I had done a post asking people what is confusing about retirement – about 17 people asked for some clarification on my blog. Those who asked on FB or wassup..will have to wait..longer!! Here is the first installment…

here are my worries

– what to do if your wife is not at all ready to discuss about death old age etc feeling it is not auspicious.

talk to her about TV serials and the hot Indian weather. It is a maturity problem – and if it happens to her in her 40s rest assured she will never mature. Sorry for being blunt. Try talking to your children. Far more importantly make her do the investments, explain to her why you are doing all that. Prepare her for living without you. You need not talk about death. Go away for 5 days – when the electricity, telephone bills have to be paid. Tell her on phone what to do.

Simplify your investments – and involve her. Tell your children to remove money from actively managed funds and shift to equity sensex fund…do not talk about death and tell her now about what to do. Unnecessary.

– if i die first, how to ensure constant monthly income for wife from corpus considering not much annuity options.

If she will neither talk about this nor learn, there is not much you can do. It has to be bank fixed deposits – and hope it lasts till the end of her life. Make sure you have a written will. Make sure that your children are able to help her from a far off place. Convince her that she is better off in a senior citizen home – a geriatric care center if she is over 70 years. She may not be able to live alone – looking after everything alone after the age of 70 may be difficult if not impossible.

– how to minimize online as well as physical bank transactions when 60+.. we cant remember all passwords and going too many times to bank also difficult

go and live in an old age home/ geriatric care center from the age of 72-3. Till then reduce complications – buy grocery once a month, vegetables from one vendor, keep one/ two bank accounts. One index fund, no life insurance policy. Medical insurance – keep full details with your kids. Find some nephew, niece, friend’s daughter….to take care of financial / physical emergencies..if children are abroad.

– if children are abroad and my wife dies, how to relocate money or what things to consider

assuming you are the FIRST TO DIE..(make sure that both you and your wife have a will) when your wife dies your children will inherit everything. Think hard. If they are in the USA and do not much respect the amount of money that you leave behind, leave it to a charity. Tell the geriatric care center to keep the deposit. I am assuming that you have already sold off your house and you are living in a geriatric care. If it is a much bigger amount and it does matter for your children..have a lawyer sort it out. Maybe you can do a family settlement as soon as possible..but make sure that you can use it during your life time and wife’s lifetime also…