50+ group - Settling in India after the retirement.

[srinpo]

os, as per my conversation with few folks, adjustement didn't seem to be an issue. Most of them were worried about missing an opportunity to buy a home which could have been now used as retirement place. One common opinion was the need of old age homes. Most of them have lost parents and distance between relatives has increased, so no help/support at that front either.

Is the above statement, about folks who are 50+ and having proper regular life (sorry, what I mean here is not things like sudden bad health, divorce, wanting to become ascetic etc.) and who moved to India leaving their kids in good spirits (as opposed to any out of frustration), and continuing to live with the center of living being in India (as opposed to travelling here & there for period for reasonable time ?
If so please clarify, as I think it is a good data for many. For people who missed the boat, then may take heart to this fact and look for another 15-20 years in US with all its comfort, and later try this route.
But for me, speaking from myself, I am skeptical. Even within India, I am now dreaming that someday I'll move to my city (Chennai in my case). That itself look scary & alarming even for the comforts of another city (Hyderabad). How would I do move to India at age 50 when my basic Indian surviving skill & help be minimal ? Guess a good example of how different people think. I know dbs ji of this forum is a very good example of this who succeeded. (Sorry, if dbs Sir, if you are not 50+ and I incorrectly attributed older age to you).

I feel "Settling in India after retirement" is good enough. In general retirement means 60+. I go by the definition for 401K penalty free withdrawal and start of SS payment. Govt assumes you are done earning and get ready to live on your savings and pension.


- atheist may realise life is dull and boring without God. During younger days, you were busy in the rat race.
- when people realise they are inching towards the end, they may try to make amends, attend bhajans and visit religious places. In this respect India offers more choice and variety.

I cannot give stronger thumbs up than this. I have said this point many times to my wife & kids. Forget for a while whether it is true or not. If not for religion, I cant imagine how my Parents and many many more in their stage of life will spend their time & not be depressed. It gives them a strong hold and something concrete to look forward for short durations, keeps mind & body active, can handle their end better. India yes, offers a lot more in this aspect. In young age (if you are not in empty nest age, you are still young) it doesnt matter, and in fact a hindrance. Yes for this religious activity, you have to go thru more endurance and sacrifice cozyness.

[Old-Spice2]

os, as per my conversation with few folks, adjustement didn't seem to be an issue. Most of them were worried about missing an opportunity to buy a home which could have been now used as retirement place. One common opinion was the need of old age homes. Most of them have lost parents and distance between relatives has increased, so no help/support at that front either.

Someone who has spent 30+ years in US should not have any issue purchasing RE in India. They can easily buy 2/3 BHK flat in a less busy areas of the city.

One advantage of retiring in India is you can hire a fulltime caretaker and continue to live in your own house. It helps in avoiding the depressing atmosphere of a retirement community where one by one your friends may die. You will have to sit there and wait for your turn.

[okonomi]

...... the depressing atmosphere of a retirement community where one by one your friends may die. You will have to sit there and wait for your turn.

The "turn over" of condos in certain florida and arizona retirement communities is because of this factor. There is usually an excess of women (widows), since the life expectancy of the male is shorter. A few years ago, there was a British sitcom - set in Bayview Manor, a retirement home - called "Waiting for God". http://bit.ly/goVYeE

[My Roots]

OS, srinpo, the folks I had in mind when I opened this thread are whom I meet at work occassionally nearing to retire. They don't belong to IT boom or the earlier Doctor boom, came here for studies and wanted to go back but one was stuck here because of Indira Gandhi's emergency rule, other one says , he/she does know how they ended up settling here and says may be this was the destiny written in their fate. They often look at me and says lucky you guys, belong to IT and can easily pack up and go. They are also unfortunate ones where one of the spouse already died, almost no/nil connection to other family members back in India, Kids are settled here and almost no or sometimes occasional visit to them, yet have strong desire to go back.

I also don't agree that for some one lived for 30 years here can easily buy a house and can employ a care taker to live with them. I could be wrong but that is my opinion.

