If you don't marry or have children, what will happen when you grow old?

In Japan, there's a concept called “end-of-life planning”:

At age 60, consolidate all financial assets into a single bank account and close all others.

At age 65, sell off all equipment and tools from past hobbies that you can no longer enjoy.

At age 70, move to an apartment in the city center. This ensures swift ambulance response times, access to diverse dining options, and numerous shopping destinations.

At age 75, pack all your essential belongings into a single carry-on bag.

After age 80, designate someone to handle your final arrangements. Plan the distribution and transfer of your assets, ensuring the chosen person faces minimal hassle and can efficiently manage all post-death matters.

35 to 45: Absolutely blissful. No kids to stress over, plenty of money and time to spare.

45 to 55: Still pretty sweet. Though many friends drift apart—they're busy raising kids while you're not. Your social circles naturally shift. But you can still travel and enjoy life. No more hovering over homework.

55 to 65: Just okay. Your own parents start needing care, while other people's kids are off at college and no longer demanding attention. You occasionally see other people's kids who haven't amounted to much and feel relieved you're spared that hassle, but when successful kids come home, the laughter and joy make you envious.

65 to 75: Pretty miserable. Parents are likely gone, and you've lost touch with friends. Your health holds up, but you feel increasingly disconnected from society. You can't figure out how to use new gadgets. Your mind's getting foggy, and nobody bothers to ask. Every errand requires asking someone for help, and you keep asking again and again.

75 to 85: Utterly miserable. The body deteriorates. Sell off possessions to enter a nursing home. Feel the caregivers treat you poorly; complaints go nowhere, and nothing changes. Receive stacks of bills at month's end, baffled by their contents. Money drains faster, panic sets in.

85 to 95. Regret. Just endure everything... That's how it is.

105. Occasionally lucid, realize how I'm still alive. Nooooo!

I've made up my mind never to marry or have children.

I've also figured out what to do when I grow old.

As long as you're healthy in old age, nothing else matters.

If you're not healthy, all the money and children in the world won't help.

Since I won't have to raise children, I won't have to work myself to death.

I won't have to trade my life for money to buy them houses or marry them off.

This way, my health should be better than most,

free from work stress and family conflicts, keeping my mind sound too.

So I should outlive the version of me who married and had children,

reaching the point of needing care much later.

When that time comes, I'll enter a nursing home,

and those with children might fare better then.

With children to back them up, they can complain and prevent caregivers from mistreating them too badly.

Those without children might be bullied by caregivers and suffer more.

But being bullied by caregivers is the situation in nursing homes today.

By the time I enter a nursing home, it will be at least three or four decades from now.

By then, technology should be more advanced, with robots available.

Robots will change my diapers, feed me, and bathe me.

Robots won't slap me for having a few extra bowel movements,

nor will they refuse to feed me out of spite for a few choice words.

If robots become affordable enough, I'll buy one outright—

no need for a nursing home when I can be cared for by a robot at home.

As for the loneliness of old age, I'm not afraid.

After all, I've lived alone for years since graduating college.

When I grow old, robots of that era could keep me company,

with AI advanced enough to chat and cheer me up.

I see no need to marry and have kids just to avoid loneliness in old age.

Even if robots never existed, I wouldn't regret it.

After decades of carefree living, if my final years turn out miserable,

it'd still be better than toiling for decades only to face hardship at the end.

Besides, children might turn out to be ungrateful freeloaders who ignore me completely.

Wouldn't that make a lifetime of raising them a total loss?

If you find a suitable partner and enjoy raising children, go for it.

If you can't find one or don't want to, just live happily on your own.

There's no need to marry and have children out of fear of being alone in old age.

You might end up suffering your whole life, only for your children to abandon you anyway.