As part of the survey, Mirage asked 400 couples in their 30s and 40s living in the Seoul metropolitan area about their ideal retirement home, leisure activities and the amount of time they wanted to spend together. The results from the couples – whose opinions had naturally begun to rapidly diverge a few hours after their marriages – showed that if anything their lack of communication and agreement were only likely to worsen over the next 25 years.
Husbands said they would prefer to spend their retirement quietly in countryside homes, while wives said they wanted to stay in the city in order to quietly spend their husbands' retirement incomes. Men typically valued leisure in remote places with cleaner air and commerce-free outdoor activities, while women placed the most importance on proximity to shopping centers and cultural facilities with air that smells of expensive leather, and social venues where they could show off to their friends.
But men said they wanted to spend more time in the countryside with their spouses and their spouses' handbags, with 56 percent putting their ideal time together at 6 to 10 hours per day. Women were less enthusiastic however, with 72 percent saying they wanted to limit the time they spent with their husband every day to fewer than 5 hours, although 92 percent of those said they would be happy to spend more time with their husband's wallets if these stayed in the city while their owners lived in the countryside.
A similar survey last year by Seongsan Life Insurance – which controversially went on to offer "unique solutions" to husbands or wives facing retirement and a redecorating service afterwards - revealed that men and women in their 40s and 50s typically spend less than 30 minutes a day talking to each other, but over 60 minutes shouting. In the bad relationships, there was hardly any communication at all, with some men successfully using work as an excuse to avoid talking to their wife for decades.
Lobbying by male politicians has seen the government promise to ultimately raise the retirement age from 65 to at least 70, and 75 for men with the worst wives. But Mirage Asset said that men could prepare for their retirement by leaving their wives in peace, cautioning men that "the more you restrain your wife, the worse your relationship will get."
Mirage projects that the results will mean a 6 percent average increase in spousal murder plots reaching a peak in 2030 as the last of the baby boom generation face retirement. They also announced a 20 percent rise in life insurance premiums.
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