How Will I Manage when I’m Old?

Every now and then I lay awake at night thinking about my old age. The problem isn’t financial. I’m making damn sure of that. Rather, what will I do if Anupa dies before me and I’m left all by myself? It’s not that I need a great deal of societal company – I can be quite happy alone. But I surely need somecontact! My parents will be dead naturally, so who do I have for company? I wonder how much one can rely on friends…

Yes, this is the price I pay for not having children. I don’t regret that choice, but I have to plan to deal with the consequences. Besides, there’s no guarantee that my hypothetical kids would stick around in my old age. Look at me – I’m not sticking around my parents am I? They would have their own lives to look after!

I have a few ideas that I hope will take care of the situation. Let me know your thoughts on them…

The first idea is going to an old age home. If all goes well, there’ll be many similar old people around all the time with the additional advantage of having qualified staff on hand to take care of me if I need extra help. So far so good. But I also keep hearing horror stories about how people are treated in such places. Once you’re in their power, it can be quite difficult to leave. And what if the standards plummet due to poor management? What recourse will I have then presuming I’ve sunk a good chunk of my money into it? A scary proposition. Nothing like your own home for security no?

The next option is to stay at home, but take up some light part time work somewhere close by. Not for the money, but just to keep in touch with the outside world. Perhaps make some acquaintances along the way. Not sure how this will work out. If I become too frail, I won’t be able to go to work anymore and who knows how long I’ll be in that condition?

I’ve often thought about an interesting alternative. I’ll likely have enough funds so how about I sponsor a family with a kid say, and invite them to stay along with me? Maybe some distant relative…don’t know how to choose yet. I can help them out financially and they can include me as part of their family life. It’ll have to be a a decent set of people though god only knows how I’d be able to determine that beforehand.

Next option is to suck it up and stay alone in my house. I’ll have to give power of attorney to a lawyer who’ll be able to make decisions for me in case I’m unable to do it myself. Come to think of it, that’s a good idea no matter what. It can be useful to trust someone who is legally bound to look after my interests after all.

Next option I’ve thought about is to start a research foundation or some other NGO establishment using my own house as a premises. People can come for their regular work every day and I’ll be sitting in the middle of a lot of activity and goings on. After all, why not put my money to some good work? It”ll be of no use to anyone when I’m dead since I have no heirs.

So what do the rest of you think? I know most of you have kids of your own so you might not be placed in a similar situation when you’re old. But not all kids come home to take care of their aged parents for some reason or the other. In that case, what plans do you have for your old age?