Quite resonate with this!.
I am hearing from many USCs that they see themselves living in the US during the retirement than in India. If one does not have good connection with friends and extended family in India, there is a very little motivation to go to India other than vacation. It's a very conscious decision that we made to move our base to Bangalore now when I am 51 now and is purely due to strong friendship that I maintained with my childhood friends in India. Given most of my childhood friends are also empty nesters( some of em moved to Bangalore from the US before 2010), It's seemed like a perfect time to hang up the boots and make good use of the small wealth that we made. We are of the strong belief that that there is only time value left after working in tech/finance for over 25 years!.
We also have a high level plan to spend relatively more time in the US after 60 when we have access to our IRA accts. Started moving money from Roll over and traditional IRA to ROTH IRA for past few years and intend to move every cent to ROTH before I turn 60. My retirement portfolio is decently doing well and thanks to ROTH, the gains will be tax free for retirement. Given latest advance in the medical science tech like CRISPR, I am hearing that humans would live longer unless die of accidents so what can be better than ROTH IRA.
Hoping to make good use of next 10 years where we intend to spend more time in India and not worry about rat race. We are still working around tax / RNOR / residency related aspects and will post here as it unfolds.
Lakshya wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 12:31 pm
SAPPORO wrote: ↑Fri Nov 08, 2024 7:46 pm
wd40 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 08, 2024 6:47 pm
This is fine if you entire financial assets everything is US domiciled and you are treating India like a tourist destination. I am talking about people who close everything in the US(other any other country where they acquired passport) and move back to India for good. Have their entire financial life in India and need to work in India and actually live and transact in India.
Countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, dont have the concept of OCI. They treat all their former citizens like traitors and treated in the same way as other foreigners. India has OCI, but OCI is a visa. Visa can be taken away. Only passport is the real thing. For people who are all set in their adopted country, then it is not a problem.
Interesting topic to discuss today since as of today the number of years I have been in the US surpasses the number of years in India!
Home is where well, one sets up their home, raise a family and build relationships with friends. It's not some random place in India just because it's cheap to live there.
I have not personally met a single USC who has permanently moved to India - Some do long term relocation either to take care of ageing parents or to 'shield' their coming-of-age kids from a phoren culture. Even those that move permanently to India, they seldom erase their financial foot print in the US including those that were on H1/L1 - heck, we don't even erase financial footprint in India, and we go there once every couple of years.
Just like SAPPORO, I’ve spent more years in the U.S. compared to India, and I don’t know anyone with a U.S. passport who has permanently moved to India. Yes, there are always outliers, but that’s not the normal practice. I’ve had a U.S. passport for a long time, and I didn’t get it for traveling the world or because it’s a strong passport—it just happened naturally. I got it late purely because of my laziness. I came to this country with a green card, so I could’ve gotten U.S. citizenship in five years.
Because of this same laziness, I still don’t have an OCI card, and my entire family uses visitor visas. I might get an OCI later in life. I can’t speak for other countries, but a large part of the Indian population here has accepted America as their home, including those who came after 2000.
If you spend a certain number of years outside the country, and once you’re past your 40s, it’s hard to make new friends in India. Your wavelength might not match with your extended family and old friends, which is the case for me. So, apart from visiting your parents, there’s little motivation to go back to India. Kids, too, tend to lose interest in visiting India once they hit high school. At least on the East Coast, they usually have a large Indian circle, so in the future, they might be like Guyanese Indians—following all the rituals but without any direct connection to India.
From what I’ve seen in my extended family, many start spending their winters in India after retiring, usually from November to April, as long as their health allows. I’m thinking of doing the same, spending time in my hometown and the area where my spouse and I grew up. Beyond that, the rest of my city and India hold little value for me.
( Heard this is the biggest mall of Bangalore and is in North Bangalore). We chose North Bangalore only to be closer to airport and avoid crazy Blore traffic. Being empty nester at 51, Travel is my main focus!. 
