[Evans, Marv]

I think you have to have plans A thru Z. You have to think about things unplanned for. What if you or your wife become ill or semi incapacitated. If you have kids, one or more may have an accident, fall ill, or something else. You are the one who knows your circumstances, so you have to sort out the scenarios and at least a vague contingency plan to approximately cover some. If things go well, plan A may work out OK. In my case, I was never going to get married again after my former wife & I parted ways. I was going to sell my rentals, cash out, pack up, and move to Portugal to live. That didn't work out well, since I ended up marrying a lady much younger. Now I've been retired fifteen years, and she's just reaching her stride professionally (school Principal & maybe on track to become Superintendent). So I ended up spending my resources building a place for us and life style of supporting her to make way for her to succeed. Not something I mind, but I sometimes think of what my other life would have been like. One thing you have to consider is that as you get older, you're not going to want to contend with some things - like watching your kids like a hawk to make sure they do the right thing & make the right decisions for example. With people living longer, you really have to take the long view but have contingencies planned out if it doesn't work out that way.