Watch: Retirement Home Cost in India and Senior Living Options for NRIs

3:56 Here is what you will get each week actionable tips to decide if moving back is the right choice strategies to plan your move back whether it's from Logistics career Financial tax planning how to choose the best school for your kids and we also have several checklist that help you with the move from a financial Logistics and much more this isn't just an advice it's carefully crafted road map to save you time reduce stress and help you make better decisions ready to plan your move with the confidence click the link below in the description to join for free and start receiving actionable strategies right in your inbox absolutely aash compared to senior care and Senior Living Facilities abroad you know still broader terminologies are getting used in India and sometimes same terminology is used for multiple formats of you know sen living but let

4:58 Me discuss about some of the commonly used terminologies and you know what kind of options that are available for seniors in India let's begin with a facility for seniors who are Physically Active seniors who are cognitively active seniors who are able to take care of themselves they are in a position to make decisions they are in a position to manage their lifestyle so in for such seniors you know Act active senior living or Senior Living in general they use this term for active Senior Living Senior Living is a facility which has two segments or I would say two formats there are Senior Living U communities available in India which are on sale basis so you can say say it as a sale model and also there are senior living communities are active senior living communities which are on rental model so these are two formats that are available in in this

5:59 Particular segment and then there is a a second you know category this is for seniors probably who are physically a little frail due to age or due to some ailments or due to some diseases so they they have some challenges with their physical abilities they may not be in a position to look after themselves or the family has a challenge to have expert care for them so and also there are seniors who are cognitively challenged so though abroad there are two separate categories that are available for you know such seniors one is called as assisted living and one is for called as skilled care skilled nursing care whereas in India since it's still in developmental stage both are cled together called as either assisted living or Care Homes so both are equally used you know

7:00 Terminologies in India that's the second category that is available and of course very small number of specialized you know care providers that are available in in this field called as memory care or dementia care this is for seniors who physically may be very active physically may be capable or may not be capable as well but they definitely have cognition related issues memory related issues so these are Specialized Care centers for elderly who have some or other kind of Dementia or Allied you know health challenges yeah so these are basically categories that are available whereas abroad in in developed countries U there is a specialized category called as Continuing Care retirement communities or CCRC which is not available in India as of now but however there are some developers or some retirement communities have both active living and

8:03 Assisted living and in a way that covers up for CCRC Concept in India as well so these are the options in in in broad that are available in India and some of them are on sale basis and some of them are on rent basis got it no

8:19 Thanks a lot Dr M so I think maybe let's focus on the active senior living right I mean let's we can focus on the on that particular segment so if you can talk a little bit of history from your 20 years of experience like how that sector has evolved where we are like in in general talk about like the facilities availability in metros te 2 cities te three you know in general about like how this is evolving and kind of give us a high level picture of this particular you know communities and the lifestyle that would be very helpful to set the stage absolutely probably active s living started in India simultaneously in you know two two three different cities by different developers in northern part of India Asana housing limited they started their active senior living communities in bi in De NC way back in probably 2003

9:19 To 2007 was the period when when you know the project was conceptualized and they started simultaneously at the same time panap developers in also started their active senior living communities and then there was there is an NGO called as dignity Foundation started their first active Senior Living Community very close to Mumbai outskirts of Mumbai and then some retirement communities started to emerge in katur U you know kai properties is one who started off some of the retirement communities in Kaku so probably this was the period 2003 to 2007 when you know some some Senior Living communi started to you know kind of start their baby steps in India at that point of time and U slowly I mean that was the beginning

10:20 And slowly from those cities or those towns communities started to spread across India if you you look today there are some number of senior living communities in Del NCR there are few in dead there are you know few retirement communities in madhi Pradesh there are few retirement communities in Maharashtra especially Pune being the Hub of retirement communities for Maharashtra and a couple of projects coming up in Mumbai area and I mean more than 60% of retirement communities are focused in South India okay specifically around kator Chennai Bangalore and Hyderabad so these are the cities where you know majority of the senior living communities are you know present and of course Kerala also has

