Watch: Retiring in India After 30 Years Abroad: Real Costs and Checklist

4:14 Company group decided not to proceed further so we went back to Africa that is our my professional background now thank you very much so just to put some perspective right I think you have given you know that you have spent 14 years in Africa 16 years in us what year are we talking about because things are so different back then right I mean you know if it's 1970s 1980s so when was your time in Africa and us if you can give some color to that that would be very helpful because things have changed so much since 2000 2010 and so on so just curious on that yeah in 78 we went there and 93 we left Africa okay and then you went to us after we were in the US yeah so we came back 2008 2008 great and for the last 16 years you have been living in India and you

5:14 Travel to us got every year almost every year okay great so how was the life in Africa and us and what made you to move back to India why not retire in one of those countries just

5:30 Curious our parents were here we wanted to be with them okay wanted to take care of them that was the main reason so I think that was the main motivating factor to move back from us to take care of the parents yeah we got it so maybe you can talk about how is

5:55 The life in India since the move and compar and contrast to the life abroad if you can India is very good the best place to be here best place for retired people yeah see say no place like America when you are today in our senior old 50% of people whose children are SED in the US the parents are here yeah settled in our group yeah so I'm assuming you are from Bangalore is it the reason you relocated back to Bangalore or is there some other

6:56 Reason see we in India we are I worked in quite a lot of areas Bal indor like that you know I worked in a lot of places but when I came back from my 30 year overseas State I had only two places in my mind one was Indo two was B for some reason I friend the people in those these two states are very very friendly yeah although I work in have more than half a dozen places for some reason I felt Mand Pradesh and Karnataka two places where people are extremely friend friendly yeah and very easy to deal with them yeah I am from I am from Bombay even now I like Bombay because I was born and brought up in Bombay yeah but but living in Bombay

7:56 Is different from living in bangal yeah no place like Bangalore for that matter really cool I know you made that statement right I think India is the better place for retirement would you be able to expand on that you know for someone who worked in a broad majority of their life why India is better you know what are the reasons why you say that India would be the best place for the retirement if

8:25 Possible one of the reasons straightforward is the distance your dollar goes when you are in India yeah one yeah two the ease with which you can employ a cook a m a driver a whatever and medical help and assistance at nearly one0 the cost for seniors who are really really going Beyond 80 Etc this place is definitely comparably a better place than any of those got it more locations see that definitely big factor when seniors are beyond that age because the money you see at the age of

9:27 60 does not have the same value when you are night the dollar number may be same but $3,000 when you are 60 $3,000 when you are9 are totally two different yes subject they are and that needs to be factored in when Sans start talking about no no no I don't want to leave USA or UK or Australia whatever all that is must be spoken with age in person as a perspective that is the way I have always fa of course there are emotional reasons like your children are settled in those countries your grandchild there's a babysitting required all that sort of thing yeah but still but you give the best service for the money yeah in yeah yeah

10:30 See for example in our location today we have a doctor who comes to us Whenever there is a need for anyone yeah where are those doctors who come home anymore anywhere yeah they don't exist they just don't you have to go to them wait for a couple of hours in a cure somewhere but here they come you know the thepaper comes the milk comes to you you don't to go that s of thing yeah you know has a big fact Advantage when your Mobility is lesser and lesser as you go forward AG yes see again once upon a time 8 years was a great thing but today people live beyond 0 and they 00 at that time the Need For assistance

11:34 Is immense see in us when I was working for a chendar block I used to see a 94 year old man driving himself to the tax office yeah but here you don't have to do that you can have a driver you can have a servant you can have everything on call the auditor will come to your house yeah do you Ma return yes yeah so I know you are a you know a a CA like a tax professional I'm curious if you're okay how did you plan from a financial side in terms of the

12:16 Retirement you know while working abroad you always have plans to move back to India so is there anything that you can share from a financial planning about the move back to India we no we did not think on those terms throughout our career the essential view was sa as much as you can because you have nobody has seen tomorrow that was the basic thing there was no clear saying okay this is the way I'm going to retire stay in retirement this is what I want not that way I get we should spend I always tell my children and grandchildren the straight rule for you is spend 50% save 50% in whatever way in whichever manner you sa you sa spend 50% save

13:18 50% you will never regret and you will never be short of money that's precisely what we have followed and so far everything okay that's great and it also defines the you know the lifestyle that you're also leading right when you're trying to make sure that you're saving so much you never like you know go above and beyond certain lifestyle which makes it hard to keep up with to the point from a financial perspective yeah infl is taken care of by that 50% rule approximately that's sir we don't have the change our lifestyle even after retirement yes that is the main yeah if if I may ask have you

14:04 Taken up citizenship abroad or you still have the Indian passport and if so you know are there any tax complications and anything that you would advise for somebody who is planning to retire in India with a different passport we have US citizenship and we have taken was yeah here in India also file a tax return in the place where you reide yeah which is India in our case you also file a tax return in the US and any tax you pay here is automatically adjusted in the other one yeah so there is never a negative effect arising from that tax situation so doesn't happen there is a one common question that people have been asked asking you know especially on the Social Security side this is a

