My younger colleagues were complaining to me that in Singapore, both husband and wife have to work to ensure a reasonable quality of life, and save up for retirement. The reasonable quality of life to them means having a car, stay in a condo and have a maid to cook, do household chores and look after their young kids. Looking back when I was younger, I think many in my cohorts have wives who were housewives and we turn out quite ok, financially.

I look at 6 of my colleagues around my age group (in our 50s) to see what is the distribution like. Without knowing their networth, there seems to be no clear divide between dual vs single income, at least among those in my cohort.

Colleague A: Age 55, wife is housewife. Stay in exec HDB flat, no maid, 2 kids. Have a car.
Colleague B: Age 55, wife is giving tuition. Stay in condo, owns a 2nd condo. No maid. Have 3 kids and a car.
Colleague C: Age 54, wife is housewife, stays in condo, owns 2nd condo. 2 kids, a car but no maid.
Colleague D: Age 55, wife is part time teacher, stays in exec HDB flat. Have 3 kids, 1 car, but no maid.
Colleague E: Age 52, wife is working. Stays in exec HDB flat, have 2 kids, 1 car and maid.
Colleague F: Age 56, wife is housewife, stays in condo. Have 2 kids, 1 car and no maid.
Myself: Age 56, wife is working. Stays in condo, owns 2nd condo. Have 2 kids, 2 cars and a maid.