures and welcome to the forum!

My view on stacking gold/silver is more moderate. Even if the end goal in life is the procurement/retention of wealth, there will be many smarter than I to tell me stacking may not the be the best choice. When it comes down to it stacking is just a hobby with potentially better retained value than other ways to spend your money. Who am I to tell off my wife for buying a non-PM bracelet when she so obviously enjoy wearing it; the value I put on my infrequent back country trips sure is disproportionally larger than the high monetary value I spend on gearing up as well. As long as I can afford it, i'll spend my money where I like. As long as I do right by my kid in his education, I won't really have to leave him anything either. It's not like gold is that much easier or more useful to take to the grave then a flatscreen TV :)

And here I was thinking that the low premium on gold makes it a good opportunity here in Thailand, and I never thought for a second about paying sales tax! Oh my goodness over 9%? That hurts! Now that you mention it, there must be a lot of people in the states who cross over into another state when they buy gold.

In America do gold dealers need to get your ID and fill out paperwork if you make a large purchase? Here that only happens if you spend over 1 million baht, which is roughly $31,000. If you spend less than that it is no different than buying a diet coke! Then again, taxes are very low here so maybe that is the reason- people aren't running from a 35% government bite, so no need to watch people's transactions.

I can download Pawn Stars and watch it on my computer here- great show! I also like the one in Detroit. Crazy customers!

So in Tennessee are there a fair number of sellers who deal from home as a "hobby" and don't worry about all the paperwork?

Hi Joe!

Thailand is a world apart from our neighbors here like Laos, Cambodia, and Burma. In those countries I think the middle class would not be able to afford much gold at all. But Thailand is growing very rapidly and the economic explosion- especially in places like Bangkok- is benefiting the average family a lot. I would say that certainly a middle class family in Thailand owns a fair amount of gold if it is a priority for them.

It is probably important to scale down your expectations of what is a fair amount of gold though, and a good way to do this is to consider the fact that the median income per capita here is $5,000 or so. The new minimum wage law means that a Thai person has to make about $10 per day. On the other hand, the restaurant on the first floor of my apartment building sells meals for $1. When you look at my bars of gold, keep that in mind too! There is no way I could afford to buy much gold if I had the same income and lived in the United States. Also, huge expenses for Americans like health insurance are almost non-existent for expats like me who live here. If my wife or I get sick, we go to the hospital and pay cash. It is very affordable.

Not to get too far off topic, but just to give you some idea of cost of living here: I can get stuck in traffic in a taxi and move very slowly from one end of the city to another, maybe 5 miles, and the bill after 90 minutes in the cab will be $5. So will the driver be buying 10 baht bars of gold (approx 2.5 ounces)? Not unless he is really dedicated to the cause! But with a moderate income by Western standards will I be able to? Yes, surely. No need to own a car and pay for car insurance when cabs are so cheap.

You also have to consider that the average Thai is not thinking of investing in stocks, currencies/forex, limited partnerships, hedge funds, bonds, or much else- they want gold. Gold is the pinnacle of liquidity, it is a status symbol (important in Asia!), and it is concentrated safety in Thai eyes.

When you process this information, also keep in mind that there is great income inequality here. It may not be as bad as America, but it is still a problem and creates a lot of political strife. In a place where the average person makes $5,000 per year you wouldn't expect to find dealerships for Lamborghini and Rolls Royce, but there are many here. You wouldn't expect to find condos that cost $8 million, but those are here too.

Will you give me red marks for being too wordy? LOL

Hong Kong has a competitive income comparing to the US, so there are more people buying gold, like most part of Asia, people preferred 24K than any other type. China on the other hand for the past 5-10 years has been catching up to Hong Kong, most part are still poor, but we are talking 1.3+ billion people, even 1% of the population can afford to buy several ounces per year easily.

So anyone can do the math and see how much gold is being hoarded...

One other thing I wanted to mention is preference in physical gold over 'paper gold', guess how many Asians would choose which one they want to be in their holding?

Thank you for the insight Rambler! Those pictures of Bangkok are amazing. I knew it was a rather large city but I didn't know the extent that it has developed.

As more people in Southeast Asia make the transition from poorer rural areas to wealtheir urbanized areas I expect that their appetite for gold and other luxury items will continue to grow. China and India alone have seen huge gains in the ranks of their middle classes with several hundred million moving to urban areas in the past decade or so.