11:21 Some retirement communities of late and since this concept is getting a little more interesting for the general public and you know people have started to across India yeah even tier two tier three cities are also coming up with senior living communities across India

11:48 Yeah that's great yeah so maybe just to I think there might be some preconceptions right I mean in terms of Senior Living I think people think it's maybe not like an orphanage but I think some people have a wrong notion about it so I I think it might help like you know there is such a broad range of even senior living right I think how much of services are provided maybe if you can paint a picture like you know just to have an understanding or you know put some of the facts straight right hey this is not like an off this is like an active Senior Living lifestyle living or whatever I think you know if you can share some insights in terms of the facts and also like the available Services right so that people have a better understanding when they're talking about this active Senior Living yeah great question naash you know to begin with maybe 20 years back when senior living started in India people used to consider senior living as a you know synonym for old age homes the

12:50 Moment we say old age homes the picture that comes to majority of the people's minds is it's a charity driven or charity organized orphanage homes where you know seniors who have nobody else to look after will be sheltered so that is the picture generally people have but contrary to this Senior Living is a is a living option you know I would say option for people people op to live in senior living communities for primarily for hasslefree life and you know for the lifestyle yeah when when we say lifestyle it comprises of you know your diet your you know hassle free living so when you when you say typically when when you live in a retirement community sorry when you live in any kind of housing communities especially Apartments you would find a host of services that are available

13:51 Like you know there is security that that is available and then common area maintenance that is available there are some housing communities which also provide support for upkeep of the house like you know you need a plumber you need an electrician you need a Mason for some minor repairs in your house so that kind of facilities are available and also the project or that Community manages the assets of the community like you know there would be lifts in the project there would be you know you know electrical supplies in in the project there would be water distribution system in the project so all these things are taken care of so that you know the house owner or the resident don't have to worry about the day-to-day you know maintenance activities very similar to that retirement communities you know some of the retirement communities are in the villa formit and some of the retirement communities are in the apartment format so in both

14:52 This type of communities all the basic maintenance of the community is taken care of so that that means one one biggest worry for elderly or retired people is the security so you know often you hear about you know various types of crimes committed against elderly people who leave alone in cities especially in cities and usually un known people like you know somebody visiting them on Daily Business it could be a you know paper delivery boy it could be you know domestic support so any of them take advantage of this of their loneliness and situation and commit crimes on them so security is a major conern for elderly people for retirement that major thing is taken care of in retirement communities there would be I would say not just the physical security that is

15:52 You know given to elderly people there but a kind of psychological security that is available you know one biggest worry for you know post retirement is what would happen to happen to me if I get a medical emergency during midnight so if you are living alone in your regular apartment or regular houses you will have to depend on someone else to visit your house and you know they first of all they should know that you have an emergency yeah and based on that you maybe your relative or your neighbor takes action or are noticed also if they have an emergency may not noticed until their children whereas they have a system to to monitor the health status of elderly people and they have a usually they have a emergency response systems like you know there is a emergency call

16:54 Button that may be available in the project so whenever there is an emergency Elders press the but and help comes to them immediately so that kind of arrangement will be there in retirement communities so that adds up to the second level of psychological you know what you say security in addition to the physical security there is a second level of security which takes care of the psychological tension that you know what would happen to me if I become dependent or what would happen to me you know if I have an medical emergency other than this you know we spoke about you know all kind of hassles that that are taken care of you know managing the house and you know depends upon depending upon the retirement community you know there would be post of services that would be available some of the retirement communities offer housekeeping in the sense they would take care of upkeep of the house as well as housekeeping of the house including

17:55 Cleaning the washrooms you know Clean cleaning the floor dusting etc etc in some of the retirement communities this may not be available but however they have some arrangement so that you know this requirement is taken care of got because post retirement that's one of the major anxiety for people that you know how will I look after my house who will do my housekeeping you know I don't have energy to wash my washrooms you know how to maintain hygiene of my house so these things are taken care by retirement communities in the services the other major aspect or major requirement for elderly would be the dining services what happens to you know most of us is as long as we live as a family like you know there are four five people you know children living with us we you know younger couple so they have energy interest you know physical energy

