you can't work on a retirement visa. I believe the 65k monthly transfer has to come from your home bank account. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure. When it goes into your Thai bank account, the deposit gets earmarked as a Foreign Funds Transfer (FFT) which is what they want to see (I believe)
Hey Tod, follow up question for you... If I'm going to be in Vietnam, can I still apply for an Evisa as a US citizen even though I'd be coming back in from Vietnam, and NOT from the US?