However, I don't know if you can separate that from the freedom and opportunity to fail (can you have good without evil?) How much are you factoring that into your calculations for your late 40's and beyond?
You're saying you don't want the freedom and opportunity to do either when in your late 40s and beyond? Or are you saying that you want to have the opportunity to succeed, but not to fail, when you're in your late 40s? Didn't you just say that's not possible? I'm confused...
What I'm trying to say is that as people get older and have a family to support, they might get more risk averse, and begin to prefer safer options (which likely involve less freedom and opportunity). The cost of failure then is much higher than the cost of failure now.