Thailand is a very affordable place to live if you can afford to live here.
Sound like a play-on-words?...it really isn't.
The requirement for a foreign expat to have a minimum monthly income of 65,000 THB of hasn't changed in decades. Some of the friends I have over here have it...some take the option of freezing 800,000 THB of their savings in a Thai account to comply... - and others prefer (or are forced) to pay for the services of a Visa Agent to obtain their annual visa extensions.
The reason I'm mentioning this is because the retired expats I know who comply with Thailand's financial requirements seem to be living stress-free, and rarely if ever complain about Immigration. Conversely, those who lack the sufficient funds to live here on a permanent basis (without the use of an Agent) frequently seem "stressed" and often complaint about Thai Immigration.
I think it would be wise for anyone who's planning to retire in a foreign country to make sure they can comply with a countries financial requirements - before even taking the next step and counting how many gay bars they have. Just a thought!