Your life partner also plays a big role in life planning. If I was still married to my first wife, I would be working until I drop dead. It took me two houses and 10 years to figure that out, a mistake I entered into when I was twenty. Now if someone wants advise, I try to explain that people change the most between 20 and 30. You move out of your parent’s support, you get out of public school, spend time in college and you mature and change. If you get married young, there’s no guarantee that you will change together. We did not. I did not realize how materialistic my first wife was and she only became more so. When Suzy and I married we were both in elementary education. We shared similar values. We’ve lived in the same house for 37 years, we don’t care about new cars or fancy stuff. We invested our lives in our work and our kids. Suzy is happy and content if the kids and grand-kids are happy and healthy. Perhaps best of all, when one of our families ran into trouble, there was no agonizing debate over money, we were both on the same page.

Thanks for your article. I especially liked the idea of periodic retirement throughout your life. But that depends so much on your work and a high level of confidence in your ability to find work again. For example, a nurse, who is usually in high demand could quit work for a year and then go back. But many people can’t be quite so casual about their employment, nor do they have the confidence to know there is a job around the corner. If we ever get universal basic income, that would open up many opportunities, but for now most are a slave to their employment. Also as another writer commented, starting a family and having school aged children tends to complicate life as well.