[okonomi]

From a non-IT person who had lived longer outside India, than within India, I can see how one can continue to dream of that childhood home/memories, but that childhood home/locale may have moved on. It may not exist anymore in the original hue. Even for members who live within India, but in a different culture a few hundreds of km's away, this fact is real. Member srinpo has it right about the hometown in Chennai. When the spirit is willing and the body is able, no matter how old one is, whether one is in hyderabad or houston, it is possible to visit the hometown and see how far things had moved on in the hometown of Chengalpattu ( I like this town name; rolls well on the tongue, this name is a good subject for that involuntary incipient echolalia ). Moving an old tree that has roots in a different sort of soil would be a challenge.

[srinpo]

OS, srinpo, the folks I had in mind when I opened this thread are whom I meet at work occassionally nearing to retire. They don't belong to IT boom or the earlier Doctor boom, came here for studies and wanted to go back but one was stuck here because of Indira Gandhi's emergency rule, other one says , he/she does know how they ended up settling here and says may be this was the destiny written in their fate. They often look at me and says lucky you guys, belong to IT and can easily pack up and go. They are also unfortunate ones where one of the spouse already died, almost no/nil connection to other family members back in India, Kids are settled here and almost no or sometimes occasional visit to them, yet have strong desire to go back.

I also don't agree that for some one lived for 30 years here can easily buy a house and can employ a care taker to live with them. I could be wrong but that is my opinion.

Ah! There you go. You took it to the sky & dropped it (the message). But this is what I was speculating. So it is all hypothetical. ie. not real people who actually after 50 but healthy enough, and dont have issue of worrying about Kids education, actually moved and living the dream. There is a huge huge difference between actually doing the thing, & being sure of doing it. 90% of my friends when moved to US, were damn sure that in 3-5 years they will be moving to India, and worshipping their parents, and well we all know the statistics.
But you know what, once RRS took a context out my thread & made a seperate thread asking "Do the long term old style LIA's silently regreting & we dont get this info, as they have to put up a good show ?" The general answer I got & also acknowledging based on what I have seen in US is not. At most they may have some mild wish, Oh! I wish I were in India, but quickly can get over it by using the thousands of things cozy US life style will offer. In fact when someone is in dilemma I quote this fact, if in dilemma, better err in the direction of LIA (or R2A).
But the info you are quting here, is sort of unearthing details to show the opposite. May be there are enough out there, (not neccessarily majority I think still) we are in this regret mode, but too late and not going to be in this forum for us to get their view point.

[cmk786]

This topic is my favorite topic because I am one of them who is retiring in India. But not necessarily for good. Indeed this is a highly debatable/controversial issue. For many people it looks very odd and impossible to believe that some one can retire in India after living in US for very long time and that too when the person is 60+ years old. But I say it is possible. But depends up on the individual. His or her plans, goals. Above all it mainly depends up on that persons personality. I for one is very much down to earth, no-nonsense taker and very authoritative and do not like any body dictate terms to me. So my kind of people always like to live/die independently. Do not take me wrong because I love my son more than my life. All I expected from my son was to see him successful in his life. He is very much a successful person being a pharmacy manager and his wife to whom he married a totally a arranged marriage is extremely happy with his wife and she is a project engineer working for a oil company for that matter they are staying more than 1000 miles away from me because her background being petroleum engineer she can not get job in east cost. Any way I am very happy for him but no way I am going to live with him. And it is me and majority of people like to live with their kids in their home obviously if you live in your kids home no matter what you think you will be living under him and I can never do that.
I am been doing regular work out every day and I am been doing it for past 15 years. Lately I am doing it twice a day. 40 to 45 minutes AM and around 60minutes PM before going to bed. I try to keep away from junk food, deep fries etc.
Like I said me and my wife will be living in India . But we have not decided 100% that we live all the 12 months in India. We always keep the option open to stay in US as well.
When we live in India it is going to be little different than what most of the people want to live. Even though I have plenty of people in terms of friends and relatives. I am not going just for the sake of living with them. For me as long as my wife is with me I really do not long for any body else. Yes off course I do need the company of other people also and I get that more than enough in India and for which I do not have to worry about. When coming to financial side of me. I can not say I am very rich. But with what ever income I have . I have planned very well to balance my income to have a comfortable living both for me and my wife. I have around rs40k income in India currently. I have worked in IT for 18years in US and my last job was in SAP as developer working for fortune 100 company based in Germany. I get small pension already from my previous job. Just yesterday we got a pleasant surprise from wife’s previous company saying that she is eligible for pension also. She will start getting her pension as early as from 2013 august. Currently I am working for the US Govt for past 8yrs and in couple of years I will be eligible for retirement/pension. And from 2018 February I will also be eligible for 100% medical coverage for both me and my wife. The world is getting smaller every day and for that matter I can get medical coverage even in India too with my retirement medical insurance that I get.. I also my present home in US is 100% paid off. Even though govt jobs pay is less compared to private sectors. But since my expenses are very low and I do not have to pay for mortgage and RE taxes are low, I will save some money close to $1k a month. Therefore by the time I retire I will have close to 25 to 30 lacs rupees in savings which will also add up to what I already have. Therefore for people like me – who are like minded and have this kind of background, plans and goals. I think YES we can still retire in India after 60+ age. But we never know what our destiny is and where it will take us.

