Jimmyd

If you're working in Thailand the best way to save money is by contributing to a Retirement Mutual Fund (RMF) or Long-Term Equity Fund (LTF). Check out major bank websites. You can contribute up to 15% of your taxable income to RMF and up to 15% to LTF, making a total of 30%.

The main advantage is that anything you contribute is deductible from your taxable income.If you are making more that 1 million baht a year 30% of anything over that amount is what you pay in tax, so you get a big refund on your next income tax return - doubtful the stock market will go down by more than 30% over several years, so it's hard to lose.

For RMF you must contribute every year (minimum 5,000 Baht), and cannot withdraw money until you are 55. For LTF only initial contribution required, but must be held for 5 calendar years (even 1 day counts as a calendar year, so if you contibute in Dec 2010 you can withdraw in Jan 2015.For RMF and LTF capital gains are not taxable.

You can also purchase a savings account / life insurance plan, and up to 100,000 baht is deductible from taxable income. The return on these plans is not great - about the same as an ordinary Thai bank account - but again the main advantage is the tax savings.