Kollengode S Venkataraman Written in 2003
While many early Indian immigrants are evaluating their retirement options, others are staring at it uncomfortably, looking at ways to manage their nest eggs. This topic is important to Indian women as well. Particularly those who were mostly homemakers or hold jobs that were not highly paying or pay no benefits at all. Consider these.
- Most of the early immigrants from the Indian subcontinent have had arranged marriages in which grooms are typically older than their brides by 6 to 10 years. Next. Line.
- Empirically, in the West, women live longer than men. Among Indians, women may live even longer than men by a few more years.
Putting these observations together, one can readily infer that Indian women are likely to outlive their husbands by 10 to 15 years. In the US, these women are likely to inherit their husbands’ sizable estates.
In our desi Yankee hybrid marriage. Hybrid Heritage Our seniors want independence, while our married children want privacy. So, our women in their golden years will often be living by themselves, close to, but not with their sons and daughters. So, it is important that Indian women learn the basics of how to manage their assets. This is the burden that comes with independence and wealth.
It is one thing to carefully manage take home page of yourself and your husband in running your homes. Even in this some women are constrained by their husbands. But managing several $100,000, even millions of dollars of estate is a different ball game. You need to make informed decisions even if you have a well-meaning financial planner. You need to be aware of all options. And the risks associated with each of them so that you can intelligently work with your financial planner. It is not for nothing that the Panchatantra says.
Money causes pain in getting. In keeping pain and fitting.
Pain in loss and pain in spending. Damn the pain never ending.
So, Indian immigrants must let their spouses know the basics of managing money and assets. Men only help themselves by doing this. The time is ripe for early Indian immigrants to organize or at least attend seminars for letting their spouses, particularly traditional women, understand the taxation issues and the risks involved in many investment options, et cetera. So that they can spend their golden years with independence, confidence and Peace of Mind.
After diligently saving for retirement, not preparing people on how to manage one’s life and one’s estate is a crime.