poor people? maybe some but there are a lot of married homies who don't want to be forced to keep 400k in the bank, or don't want to go to an Immigration orifice every year. or don't want to do 90 day reports.
Dunno about retirement, I don't think so. I use an agent in Pattaya for my retirement needs, sod having to sell assets to keep 800k festering in a Thai bank at a low interest rate that's further reduced because I'm a foreign devil.