15:04 Common you know generic question so somebody who worked in us and who qualified for a Social Security pension and if they're not living in us do they still get the Social Security pension while living in India so would you be able to answer that or yeah anything that you can shed light on that one yeah we do get irrespective where where you live irrespective of where you ultimately decide that social security credit is not affected in any way yeah it credited to your bank in the US which you can always use wherever you are okay no thanks there's no issue with that okay thanks for confirming that how is the life in India as part of a

15:52 Retirement I know there is a big service that you're doing after moving back to India can you talk a little bit about that service as well as how the life are going we both are so busy taking care of this our own group and we also have get time to relax and go out do everything as we used to do before there is no change in that this additional charge has been taken care of by Mr ramakrishna and I am relaxing on my part I'm relaxing yeah one of the things all the lady residents here keep saying is we don't have to do anything in the kitchen yeah because there is a continuous service available from Community Kitchen yeah there is a real

16:53 Relaxation available for all the Resident seniors so if you can talk a little bit about that community service the nonprofit I think that would be very helpful I know you're doing a a lot of good service if you can talk about like how how many how big when it started and how it's going and the Genesis you know that would be very helpful what really happened was from the much 15 years ago five of us seniors were talking hey we are all getting over our children are not with us they will not be with us a time is coming when we will have to look after ourselves so let us do something where we will all be in one place you come and help me I will help you and let it be a totally nonprofit program yeah so we went about it that way went and registered in nonprofit

17:57 Trust got required a tax exemption also for it started small with just 14 apartments and only 14 people contributing to it had a very formal opening ceremony when all people came and saw those 14 apartment they understood you can do this without a commercial intervention and they they were really elated to see that and more people join then we did a few more buildings Again by contribution only everything is done by the resident contribution no investing no investor nothing like that if I have a house it is my own if somebody has an apartment it is his own apartment kind of a thing yeah with a like a big family of 30 that is the concept we have followed and everybody understands this

18:58 Is a totally unselfish project it is that which actually the promoting Factor there so they understand hey nobody is looking for money they are just trying to help each other so that is the way this concept has to be set up only thing is we insist strict vegetarian group to be in the group that is the only condition we have taken and keep telling people keep telling me you did not have that condition you will have 100 residence now so but then it's okay we need to choose our group anyway let us out no I I just want to say thank you very much for doing that and you know doing that at this age right you know 88 and you know kind of building this community and

19:59 Helping each other and taking care it just a goodh to you and thank you very much for doing that yeah Tres are not getting any younger so so recently we have added another four or five younger trustees so that going forward the organization will continue as we have invisage and personal belief is they should be here for 50 years they will take over the hsts will take over later yeah good is there any advice or suggestions that you would give to

20:40 Families who are thinking about moving back to India you know whether it's for different reasons any advice that you can share with them I will only specifically say one thing when you move from one country to another like we did from India to Africa to USA USA to back to India each country has its own ways of working say America has its own way of working India has its own way Africa has its own way we need to accept and accommodate ourselves fit ourselves within that accommodation see when we left India and came back 30 years later the road we were living on you can't even cross the street there was so much traffic so things do change and things are different we if we are ready to accept

21:42 To small small things and feel happy for the good part we are ready everybody should ready if you one complaint out of 100 then not a very happy situation you need to feel happy about it is the half F glass versus the half empty glass yeah that's the only advice if there is advice that can be given to anybody that is applicable in any place whether it India or USA or Africa whatever be the place wherever you are you should be happy yeah no I think actually it's easy yeah for sure so just continuing on that thought you know I think there are different working Styles different cultures in Africa you know in different places right as you mentioned so if you can compare in contrast between Africa

22:43 Us and India anything that you can share or you wanted to share at a high level between these three different countries the common thing I notice in all the three places is people are very Str if you can be friendly with them yeah that's a key thing really common you know Common and of course and I was very scared mean sort of apprehensive when I was leaving for Africa but after I reached there I found it so easy to manage the factories manage the people or be with them kind of a thing so same thing with us so just need to see there are of course irritants every wherever you go in some form or the other if you can remain unrattled by those for at least for the

23:46 Initial period no problem okay it's good everything is good yeah that's great I know it's been you know a little bit of a trouble for for you to get on the zoom and you know trying to adjust the camera but I really appreciate you taking the time and willing to share your journey with us especially with someone who has spent 30 years abroad and been living in India for close to 16 years and still active doing work doing Service I really really appreciate you know you sharing your journey with us today thank you thanks yeah for giving thank you all for joining us on this insightful journey of Dy return if you enjoyed this episode and want to explore more stories and expert advice make sure to subscribe and hit the notification Bell don't forget to leave a comment below with your thoughts and

24:47 Experiences by the way check out the links in the description below for our Facebook group and social media for updates and engaging discussions as well as connecting with fellow the wrers thank you once again and until next time may your the journey be filled with joy growth and endless possibilities