Thingamabob

Just deposit 800k into a Thai bank account and leave it there. I've done this for nearly 40 years, including this year, with no problem whatsoever.

14 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I don't regret a moment of being in Thailand, I do regret the 32 years as an adult I wasted in the UK.

Directly I finished Uni, I should have left the country.

Agreed 100%.

5 hours ago, connda said:

I do not recommend either retiring in Thailand or worse, marrying a Thai national for numerous reasons:

Immigration is now moving the goalposts on short notice with increasing regularity.  We all simply wait for the next shoe to drop.

No consistency in the application of immigration law between immigration offices if not between individual immigration officers, many who seem to have never read the current police orders which are published online.  They make their own rules and there is nothing you can do - you have no recourse other than to comply or leave.  
No sense of any humanitarianism at all as we recently watched a 77 year old Alzheimer's patient forced out of the country because she could no longer meet the newly changed Retirement Visa rules - but worse imho was that she has a serious Medical Condition - Alzheimer's...The Long Goodbye - and was a resident in a Thai Medical Facility for Alzheimer's patients, and yet this heartless government could not extend her a Medical Visa for her Medical Condition and instead insisted on her having a retirement visa instead.  The family could not afford the cost of care and the cost of the new Retirement Visa regulations implemented March 1 - so the elderly invalid with a terminal Medical Condition was shown the door.  It sheer lunacy.  Keep that in mind long-stay expats when you become old and disabled with medical problems as you'll be shown the door too in your hour of need.  

Thailand has the one of the most dangerous road systems in the world and recently was The Most Dangerous Roads in the World #1.  Traffic enforcement of moving violations is non-existance, therefore the roads are simply anarchy.  Drivers are ill trained and a large percentage are extremely aggressive.  This leads to a high number of daily deaths (average about 60/day) and accidents.
Northern Thailand is choked by PM 2.5 particulate that is dangerous to human health as evidenced by the North having exceedingly high lung disease rates.  This choking smoke lasted 4 months this year or 1/3 of a year from February though the month of May.  And at times this year the North had The Most Dangerous Air Quality in the World #1.
We constantly see Thai-on-foreigner violence.  The most recent telling incidents being a taxi driver kidnapping two Korean tourists, robbing and beating them with the excuse that they asked him to turn on his meter.  And the latest in absurdity was the recent plea from Phuket police officials to taxi drivers asking them not the "Cheat" or "Beat" tourists - you have got to be kidding!  "Pretty please - don't Beat The Tourist as it's bad for our image.  Amazing!
Xenophobia in this country is institutionalize. 
For those marrying a Thai and raising a family, if you are a male you'll have no path to permanent residency and given the winds of fate Thai Immigration could break up your family.  If your wife dies you'll need to get a different visa.  If you can not, you get separated from your family unless you are supporting a minor child.  But if your kids have grown, regardless of the sacrifice you placed in providing for and supporting your extended family for years - you'll be shown the door. No compassion; no humanitarianism.  
Live in the beach areas and they are a polluted, plastic stewn mess.
You'll always be an outsider, and outsiders are subject to two-tiered pricing.  
If you moved to Thailand because you are Buddhist, welcome to the new Buddhism where you, my good foreign Buddhist, will be charged money to enter their Thai Buddhist Temples to worship!  No longer do you make an offering, you if you wish to worship you'll be charged at the door for the privilege to worship with Thai Buddhists who pay nothing.  Not all temples, but its becoming a disturbing trends.
Volunteer to help Thailand, such as teaching school children English for free, do so at your own risk - it can land you in jail for being a philanthropist and deported.
As a foreigners you simply are considered a potential criminal.  As such you movements must be monitored literally on a 24 hour basis.  Not constantly reporting your whereabouts is a criminal offense, which will simply prove Immigration's premise that all foreigners are potential criminals.  
And the bottom line: You are considered a walking ATM.  If your money runs below some government threshold, even for a short period of time - you're out, and if you don't get out quick enough than you are a criminal overstayer and its jail then deportation for you.  So therefore there is no security or stability in creating a life in Thailand.  You are here on the whim of a government who neither trusts you nor particularly wants you to stay.  Just leave your money - and get out.

If you like living that Machiavellian existence - fine!  Some people are masochists.  But there are better places to retire.  I suggest looking elsewhere.  Had I not married 11 years ago, I would not now be here.  And if this Immigration dog-and-pony show get much more stupid - I'm leaving.  

So you have my take - I in no way recommend staying here other than for a short visit, and even at that there are much better places in this world to vacation.
 

Been here 40 years having previously lived and worked in Africa, Asia, the Near and Middle East, USA and Europe. Thailand is still the best place of all for me, now in my 78th year and happily married to my Thai wife since 1990. I don't agree with Connda's contribution in any way, shape or form.

40 years in Thailand. Happily married to a Thai for 30 years. Still a great place to live as long as you have money and a brain.

I have always advised newcomers to think twice, at least, before making any form of financial commitment here. I have been cleaned out once, in 1997, in the nearly 40 years I have lived in Thailand, but I was lucky to have the resources to be able to recover. Others will not be so fortunate I'm afraid. Think long and hard before you commit. This is a very tough place in which to face financial difficulties.