[dbs]

Is(Sorry, if dbs Sir, if you are not 50+ and I incorrectly attributed older age to you).

Yeah, you should be sorry. I just look like that after 40+years of marriage.

[okonomi]

This topic is my favorite topic because I am one of them who is retiring in India. But not necessarily for good. Indeed this is a highly debatable/controversial issue. For many people it looks very odd and impossible to believe that some one can retire in India after living in US for very long time and that too when the person is 60+ years old. But I say it is possible. But depends up on the individual. His or her plans, goals. Above all it mainly depends up on that persons personality. I for one is very much down to earth, no-nonsense taker and very authoritative and do not like any body dictate terms to me. So my kind of people always like to live/die independently. Do not take me wrong because I love my son more than my life. All I expected from my son was to see him successful in his life. He is very much a successful person being a pharmacy manager and his wife to whom he married a totally a arranged marriage is extremely happy with his wife and she is a project engineer working for a oil company for that matter they are staying more than 1000 miles away from me because her background being petroleum engineer she can not get job in east cost. Any way I am very happy for him but no way I am going to live with him. And it is me and majority of people like to live with their kids in their home obviously if you live in your kids home no matter what you think you will be living under him and I can never do that.
I am been doing regular work out every day and I am been doing it for past 15 years. Lately I am doing it twice a day. 40 to 45 minutes AM and around 60minutes PM before going to bed. I try to keep away from junk food, deep fries etc.
Like I said me and my wife will be living in India . But we have not decided 100% that we live all the 12 months in India. We always keep the option open to stay in US as well.
When we live in India it is going to be little different than what most of the people want to live. Even though I have plenty of people in terms of friends and relatives. I am not going just for the sake of living with them. For me as long as my wife is with me I really do not long for any body else. Yes off course I do need the company of other people also and I get that more than enough in India and for which I do not have to worry about. When coming to financial side of me. I can not say I am very rich. But with what ever income I have . I have planned very well to balance my income to have a comfortable living both for me and my wife. I have around rs40k income in India currently. I have worked in IT for 18years in US and my last job was in SAP as developer working for fortune 100 company based in Germany. I get small pension already from my previous job. Just yesterday we got a pleasant surprise from wife?s previous company saying that she is eligible for pension also. She will start getting her pension as early as from 2013 august. Currently I am working for the US Govt for past 8yrs and in couple of years I will be eligible for retirement/pension. And from 2018 February I will also be eligible for 100% medical coverage for both me and my wife. The world is getting smaller every day and for that matter I can get medical coverage even in India too with my retirement medical insurance that I get.. I also my present home in US is 100% paid off. Even though govt jobs pay is less compared to private sectors. But since my expenses are very low and I do not have to pay for mortgage and RE taxes are low, I will save some money close to $1k a month. Therefore by the time I retire I will have close to 25 to 30 lacs rupees in savings which will also add up to what I already have. Therefore for people like me ? who are like minded and have this kind of background, plans and goals. I think YES we can still retire in India after 60+ age. But we never know what our destiny is and where it will take us.

Well said/posted !! Long live and prosper !!

[My Roots]

cmk786, All the best.
Hope you stick around the forum and help others in similar boat for easy transition.

Srinpo, thanks for understanding and very much appreciate your gesture.