One may wonder what has the BSE and NIFTY 50 index got to do with old age. As a sexagenarian who has been investing in the stock markets since his vicenarian age, quite unambiguously it’s a barometer of not just the economy but the sentiments and mindsets of the people at large, regardless of the fact that not everyone in our country, given its high indigent percentage, is an investor or has means to invest. The indices recently hit stratospheric highs with BSE hitting 80,000 and the NIFTY 50 hitting 25,000, with market pandits predicting a further 20% increase from these heights by the close of this year. For sure, no one can predict accurately, at best these are conjectures and estimations and fraught with risk and uncertainties. An investor is wise only in hindsight, never before.
During this exhilarating tango with indices, I was having the customary conversation with my friend cum investment advisor to take stock of my portfolio, booking profits, rebalancing the mix and the next frontier of stocks and sectors. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, he said that we should consider investing in companies that provide old age homes and elder care. My friend had been recently bereaved post an exhausting, enduring and expensive care for both his parents and parents-in-law having debilitating health issues. He often wished for a respite and alternative care-giving options. A dutiful son and son-in-law he indeed was, but so was he a prescient investor sensing opportunities in the markets, high or low. The old wizen, but the markets freshen.
Caption: Anandam, Banagalore
I have a friend in a senior school mate and an ad industry colleague, all lively and sprightly at 82, who recently shifted to a senior living facility in salubrious climes down south. He has had a successful career and is now a prolific writer of articles and books. He has been a long staying resident of Chennai, having his own sprawling home, where his son and his family also live. He had been widowed about a decade and a half ago, but his never-say-die attitude saw him coming out of the loss of his beloved wife and getting involved in myriad social activities in her honour and turning to writing with a vengeance. One fine day, he just announced to his friends that he is going to move out of his Chennai home and try out living in a senior assisted living facility. When I asked him the reason for it, he had no clear answer but did say that he did not want to be a burden on his son. When I asked him why Coimbatore, he said the climate is good and his daughter lives there and hence he will not be alone. When I said that he could as well continue living in Chennai, which he is familiar with and where he has his large network of friends, he did not have a cogent answer. To cut a long story short, he did what he had decided on and over the past 4 months has been living there, seemingly very happy and contented. So, he will, at least till his body, mind and intellect stay aligned.
A few others in my circle have either opted for it or are thinking of it. One another acquaintance of mine was living in such assisted living for several years and when his wife expired due to health issues, his son convinced him to migrate to the US and stay with him. A school teacher of mine, having two daughters and having a cosy apartment in a good area in Mumbai also moved to such a facility in the distant south, after retirement decades ago. His wife continues to live there after his passage to eternity a few years ago. Another acquaintance, a successful automobile engineer having a plush apartment in Mumbai moved to a distant old age home, after his wife deceased, since he could not handle being alone and after his son disowned him. He died, lonely and unhappy, in that old age home. A relative of mine, all of 86, is living alone in the distant New Mumbai, her two children having migrated abroad and unwilling to come back and her husband taking off on his heavenly journey. She is distraught and any time someone calls her, she asks if she can stay with them. Not a happy situation to be in.
More recently, I know of a person, a friend’s friend, searching for an assisted living facility in the outskirts of Mumbai for his aged parents. He works abroad and is in no position to have his parents over, for several reasons. But at the same time, he desires to make his geriatric parents’ lonely living as comfortable as possible, given his means. Another person getting on in her age and becoming increasingly unfit, is in no position to take care of her elderly mother and a dependent child. She has been forced to move her mother to an NGO helping with assisted living at reasonable costs.
The general pressures and pursuits of living, the breakdown of joint families, migrations for jobs and livelihoods, rising costs of accommodations, expensive medical treatments, low incomes and poor savings, the increasing ‘I, me, myself’ attitudes and many more reasons have brought about an inevitability of assisted living, especially in the case of several urban families. There is a mushrooming of realty developers rushing in to provide this assisted living facility in several cities across the country, from the hills to the plains, from the coasts to the interiors, promising the moon and end-to-end elder care. Essentially, they project a beguilingly comforting presence of heaven on earth, no different from a typically alluring hospital ad as though people look forward to being in hospitals. But then, like so many other things in life, there are pros and cons of shifting to assisted living and would differ from case to case.
Caption: GoldenEstate, New Delhi
If I were to coin an expression in this context, all of us to a greater or a lesser extent, live in constant FoD, FoE and FoF – Fear of Dependency, Fear of End and Fear of Future. It is compounded by the fact that many of us have a misconceived notion of ‘I do not want to be a burden on my children’. At one level it is unfair and being presumptuous about our progeny and at another level we could have a heightened opinion of our own independence and sense of right and wrong. Yes, there are several cases of cruelty towards parents, desertion of parents, remaining incommunicado with parents and other forms of inhuman behaviours which may force a shift to old age homes. But they are exceptions, not the norm fortunately.
Circling back to where I started from, of high stock indices and old age, there indeed is an opportunity of great returns in investing in companies providing elder care and assisted living. They do provide essential services for the aged. But the joy will be greater the day one realises that the brick and mortar of old age homes is a temporary salve and incomparable to the lasting solace of the heart and emotion of kinship. After all, our last mile journey, with all its joy and sorrow, does require four pairs of arms. The rainbow looks attractive, but there never is a pot of gold at its end.
