Options ....

Today I had a lot of time...free time.... and started again on one of my pet themes....what to do after retirment.... two things that deserve to be discussed through this blog are (a) Senior Citizen Apartment and (b) Reverse Mortgage.

I have been toying with the idea of shifting to a Senior Citizen Apartment after retirement; I have seen the information on "Classic Kudumbam" near Chennai. This appears to be an interesting proposition. You pay about Rs.10 lakhs for a Studio Apartment and a monthly amount of Rs.5600 (with escalation clause) for food and other expenses per person (i.e. Rs.11200 for Sheila and me)..... we then need not worry about servant maid.... security... driver...grocery.... vegetables etc. We can live relaxed... in a timeframe suitbale for us... We may have some extra expenditure for medicine, hospital, transport, electricity, clothing and other personal expenses....we can manage them admirably with the savings we have.... I thougt that it is a good option, given the headache I have with the Society affairs. Such facilities are available in Pune too (Golden Nest... of Vascon and Athashree by Paranjape Builders)... I think we should look at these options seriously... especially if we decide to stay at our home only for a few months in a year. The reviews about Classic Kudumbam are great. LIC Housing Finance is coming out with a scheme is Pune for Senior Citizens through their LIC Care Homes.... they already have a scheme operating in Bangaluru... another option to see. What it means is that we can live happily with about Rs.15000 per month, if we invest about Rs.1000000 now..... I love this option.

Chandra spoke to me about the Reverse Mortgage last week... that Mani is thinking of taking Reverse Mortgage for the house, 76, Venkatesa Nagar. I think it is a good option.... this allows the owner of a flat or a house to mortgage the property with a financial institution (like PNB) and get either a bulk amount or monthly payments regularly till the death of the person and his/her spouse. That means the family occupies the flat/house till their death; they also get money based on the value of the house till their death....the amount being revisited at intervels to adjust to the new value of the property (i.e. there is an inflation correction to the amount received). I think this process can give enough money to have a comfortable life... enough to pay for the Society, car, driver etc. Why not try this? This is available only for Senior Citizens. Let me wait and watch.

I think the time has come to decide on such things as security in the future... and the above trigger off further discussion.

What is your view on the above ?