"Going home again," a financially secure return to the homeland in old age, is easily accomplished by, and constitutes an economically efficient strategy for, urban American Indian elders if they have maintained their ethnic identity. Emphasis on ethnicity varies with life stage: full immersion in early life, eclipsed ethnicity in middle life, decreased involvement in the public sector and re-intensification of ethnic identity of old age. Alcohol use may also be correlated with age: younger Indians may drink heavily, but by mid-thirties alcohol consumption is reduced, and few Indians over 50 years old drink heavily, as that would be anomalous to culturally viable roles for the elderly, such as shaman, moral leader, or foster parent. For urban Indians, location of significant family members, viable membership in the chosen community, economic pragmatism and availability of health services are explanations for residence choices: remaining in the city or going "back home." A year and a half after returning to the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation, Mrs. Mabel Walking Eagle (pseudonym), who spent 26 years in Los Angeles, has been through stages of re-entry into local life and has attained two culturally appropriate age-set roles: election to the Chapter House council and foster care of two children. (MH)