I’m just working back to first principals. You can be happy without the legal Russian Roulette of marriage is my overarching thesis, and I apologize again it took so many words to arrive at my point.
Just to add, here are a few other things that also limit your day to day freedom and add some risk of legal nightmares:
- operating a business
- owning a home or other building
- running for political office
- raising a child
- using a professional license (medical, law, civil engineer, etc)
So OP, a 28 year old male still in the process of completing education?
I agree with ianai and toomuchtodo, marriage can wait (assuming one is even interested in it) until you've made your place in the world and have time and room to think about such things.
IMHO the reality is a marriage os neither something required nor something to avoid, it lies along side professional life and again IMHO, recommending one to get married or not doesnt deserve a place alongside how one should pursue their career goals. They should be equally pursued in a balanced fashion suited to the individual.
The rate dramatically changes with demographic, for example many of those were married young and did not complete education.
> who you pick to marry
The quote doesn't say whether :) Married men also tend to make more money and work for longer periods of time. There is a cynical view of whether that's good or not, but 40-50 year old single men don't seem to be a particularly successful demographic.