A lot of financial advice books put "get married" in their lists of "musts."
I tend to agree - having a supportive woman in your life who will stand by you can be incredibly important - and the second income isn't too bad either.
You have to be the marrying type, too.
I think those old men who say, "don't get married" probably married some high school or college sweetheart. Or they had decent marriages, and now that they're both old and sex and life in general aren't quite as good; it colors their view of the subject.
Or they felt they "settled" for someone who merely wanted to marry them.
I fear a friend of mine is headed in that direction. He's been with this gal for a while, she's only OK looking. They seem to be heading for a "default" marriage - they've been together, they like each other, and they figure they could do better, but why bother, since they know each other and have invested a lot of time in the relationship they'd rather not throw away.
My friend gets all AFC around her - calls her two or more times a day, is really submissive and cooing on the phone, and always lets her set the agenda for vacations (her family members are always part of the vacation plan - how unromantic!), how they spend time together, etc. "We tried to find something she wanted to watch on TV" was one phrase I heard from him.
That's another aspect - while dating, the guy has to establish control, and the mistake men often make is once the marriage begins, they relinquish it, thinking the hard part's over when it's really just begun.
