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I am nearing retirement.By the grace of Lord Ram and Lord Krishna, I have been fortunate to hold on to a job. Working in IT from 1987, has enabled to me travel a lot. I have travelled far and wide and visited many countries. I chose not to settle abroad. Because of timely acts, I have invested into stocks and MFs, private health insurance, top-up medical insurance, etc. I married in 1990 and invested in a flat immediately. This flat was paid off in 2007. In 2004, I purchased a second property and that too is free of lien. It now earns me residual income as rent. I have saved for my son’s higher education fund. My retirement corpus is more than enough. I have no financial liabilities.I am all thankful to the Almighty for giving me what I needed (In 1987, I had just Rs. 19 in bank and Rs. 8 in my wallet, and no job). Many of my school and college mates have done exceedingly well for themselves. But I have no regrets.(The above is not bragging but simply a window to me.)Now what am I planning to do in a year?I plan to continue to take up contractual assignments in my field of experience - IT. I don’t need to work for money but just to keep myself occupied.I am a hobby photographer interested in wildlife. I plan to pursue this much more than I could till today. I have the equipment, I needed the time which I will have now.I like to cook. I cook vegetarian and non-vegetarian. I cook Indian and Italian very well. I am not a MasterChef but I can promise not to disappoint anyone. I am trying my hand at mastering Chinese food these days. It is not difficult; just needs practice.This is not happening right now - but I plan to keep exercising and remain healthy and fit.Every 2 or 3 years my wife and I plan to take vacations abroad. We have visited many countries but these were while I was staying and working there.I am still panning to re-invest my corpus so that I can protect the principal and earn annuity income just on that.Meanwhile there are some large financial expenses comping up:My flat is due for renovations and I am planning major expense here. It will be restructuring, renovation, interior design, all new appliances, modernisation. I have the separate corpus for that. This exercise will take some 6 months to complete.My son will get married sometime in next 4–5 years. I will have to plan for that.

No one really wants to know about your health. “How are you?” is a greeting. Respond “I’m fine, how about you”.No one really wants you to drop by unannounced. “You should come over some time” is just a polite way of saying they want to remain on friendly terms.Americans really are that friendly. When they smile, they mean it. They aren’t just being polite. It’s not some sort of act.It’s a really bad idea to talk about politics, religion or guns (which is increasingly becoming the same topic). Ask about football. Americans love to talk about football.They probably don’t know a lot about where you’re from and may make some stupid statements about it. Resist the urge to correct them. If they actually do know about your country ask them more about theirs. Americans love to talk about America and, in fact, their country is pretty awesome.One way to show that you’re not as smart as an American is to make some comment about how you want to see the country on your one week trip. Americans know exactly how long it takes to get anyplace in their country. Ask instead what’s great to see in the region. They can then point you to a place that’s no more than a day away that you may have missed.Americans will usually address you by your first name. That’s normal, and they often don’t mind being addressed by their first name unless they’re a policeman or a judge. They think they’re being friendly by doing so.In most of the United States, public transit is a joke. Many places can only be effectively reached by private car. Car dependent cities like Detroit and Dallas still have cabs, but it can be nearly impossible to get one. If some how you arrive in some such city without a ride, it may be a while before you get one. For example, Detroit has a lot of car rental agencies, but almost all of them except the majors deal solely with insurance companies to provide replacement vehicles for people who have lost theirs in a crash. Some cities have really good public transit (NYC, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago) but assume none of the other do.Currency exchange is a real hassle, and as been pointed out there are some places that don’t even take credit cards (particularly foreign ones). It’s not going to be a problem at a hotel, but it might be at a fast food place.Food portions are massive. And delicious. And usually not very expensive. However, American often put “quantity” over “quality” when making recommendations.American customs and immigration agents are not really representative of the people in their country. They are rude, suspicious, humourless and often seem in a constant state of anger. Be unfailingly polite and listen to their questions.

I lived in US for 10 years, out of which I had green card for 5 years (eligibility for citizenship). My husband and I had well paid jobs, but we decided to come back, so I guess I can answer this question of yours with my perspective.First of all, the assumption that life is luxurious in USA is a myth. I don't agree with this. If you mean clean roads and travelling by car is a luxury, then may be that is all you get. In USA, many of the protocols are streamlined, so you get things done probably easily than in India. But let me tell you what you get in India:You get help to do your domestic chores, that leaves you with quality time that you can spend wisely on what you are good at.Earlier, in India you were not getting most of the Chinese products that are flooded in Walmarts and other stores in USA. Now you can buy them easily in India through amazon or other online market places.You get all kinds of seasonal fruits/vegetables that you were never getting in USA( I used to buy dried, necrotic custard apples in Indian stores) if you are a fruit lover.If you are in Mumbai or in any other part of the country, you feel the energy and the vibrancy of people. (Once I went to a beach in Florida during September, and we were the only people in the entire area).You can buy all kinds of clothes in India.You can eat all kinds of food in India.If you have a decent job, then I think India is not a bad place at all to live in. Plus if you want to do anything good for your country, this is it….But people (including me) don't come back for these. There are reasons beyond this that is more important. That could be something such as staying close to your family, child adoption in India, contributing to society etc… Just my perspective.**Edit1: ** My first 1 K vote!! Thanks quorans!Thank you Meghna Maurya for the edits. Much appreciated.**Edit2:** Thanks for the overwhelming number of upvotes. One more thing I wanted to add that is worth mentioning.Recently we went on vacationing to Goa. Upon my return hot food is available on my table, house is dusted, cleaned, plants watered. Thanks to my house help who also has my house key with her. I could not have asked for more. In the USA, I don’t remember of leaving unwashed utensils in the sink before making a long trip. We always would return to a cold and empty house :-)