r2i forum

In other thread, RRK clearly mentioned R2I is NOT retirement2india, but Return2India. Hence trying to put this message in a new thread.


In western countries early retirement is a dream, that is the reason many young retirees from USA are migrating overseas. Popular are - Mexico, Thailand, Carribean etc.

I think ..soon India will emerge as a favourite destination because of weather, cost of living, affordable medical care, and bunch of 'H1-B Boomers' turning 40s and 50s in coming years.

Check www.escapeartist.com

Now in this respect, does anyone in this forum have retired in India after considerable time abroad. Please share your thoughts, experiences or comments.

My thoughts on this early retirement-to-india is that, very few people are going to be able to afford it given the inflation and rising cost of living, in general. Maybe you can afford to retire early in a remote place that's not too hot, if you have good savings that would take care of kids' education, health care during the old age, and so on. Can't imagine anyone retiring early in one of the IT cities.

http://retire2india.blogspot.com/


Thinking out loud, 1.5Cr and a built up house should be almost enough to retire.

Most important factor in deciding if you can retire in India or US is: what standard you want to live after you retire.

Given "real inflation" in India it may be hard to retire even in India if you are looking US kind of life style (nice car, AC home, good medical coverage, nice city etc). Forget retiring in India if you have slightest intentions of sending kids to US for higher education (remember their fee would be "out of state" fees)

If you want to live "simple" lifestyle, US retirement may not be hard to achieve (flames welcome). Here you don't pay for you kids early education, if your kid is going to instate colleges, graduation will not be that expensive either. you can invest this money towards retirement. Medical is tricky but I think with steady job for few years (>15) that can be dealt with.

Interesting discussion..

Anyone planning to retire?.. Can you also give some background.. mainly I wanted to know the age at which you would like to retire..

Personally the word Retirement is not for me.. May be I will work for no pay in areas which are close to me...

If you have some other passion to pursue then great and you are mainly looking for financial security so that you can do what you always wanted..

Are there many who are interested in early retirement, just without any other fulltime/partime activity..?? Because I feel you need to plan more towards what that fulltime/parttime activity is..?? Else I feel retirement will be really really boring..

Or this discussion is mainly about how to plan(finances) for retirement..?

Just my thoughts ....

>>>If you want to live "simple" lifestyle, US retirement may not be hard to achieve (flames welcome).

Other than finance, you need to decide what you would like to do after retirement. Play golf, attend bar-be-que parties or fix your car? If you can fit into US lifestyle with no 9-5 work schedule, you are ok to retire in America. Otherwise, as someone stated in MSN forum, you will end up staring at white wall. Remember once you are old your outdoor activity will be limited and you may have to depend on others for day to day activities. For retirement I feel India is a better place.

Well if you want to hold on to your past and don't want to adapt, retiring anywhere but your hometown will be difficult. if you are from a small town and want to retire in Bangalore/big cities, you will find sufficient challenges.
If you want to retire in US there are enough options, you should be willing to change your mindset: like working for NGO, volunteering in schools/libraries, I know some people who spend their time working for promoting education etc in Indian villages.
It takes careful planning to retire whether in US or in India. and I donot see big cities in India providing a planless retirement.

Interesting speculation by original postor. Since the topic was of some interest, I thought I will post a link to an interesting recent essay.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/30/070430fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all

Methinks it is a far more complicated issue than mere financial independence.

Sobering as the article is, the concept of India turning out to be a Shangri La for retirees may indeed be a trifle fanciful.

Pilloo.