Why do long marriages/relationships end?
It's probably your fault 😊
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Onward…
Just because a marriage lasted decades doesn't mean it's immune to falling apart. Yes, Captain Obvious, but way? For the same reason your stock broker tells you that past returns do not guarantee future results. You have a choice of sticking to your investment, riding the storm, and potentially losing your pants or "rebalancing" your portfolio, cutting your losses short, and moving on to greener pastures.
That's all the cliches I've got.
But do you know how something becomes a cliché? It is by happening so frequently that people create a shortcut for future reference. Then, statistics tabulates the results and comes up with numbers to support the cliches. Like, for example, by the first five years of marriage, 22% of couples experience separation, divorce or death. After 20 years of marriage, 53% of marriages fall apart for these same reasons, as per the CDC. Eventually, 100% of marriages end because no one lives forever. But you definitely shouldn't let your relationship kill ya.
In some ways, marriages are like business partnerships with two people voluntarily getting together to create something – kids, a life, security for each other, etc. But unlike business partnerships, you can't sell your share at a profit, and the partnership can't outlive you. It could bankrupt you, though, if you don't pay attention. Also, strangely, the more you invest upfront, the more likely you are to end up with a very short marriage. Someone did that study looking at the cost of an engagement ring to the longevity of marriage and came up with a dire warning – don't buy a really expensive engagement ring if you want your marriage to outlast your credit card payments.