18:55 As well as you know mental energy to prepare food to have food together so all that you know after a period of time maybe when a person reaches 7s or late 7s at that particular point of time managing the kitchen taking care of the groceries you know also cutting vegetables all these things become a hassle yeah and they may not have energy as well as you know interest to do so especially for elders who live alone you know if you ask your relatives if you ask your parents if they are alone and if they are you know preparing food for themselves usually they end up eating very monotonous food they end up prepare preparing too little food for themselves and two simple food for themselves that you know their nutritional requirements may not be taken care of yeah and

19:58 Especially for people who live alone their reptite also goes down invariably this happens and you know people end up on eating only the rmade food like you know bread slices and bread Jam Bread Butter kind of thing whereas in retirement communities since there would be a centralized dining space yeah you know elderly who live in in these communities can opt for Community Food yeah you usually the dining is managed by professional you know catering team who take care of the nutritional requirements of elderly and there would be rotational menu they take care of you know that the food is not repeated there would be enough varieties in the food and that is culturally relevant to them so all these things are taken care of yeah U that takes away another big hassle from the lifestyle of elderly people now You may ask a question

21:01 That you know these hens are taken care of and elderly here are mostly retired how do they you know Find meaning in their daily life so most of the retirement communities also offer Community engagement programs yeah so when I say community engagement pro programs they would have you know depending upon the community so they would have smaller bigger club houses or Community areas or Community spaces where there would there would be a number of activities which are you know planned in activity calendar and they take care of the fact that you know seniors need to be engaged meaningfully yeah so that you know every morning they should find a purpose to come out of their house and engage so that that requirement is taken care of in the form of community activities so these

22:01 Community activities May range anywhere from religious activities spiritual activities sports activities cultural activities or it could be formation of clubs hobby clubs or reing your you know clubs and you know since in these communities there would be people coming from various backgrounds yeah every senior would have a friend of their liking yeah you know usually Community would have more than 100 people living there so there would be few people who are very much interested in art and culture so they they form their own club their own groups and there would be few seniors who are very you know Fitness fenzy you know group they form their own team and they go for Fitness activities Etc yeah and there would be explorers you know there will be good number of people who like traveling yes so they form a small group

23:03 And keep traveling to all you know locations which they could not do during their you know Peak responsibility period I would say I would call it as so usually it happens to all of us that you know when when we are with the our career responsibilities and family responsibilities we hardly take out time for ourselves MH so especially with you know postretirement you know timing or postretirement period people find it very convenient or very interesting to engage themselves in those Hobbies which they could not pursue during their you know career period yeah so most of the retirement communities offer these kind of opportunities and U the other major thing as I was just mentioning about medical emergencies in addition to Medical emergencies preventive healthare or proactive healthare is something which is very important for elderly yeah you should be

24:05 In a u position to prevent Health emergencies U if you look at a typical elderly person in India they hardly give importance to preventive or proactive Health this is one biggest advantage in retirement communities is that you know would have some amount of preventive or proactive health programs in their communities like you know there will be availability of a nurse Around the Clock there would be physiotherapy centers physical therapy centers there would be opportunities to engage yourself in physical and mental Fitness activities like yoga yeah and some of the retirement communities also have Aqua therapy swimming pool that kind of things and there are retirement communities they also have you know gymnasium and other types of fitness and healthare

25:07 Facilities yeah and invariably most of the retirement communities would have the basic Clinic like you know there would be physician general practitioner visiting them maybe on a daily basis or on a periodic basis to who looks into the preventive healthare of you know seniors who are living in that particular community so the advantage here is see the modern day has taken away the benefits of family physician concept right so now with Healthcare becoming more and more corporate driven the concept of you know family physician is is almost gone and as a result what's happening is there is no one doctor who knows the person completely it's it's the system which knows about you it would be the technology which knows about you but however the psychological satisfaction of elderly people is that you know there is a doctor who knows about

