Most of the expensive mistakes I have watched over thirty years did not begin with a bad answer. They began with a question nobody asked. The buyer who checked the view, the pool and the price, but not who actually owned the land. The founder who celebrated his banking licence, then discovered that no bank would clear his payments.
That is why I wrote the What Nobody Tells You series: neither legal textbooks nor sales brochures, but the questions to ask before you sign, in the order they really come up. Six titles are in the stores, a seventh is on its way, and next to them sits my two-volume guide on buying property in Thailand.
They are written to be read together, because one problem rarely travels alone. The man who moves his business abroad usually buys a home there too, and sooner or later sells that business or buys another. So instead of a list of titles, here is where to start, depending on where you stand.
“I’m moving my money, my business or my family abroad”
For the entrepreneur setting up a company in another country, the family relocating, and the investor who has found “the” opportunity overseas.
- Book 1: What Nobody Tells You Before You Invest Abroad
- Book 2: What Nobody Tells You Before You Buy Property Abroad
- Book 5: What Nobody Tells You Before You Buy or Sell a Business
Book 1 deals with the decision itself, before anyone reads the law. Can you invest in that sector? Can you legally work in your own company? What happens if your local partner turns against you, or if the investment works but your life doesn’t? Book 2 comes next, because the home is usually the second decision and the most emotional one: titles that are not what they seem, developers building with your money, leases sold as ownership. Book 5 closes the loop. Sooner or later you will buy a business over there or sell the one you built, and that is the moment to know why the seller is really selling. The order simply follows life: you arrive, you settle, then you buy or you exit.
“I want a licence or a regulated company”
For fintech and crypto founders, payment businesses and family offices that want a regulated foothold in Europe without burning two years finding out which door to knock on.
- Book 6: What Nobody Tells You About the Swiss SRO in 2026
- Book 3: What Nobody Tells You Before You Buy a Bank
Start with the Swiss SRO, the most common entry point and the most underestimated: who needs one, how to get it, and what you can actually do with it. Many founders discover that a company affiliated with a self-regulatory organisation is all they need, and that discovery alone saves years. Then read Book 3 if you think bigger. A banking licence is only permission to start building a bank; without a correspondent bank willing to take you on and enough cash to reach break-even, it is an expensive certificate. Small step first, big step second. And if Book 3 cures you of wanting a bank at all, believe me, that is also a result.
“I own crypto, or I’m about to”
For Mr. Everybody, not the trader: the person who holds some Bitcoin or stablecoins, or is about to, and wants to keep what he owns.
- Book 4: What Nobody Tells You Before You Invest in Crypto
- Book 7: What Nobody Tells You About the Plumbing of Crypto (coming soon)
Book 4 is about what can happen to you: crashes of 77 to 94 per cent, exchanges that lost their customers’ coins, scams, a tax bill on a token you never sold, and who gets your crypto when you die. Book 7 goes one floor down: the blockchains, stablecoin issuers, banks and payment rails that can stop you using your crypto even when you still own it. In other words, first keep your crypto out of the wrong hands, then learn what can freeze it while it is still in yours. For the record, I have never bought a Bitcoin, so there is nothing to sell you and no loss to avenge. Book 7 will appear on the books page the day it goes live.
“I’m buying property in Thailand”
For foreigners buying a condominium, a villa or a long lease in Thailand, for retirement, holidays or rental income. I came to Thailand in 1995 and ran my own law firm in Bangkok for more than a decade, so this is the country I know best.
- Volume I: How to Safely Buy Real Estate in Thailand, The Buyer’s Guide
- Volume II: How to Safely Buy Real Estate in Thailand, The Law
- Then Book 1: What Nobody Tells You Before You Invest Abroad
- And Book 5: What Nobody Tells You Before You Buy or Sell a Business
Volume I covers the practical side, in the order a buyer meets it: developers, off-plan purchases, title deeds, leases, agents, financing and visas. Volume II gives you the law behind it: land documents, ownership structures, the 49 per cent foreign quota for condominiums, leases and taxes. You do not need to become a Thai lawyer, but you do need to understand what your lawyer tells you, and to smell when something is wrong. Then read Books 1 and 5, because very few people who settle in Thailand stay idle for long. Sooner or later the condominium comes with a restaurant, a guesthouse or a small company, and that is a different game: what foreigners may and may not own, who can work in the business, the Thai partner, and why the seller is really selling.
Where to find the books
The books are sold on Apple Books, Amazon and Google Play, in eBook and, for most titles, in paperback. Not every title is in every store yet, so the books page lists the live links for each one, grouped by the same themes as above.
And if your situation does not fit any of these paths (in thirty years I have seen plenty that don’t), write to me. Sometimes the question you need answered is not in any book yet.
Contact: insight@fintechlex.com or WhatsApp +41 787 983 770
