Wifey B: You are all outlining stories that fit the story you want to tell. Reasonable, but then all slanted to your situation. So, I can make up one.
Two brothers. Two years apart in age. The older brother was daddy's pride and joy, a great businessman. Harvard grad. He married a fine woman and they had two kids. They bought larger and larger homes and planned so for retirement. He worked 60 hours a week so they'd be debt free plus have the money for anything they wanted during retirement.
The younger brother was a bit of a family embarrassment. Dropped out of Yale. Went to a local community college. Dabbled in art. Supported himself as a bartender. Had a different girl friend every week, quite a lady's man. Never owned a condo. Went to Vegas at least once a month and got all the free perks there. Had no savings and no 401-K.
The older brother planned on retirement at 60 but he and his money hungry wife wanted more so he put it off for two more years. Two months short of 62, he had a fatal heart attack. His wife was left a multi-millionaire and she was only 55 at that time.
The younger brother, the gambler he was, played the lottery every week. At the age of 45, living paycheck to paycheck, he won $120 million after taxes and bought a huge house and yacht and cars and lots of wild women. He quickly went through the money.
The brothers had a conversation about a month before the older brother's heart attack. The older brother really chastised the younger one for having nothing left of all that money. The younger one said, "Omg, you still don't get it, I have memories you couldn't imagine." The younger brother did show up in the hospital as his older brother was dying and the final words were the older brother saying "Please take care of my wife, Bridget. I don't want her sad. She deserves to enjoy life." The younger brother said, "I promise, oh yes, I do promise."
Younger brother lived up to his promise as he immediately checked in on the wife daily. Soon he moved in to his brother's home and bed. Life for the wife was the best it had ever been but she only allowed her new boyfriend so much to spend per month. A very gracious amount but not everything. They would travel together, bought the yacht the older brother had dreamed of. When the father died, now with the older brother gone, the younger brother got all that too. They lived happily ever after.
So the moral of the story is to be as irresponsible as possible.
Now if that's the story you want to believe in, you're a fool. Both brothers had it wrong and for most of us the right way is somewhere in between. You can marry responsibility with freedom to enjoy life along the way. May each find their way to their dreams without depending on the death of a brother and the lottery along the way.