26:09 Me probably this is one big Advantage for people who live in retirement communities that you know there is a community doctor or there's a community nurse who knows about them who knows about their illnesses you know say Suppose there is a challenge in their health status that the the first aid team would you know directly know about what would be the reason or what would be the cause behind that you know health issue and they take appropriate action immediately so these are the basic support system that is available in retirement communities which makes the life hasslefree yeah and WorryFree as well as you know meaning is added to the life lives of elderly people who live there and I would rate one more biggest advantage of living in a retirement community in socialization one challenge which

27:12 Probably every Elder faces in their existing houses is the amount of socialization they have or the amount of personal interaction they have with with their own family members and also with their neighbors yeah unless they have like aged people around the interaction of elderly people in their existing places is limited probably that is another biggest advantage of being in a retirement community because they live in a group of like AED people and where they find like-minded people as their friends yes so that that adds up as biggest booster for their quality of life in the form of socialization

27:58 Yeah so thanks a lot Dr M I think you know it's a lifestyle that someone can opt in I think the key aspect there is the optin they can choose the lifestyle which is hasslefree which keeps them active which keeps their social life active convenience several factors right I think you know that's where this is an option that's available and becomes much more popular as they get older because they can have their own hassle-free lifestyle to some extent and keep them active so my next next question is how do people select a place right you know which I mean when I say place like let's take even a step back the city so you know it could make it easy for some but someone who is living abroad and who wants to retire and have an after I know they might they might have the options to go to any City so if if there are like some people in that boat like you know let's start with a city and then once they select a city how do they go about which retirement community that they want to be part of right I think you know they they all comes in different flavors I would assume right

28:59 You know in terms of the lifestyle in terms of the quality and all that stuff so what are the questions that they should think about you know do we need such a big size or a smaller Community how big is the community what are the different social activities that they're keeping engaging facilities availability and so on I think the question is how do they select a city and what are the questions that they should ask so that they can narrow down to which kind of a retirement community that they want to be part of I think that would very helpful in guiding them in making that selection thanks for asking this question this is one of you know my favorite subjects you know people while choosing sen senior living or retirement community they always have this question how to choose you know as you rightly said the start from the region or the city that would be the first step I would say why to select right region or right City for you is usually especially in India since India is

30:01 Having diverse culture every state has a different language every state has a different climate every state has a different culture and every state has you know different culinary experiences okay yeah you know even religious practices and spiritual practices are also different from state to state yeah so I would say irrespective of you know your Generation consider you know a state or a region which is suitable for you in these terms one is whether that location is culturally suitable for you second are you familiar with the native language of that particular place though there are Cosmo Cosmopolitan retirement communities in India but I would still say this as a you know decision- making criteria that you know whether

31:04 The language the local native language of the place is convenient for you third are you familiar with the climate yeah just to give an example say suppose you are from you know you lived all your life in a moderate climate and if you choose Delhi as you know retirement you know destination I I would say it may not suit you because Delhi NCR or most of the cities in North India would have extreme climates during summer it would be you know extreme heat and during winter it would be extreme cold so that's another criteria you need to consider however for people who are used to that climate they find it very convenient to live in in similar climate so yes consider the climate as another Factor whether you are familiar with that climate I would use that particular term are you familiar with that particular climate and for

32:05 You know you would require enough lung space when you move into a retirement Community you would you would look for a lung space because all these years probably you might have lived in a very tight environment where there is so little of lung space so do you have enough lung space in that particular cl cl and next is you know look at you know the kind of housing options they have or you know options they have in terms of the space which you are looking for probably you are looking for a certain sized retirement home maybe 1,000 squ ft 2,000 square ft or the smaller one or you may be looking a smaller house like you know one bedroom house two bedroom house or a studio house or three-bedroom house so first identify what is your requirement you know in terms of size and you

33:07 Know once you have these things in line next look into your finances there are as I mentioned initially there are two models which are available you can opt for a rental or lease model where you don't own the house but you you know buy rights to live in that community you know during your lifetime so that's that that's one option that is ailable where your capital investment is limited but however you may have to pay a slightly higher monthly you know fee to live in that particular community so second option that is available financially is to buy the apartment and even these apartments or retirement homes are available in various ticket sizes starting anywhere from you know 25 lakhs up to maybe CR or two to three crores so depending upon the luxury of the pro yeah so you identify your

