Hello there. Sorry about the technical difficulties.
Let's start with the golden visa issue. The type of programs you are referring to have mainly abandoned real estate as an option. But there are plenty of other visa types that will work for you as well. There's no need for you to start investing little bits into foreign stock markets to get residency abroad.
Of course, if you have money in an IRA, you can convert some of it to a self directed IRA, and to use that to invest in qualifying assets in whatever country you want to live in. As you note, it's quite difficult to get banking and brokerage facilities in a foreign country unless you have a close connection there, or until you've got a residency visa.
If your goal is to retire overseas, then your best bet is to focus on getting a financially independent person's visa, sometimes called a non-lucrative visa. In all countries, this requires that you demonstrate a regular flow of passive income from pension or investments. As long as you have enough coming in, and you have all the other paperwork in order, that allows you to live in the country indefinitely. And it doesn't require that you open up a bank account ahead of time.