Is it better to apply for the DTV visa or the ED visa considering my age, financial situation, and plans to work?

Retirement is a bit easier but doesn't allow you to work even online

if you want to apply for DTV, Ed Visa please contact for discussion.

You won't see 18 months on an Ed visa anymore unless its an approved university course. Probably 6 months max. So your only current option is the DTV, but dont bank on the incoming government keeping the DTV alive.

As others have said you can legally work online on a DTV, but not on a retirement or education.

You cant have a Thai bank account on a dtv and immigration dont want anything to with you if you want to do extensions, cancel the visa etc.

DTV is the superior option for the same or similar amount of money. The only people on ED visa are those without the 500k

You don't have funds "on" a savings account

ED visa they don’t want you leaving the country at all… so there’s that.

If you want to work on yr website to eventually build income then you legally need to be on remote work dtv rather then ED visa as you technically can't work on ED even for offshore projects (practically lots of ppl do work a bit on ED visa but laws the law and atm there's more scrutiny on these things so its up to you). Some things to consider: you can still sign up to thai language education or whatever on remote work DTV, but if you do ED visa then you HAVE to attend in person classes and they'll likely test you a little bit when doing re entries (I.e if thai language maybe they'll have a basic conversation in Thai). If you want to travel around the country with more freedom and earn whilst you stay, remote seems like the more correct option out of these two.

Your age is irrelevant plenty of 50 -70s have got the DTV, some switching from retirement visa. New businesses with no income have been approved for the DTV. You should show how you will support yourself while getting the business off the ground..e.g additional savings. Not necessary to use an agent unless you have probs with submitting paperwork