34:09 Financial abilities and in in two ways so what is the onetime investment that is possible for you if that that is applicable for that particular community and also equally important is what would be the monthly outflow that would that would go so that would include are there any monthly maintenance charges are there any you know food charges if there are food charges what is that are there any you know additional charges like you know do they charge separately for housekeeping do they charge separa for laundry or are you planning to do these things on your own so consider these practice so finances is another area which you need to focus and then I would say next is accessibility of that project the project may be aesthetically very beautiful but you know maybe too far away from the city or to inside the city you know inside the hazle of the

35:11 City so do you really want that kind of accessibility you know so there I mean you may be compromising few things if it is inside the city or you may be compromising few things if it is slightly away from the city globally if you see most of the retirements communities are slightly away from the city especially for the reason infrastructure cost would be lesser and also the lung space would be more so from these reasons you know globally the retirement communities are you know away from the city the next thing is look at what kind of first aid and Health Care Facilities they have because when you move into a retirement community you may be physically very fit and very active but down the line May maybe over a period of time after 10 years after 15 years when you reach the age of 85 90 you know 90 95 is very much liveable now because of the

36:14 Health Care Facilities that are available in India because of the preventive care that is available in India and because of the nutritional and health awareness that is you know happening around so because of these reasons you can expect you know usually people live up to 90 95 till that age so say suppose if someone reaches that age what kind of Health Care Facilities that may be required and what would be the distance from that Community to the nearest healthare facility and within the community what kind of first aid or healthare support they have so consider these aspects and then I would say look at the services which are a little bit like you know say dining what kind of dining facility you want you know in retirement community it's not the restaurant kind of dining you would like to have right you would like to have food which is homik you know which is nutritionally

37:17 Balanced yeah U you know should be should be very wholesome to you so that you know you don't end up with the you know digestion related issues so hygienically prepared and considering the requirements of healthly people in mind so understand what kind of food they offer yeah and next is very important is what kind of engagement activities they offer what kind of socialization you know activities they offer so understand that also because your apartment or the services alone will not meet your you know Lifestyle the kind of friends you would have the kind of Engagement you would have the kind of you know opportunities you have to rekindle your hobbies your abilities your stimulations maybe physically and mentally what kind of stimulations you can get there that's

38:19 Another important factor you need to consider yeah and there are other factors which you need to consider like you know you know minor factors or minor services like you know if you need them like do you need Transportation what kind of Transportation facilities they have do they have conage facilities do they have you know laundry facilities so say suppose I'm unable to take care of my laundry what kind of alternative they have yes and most importantly probably I mean though this would happen to to you know five in 100 people but in case I fall in those 5 percentage say suppose when I reach my late 80s or 90s say suppose I am not in a position to look after myself what kind of arrangements the community would offer yeah so do they

39:19 Ask me to go out or do they ask me to look for attendance or caretakers on my own or do they arrange something or do they have a Assisted Living Center or Care Center within the premises to look into these you know care options that are available when it you know becomes a requirement you know for you so look at these requirements as well so these are some basic you know criteria which you should you know consider before choosing the retirement no thanks a lot Dr muralii

39:56 So I think in continu continuation to that discussion right I think you know I just want to expand a little bit on the finances part I know you kind mentioned about this model of owning versus renting I think you know you gave a range right I think you know it can start anywhere from 25 lakhs and go up to three crores or higher I mean just based on the quality the luxury location and so on generally is there a ballpark number that you can provide on the maintenance I know it also varies from services like is there a range just to have an idea of people like when they're thinking about a active retirement community just from a finances side is there a number that you can share like in a broad range for the maintenance part of it so let me start with the sale model sale model would have a different you know monthly maintenance charges and the rental model would have a different you know range in sale model the monthly costs you know all includes I would say I

