Many office workers in their 50s who face retirement in five to 10 years are financially unprepared for life in old age.
They may earn handsome salaries and have managed to buy their own homes but do not have enough savings to spend their twilight years without working and their prospects of finding work after retiring from their salaried job are slim.
Many of them are also financially responsible for their aging parents and growing children.
Last month, Mirae Asset polled 2,000 salaried workers aged 50 to 56 in big cities, and found that they earn an average of W6.41 million a month (US$1=W1,335). They own a home valued at an average W490 million and have around W129 million worth of financial assets and an average W100 million in debt. Some 55 percent of them are double-income couples.
Some 47 percent of them expect to retire within the next five years, but 48.2 percent said they have saved up less than 50 percent of the money they will need. Some 42.5 percent expect to face shortages in covering living expenses right after retirement.
Their prospects for re-employment are also grim. Some 64 percent felt they would not be able to find work after retirement, although 70.8 percent admitted they would have no other source of income than finding a new job, while just 7.5 percent said they have no more desire to work.
The biggest reason to find new work after retirement is the need to support their families. Only 21.3 percent of the respondents are not obliged to care for their parents or children.
Some 43.9 percent said they need to support their children until they find work, and 21.3 percent felt they need to care for their children until they get married. They estimated that it will cost an average W94.88 million to help their child marry and start their own family.
But 62.8 percent said they do not expect their kids to support them in retirement in turn, while only 3.4 percent definitely do.
Park Young-ho at Mirae Asset said, "People in their 50s and 60s, who are considered to be the second generation of baby boomers, live longer on average than first-generation baby boomers and their children are finding jobs later in life. While shouldering a huge burden of supporting their children, they will probably be the first generation of retirees who do not expect to be cared for by their children in turn."
Salaried workers in big cities also have no interest in settling down in rural areas, where life is cheaper, though a considerable number of people in the previous generation chose that route.
About half of the respondents have plans to relocate after retirement, but 21.8 percent chose Seoul and 42.4 percent another big city. Only 15.1 percent plan to move to a rural region. Some 64.2 percent want to live in an apartment, while two percent hope to emigrate to warmer climes.
