It’s customary here on AF for the OP to post his story first. To your question, not really. I’m very selfish.
What? I never bashed your prudish ideals, nor did anyone here. We are just explaining our thought processes on a complex and very big decision. BS, whatever makes you happy is great. If you’ve found the one, AWESOME! Seriously, I mean it. I don’t want to be a drunken bachelor 40 something iBanker type with a sports card instead of a family. I just want to be reasonably well off late 30 something with a 23 year old wife >7 face and >=9 body and a baby on the way. That’s how I see my life going. For me, hastening into marriage and a family out of some fear that I won’t be able to find another chick down the road just doesn’t make sense to me at this juncture of late 20’s. I do not see every chick as potentially the last exit off the highway the way that many women our age see men. I believe there are many, many, many more exits and rest stops along the way. … which is why, to get back to the OP’s original question, I don’t see it as logical or desirable to sacrifice my career for a chick.
Santa clause is coming to townnn
Remember that as you age, your dating cohort tends to age too (possibly not as quickly). What I’ve found is that each time I find myself back in the dating pool, I find that the women I am looking at are more mature. For their beauty, this sometimes means that the same degree of physical awesomeness is a little bit harder to find, but in almost all other respects, they are deeper, more interesting people who are easier to connect to and more willing to work to make a relationship enjoyable. What happens is that both you and she are more knowledgeable about how to make a relationship work, and that tends to make things hotter and more fun for both of you. Yes, one can be cynical and say it’s because their looks are fading and therefore they have to try harder to get male attention. There is undoubtedly some aspect of this (real or perceived). But more importantly, they are people with more experience about life, and less likely to be guided by unrealistic expectations about what relationships are and what you as a man can or should be doing for them to make them happy. They understand that enjoyable moments in life don’t “just happen,” they have to be “created,” or at least you have to work to create the opportunity for nice things to “just happen.” Clearly, some women (and men) will become jaded as they age, and the ones that are delightful will probably not stay on the market as long - but they’re out there. And after you’ve banged enough hotties to the point that every attractive woman starts reminding you of someone else you’ve done, you suddenly find that a woman that is pretty enough to get you hot and bothered, but who can keep you entertained with good conversation and laughs when you are not rolling around naked together, rather than irritate you with silly crap, that’s the woman you want to enjoy what little free time you have with. At any age, I’ve always found it interesting how there are some women who aren’t physically attractive but are somehow extremely sexy. Sometimes we’re almost ashamed to admit an attraction to these people, but we all have times when we feel it. Physical attractiveness and sexiness are correlated, but not nearly as much as one would think. At any age, there are some very pretty women who aren’t all that sexy, and there are some very sexy women who aren’t all that pretty. At some level, sexiness is theatre, and as they age, some women get better and better at the theatre part of it: so much so that you don’t notice their age so much (Madonna, anyone? Jennifer Grey?). Then again, some women figure that once they catch a guy, they don’t need to do it anymore. So sexiness (both male and female) is a skill that can be honed and practiced, and which can also go dull through non-use. But the point is that good stuff is out there and life doesn’t end at 28, or 40, or even 60+. 
Good insights about why its ok to sometimes bang/fall in love with older and/or fat chicks, Bchadwick. No argument there. You forgot Kim K. But would you give up your career cause you “have to be with this ONE chick?”
Hard to say. Who I am and how I feel about myself are intimately tied to what I do as a career. I think a woman that would be worth giving up that much for would probably have to be a woman that would understand what that would do to me and not want me to do it. So something of a paradox. Perhaps if she were able to propose an attractive alternative to my current career that seemed feasible, I would do it. For reasons pertaining to my family history, I do have a hard time trusting women, even if I enjoy their company. So making myself that professionally vulnerable like that is hard for me to do. I can’t see myself doing it except in the case I described above, where there is a realistic-sounding and attractive-sounding alternative to my current career. Reducing the rapidity of promotion might be conceivable, but abandoning a career entirely seems unlikely to me.
I think I slowed my career down due to one lady when I was in my early twenties, then almost wrecked my education for another in my early thirties… but after that, no more mistakes so far. Most recently had a lady from an old money family that was trying to hook me up with her daughter all last year, and when I lost my job, the meeting up and going out, and seeing her extended family members just stopped dead in its tracks. I just have to laugh at it.
Habsburgs?
Ha. Bromion and chickentikka are sounding like advocates for old-school (Indian) marriages where the man is like 5-7 years older than the woman. I think there is something to be said though for sacrificing your career for a woman…maybe it depends on how important she is and if she would do the same for you. My dad sacrificed his career for me and my brother, and it really set him back many years…I don’t know whether it was worth it or not. I think 35 is late though, especially if you are planning on fathering children. 30 is probably the ideal age IMO for that. Frank, what’s your take on this? Career or HCB?
I agree with what others have said above. I’m approaching 30 and this has to be the most successful year for me from a social perspective (a.k.a. “pulling tail”). Ironically, I’ve been saying that every year since I was 23. I guess things really do get better with age…for guys. I felt like I was really laying in the lurch when my ex-girlfriend and I split up a few months ago. She actually initiated the break-up for some reasons that made sense to me, and others that I thought were ridiculous…but now she wants to get back together? Guess she wasn’t satisfied with what else she was seeing on the market… Anyway, now being a single guy in NYC and in my prime, I get contacted by women to hang out more than I even have time for. Now, I’m not taking anything for granted, but it does seem like some of my other buddies my age have had similar “luck”…or maybe this is just the man’s way of getting even in life and having women do the chasing for a change? I feel like this year, I have my ducks in a row and really have a much greater sense of purpose than before. I feel like it helps me come across to women as being more confident, funny, driven, and whatever. I also notice that when women try to give me a “sh!t test” (seems to happen more in NYC and big cities than elsewhere), I just blow them off like they have nothing on me. More often they just come back wanting to know what happened and why I didn’t find them attractive at first. Duh…because I’m a man in my prime!
Not quite that old.
What is a “sh!t test”?
i feel the opposite somehow…the older i get the worse i become,age only accentuates the lack of purpose and seeing others do well really does not bode well for my ego. 21st december cannot come quickly enough as far as i am concerned…on average,i think age tends to work in favour of men relative to women BUT if this ageing prototypical man is doing badly when the average man’s life is rolling along firm rails,age has a more negative effect on men vs ladies
When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out of the window
^ You don’t have an assault rifle around, do you?
nope just a mayan calendar,some candles and a coffin full of prayers 
A friend introduced me to this term – basically, the way I understand it, it’s when a hot girl tries to challenge you or give you sh!t when you’re kicking it to her. The ordinary chump backs off when the girl makes him feel like he has low self-worth. In contrast, one’s goal should be to rise to the occasion, laugh it off like she’s full of hot air, and that you (and not her) are the prize. Passing the sh!t test can help pave the way for a girl to let her guard down, recognize you for the baller that you are, and let you show her the time of her life, preferably via rocking her world later in the night.
^Huh, I learned something today.
When I was 14, I preferred 14 yr old girls. When I was 17, I preferred 15 yr old girls. When I was 21, I preferred 18 yr old girls. I’m now 26 and prefer 22 yr old girls. The trend, I imagine, will continue. Ultimately I just don’t want to be 60 years old and alone though, the thought just depresses me. But I’m sure lots of guys in retirement love being alone… I’m just not like that. For now though, single and no plans on changing that.
I feel like the ideal time for marriage would be 34ish for the male, late 20’s for the female… established careers/financials, maturity, still will only be early 50’s when your kid graduates high school (assuming they come right away…which IMO might as well at that point)