40:58 Mean communities would would be you know what do you say would have the entire bouet of services under one package or some communities may have these services in different packet yeah some of them may be optional some of them you know maybe part of the package Etc but when when I consider all of them together there are some retirement communities who offer probably your cost of living per month would range anywhere from 15,000 onwards including food again depending upon the luxury segment to 15,000 to maybe up to 2 lakhs so that would be the range in which you would get services but when we say you know cost effective projects the amount of services or the amount of options that that may be available in those communities will be limited so we need to understand but that that particular fact and as the cost goes

42:00 Up the options the hospitality angle all that adds up to it okay so that would be the range from 15,000 onwards up to you know 2 lakhs or even more than that so depending upon the type of the project luxury of the project and the amount of services that are available if we def fragment that probably food would cost anywhere between say 7,000 rupees or five you know 6 to 7,000 rupees up to a lakh okay so there are some yeah there are some retirement communities who offer you know your food courses just like five star hotels or some obviously the cost there will be higher and there some retirement communities even offer bar yeah and non-vegetarian food all that so majority of the retirement communities in India as on today offer only vegetarian food yeah but there are many retirement

43:01 Communities offer both vegetarian nonvegetarian bar Etc so those options are available but that is the range yes when it comes to you know rental model usually under rental model they usually bundle everything together it includes your rental it includes you know prob Le laundry it includes some of the healthcare facilities it includes your food there may be one or two items which may not be included in the package like you know electricity may or may not be included in the package yeah but however they usually include most of the things and that would range anywhere between 30,000 rupees you know that includes your stay rent Etc 30,000 rupees to maybe up to 2 lakh rupees or slightly more than that so yeah so that is the range I would say got it so if if we have I know that's a very broad range right I think especially when I look from 15 ,000 to 2 lakhs and I mean I'm surprised when when I heard like you know one lakh per month per person for

44:02 Food it's almost like someone living and like you know eating out every day right it's almost like you know somebody spending like you know five 5,000 or like three grand every month every day like you know just I think for the food so if if if we just like say like 80% of these fall in this right I mean I know there will be like outliers there will be like some really high luxury some will be very very very cost effective but when you look at like in general right I think do you say like you 80% of theirs will fall under like 30 40,000 maintenance I again you know is there a number that can give just that helps like you know at least a a number that would be much more digestible and understand like the reality that's what I just trying to understand that so majority of them would fall in that particular reg 20,000 to 40,000 I would say this is for the owned that is for probably that will take care of the maintenance that will take care of your electricity that will take care care of your food that will take care of basic medical facilities yeah so most of the retirement

45:02 Communities would offer you a lifestyle ranging from 20,000 rupees to 40,000 rupees understood and then one

45:10 Quick follow-up question I know like this is something that I heard like you know if people have opted for a home that they purchased most probably I think you know there might not be someone come and live there right I think within their family so is there something that they resell like later or how does that work if they own it versus renting just curious on that part of it okay let's try to understand this particular fact that you know Senior Living is not a separate category in real estate as on today in India it's part I mean it's I mean for all what do you say legal purposes it is considered as at par with regular apartment complexes or housing complexes yeah so from that point of view you know what we need to understand is the law that applies to you know to to a regular apartment or regular house applies to a senior house as well okay but however in

46:13 Senior living communities they would have separate bylaws they would have additional you know Clauses terms and conditions Etc to make it exclusive community for elderly people okay so from you know taking these two points together what we need to understand is the real estate purchase is very similar to regular H you know you and me a younger generation people can also buy a house in Senior Living Community usually okay but you know I mean they would have their own bylaws but usually in most of the cases the resident primary resident of the property has to be elderly person who is maybe 50 or 55 depending upon the nors they have when it comes to reselling of the property again the property can be resold to anybody but the occupant of the property or the resident of the property has to be a elderly person so

47:14 That's the norm generally everybody follows yeah so I'm just being mindful of the time I know this is an important topic where we can spend a lot of time getting into the specifics but so thank you very much Dr morally for all your insights and how one should select a particular Community the options available the facilities available the price ranges I think this is very useful to lot of people and once again thank you very much for taking the time and talking to us and sharing your insights on this particular topic thanks thank you for having me here I enjoyed it great