Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="medoraman, post: 26705788, member: 26302"]The main thing I can comment on is the fact I have been there many times over decades. I do not ever recall seeing anyone in Thailand wearing silver jewelry except for children and westerners. The jewelry issue misses the main point though. While some might be in jewelry form, the Thai's aren't really buying jewelry, they are buying gold. Every single family I know of there has family gold, sometimes in the form of jewelry other times bars. Its like most people in the US has a 401k or an IRA, they have gold. Its just what it is. The point was investment money went into this and land instead of stocks and bonds for the vast majority of Thai people. That is what is different between the two metals there. They might have silver as a functional item but not as an investment item. There are many silver shops in Thailand, much of it for the export market. Thailand has historically been a large exporter of silver items and jewelry. Btw, I mentioned land. Land is HORRIBLY expensive there, much more so than the US. The price of a house lot in Chiang Mai is way higher than almost anywhere in the US, and Bangkok is higher. As a comparison, a .4 acre lot, (one Rai) in Chiang Mai is about $500,000 on average last I looked. Land is where most Thai's keep their "big money". Even rice paddies far from cities are more expense than farmland in Iowa.[/QUOTE]