Is a retirement visa the only option for living in Thailand for a year?

I wonder what people said before Covid when rates were like 0%. I keep hearing the interest rate story, sorry but those rates are temporary. 2025 probably 3%. The exchange rate is 36.7 if it goes above 37 again I think better to bank 0 baht in a Thai bank. More likely to be 35 next year and maybe 34 in 2026. So the 2 baht increase gets you more than your 5% CD. But it is a gamble. Because if deflates by 2 to 39 you lose money. If after six or nine months you decide you will leave start spending money in your account. Your allow to drop it to 0 baht three months after extension. So, you could pull half out for 6 months and put into CD. But if you renew the 0 needs to be back in account I think 3 months before. You do have transfer fees but my bank only charges $25 which is good for a large transfer. Better to do without agent otherwise getting out of using them is difficult. But the interest excuse seems silly because we temporarily have high rates so everyone is worried about the interest income lost. Plus it is a simple process to do without agent as long as you have time and 0 baht to hold. Me I would gamble and say the $ today will be worth $ next year.

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just found some on air quality

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suggest stay in the southern part for better air quality

Just get the METV for 9 months and you will know if it is right for you or not.

Best option is retirement visa. I did it last year and it was a great experience to stay for a full year, lease an affordable condo, buy a scooter and just live.

I used an agent to set everything up so I didn't have to exchange/transfer 800k. I think that's a better option to start since you're not locked in (in case you decide not to stay longer than one year). Once you know you want to stay more than one year, then it'd be okay to start over and xfr 800k.

Have you ever stayed longer than a 2-3 holiday ?

If not start testing everyday life, by going on a 60 days touristvisa + 30 days extension at the Immigration.

That is the most easy visa to get, with conditions everybody can fullfill.

Why do you have to stay for a year to see how you like Thailand?

Get 2 month tourist visa and extend 1 month.

By then you will know how you like it.

Look at OA visa as well on your countries embassy website. The main benifit for this one is you can keep your money in your bank account in your country. Gives you nearly two years to decide if Thailands for you. The main difference is you will need insurance (never a bad thing)

You can apply for a six months multiple entries tourist visa in the first place. This gives you opportunity to stay up to nine months in Thailand. You can also apply for a one year Non O-A visa with your bank at home. This gives you up to two years in Thailand. Health insurance, health certificate and a statement from the police regarding criminal records is mandatory.

You could look into education visa or some other visa.

You could get 6 month multiple entry tourist visa before you come here. This allows you to stay for two months at a time but at the end of 60 days, you could ask for 30 day extension. This could stretch your 6 months into 9 months with just a couple trips outside Thailand.

I am sure you will get lots of other suggestions here in the next few days. Best of luck to you.

There are other options but a retirement Visa then extension is the cheapest