Financial woes!
I am sorry to say I did no financial planning for my R2I move. For one thing, I had very little time. Second, i figured transferring money to India should be no problem. Well it is. A cursory research tells me that there is an "RFC" account that can be used by returning Indians to keep money in foreign currency. This account allows transferring foreign currency abroad without need of an RBI approval. So I will need to open an RFC account once I am in India. But before then, I will probably also need an FCNR account to be able to wire money from here to India. I am still researching this and will post my findings when I know more.
Apart from the money transfer, there is the whole 401k issue that needs to be taken care of. Withdrawing money from 401k account needs to be carefully planned to avoid penalties and extraneous taxes. The financial jargon is pretty overwhelming. I think I will talk to a tax consultant tomorrow.
Note to self: need to take time to understand financial matters more.
Note to prospective returnees: Plan plan plan your finances!
Comments
Hi Gaurav! I enjoyed reading your blog. I do believe that you can make a career as writer. Ok! here is my question for you. Will you please let me know what happened to your 401k transfer. How did it go? I am in US and trying to be financially free and return but not yet there. Just following your advice. Plan..plan...plan your finances.
Thanks.
-Mahesh
Posted by: Mahesh Gupta | January 11, 2006 02:37 AM
What was the result of the 401k transfer then?
Posted by: Santosh | January 22, 2006 03:57 PM
Yes, how does one go about withdrawing 401K money without penalties?
Posted by: Omesh Bajaj | April 6, 2006 02:42 AM