It depends what areas of expectations you are talking about. I don't have high or medium expectations, for example, on how many of my interests they share, as long as they share some of them. I don't expect them to have above average health, since mine isn't either. Same with looks. I don't expect them to have a successful, high status career, either now or before they retired, since I didn't have one. And at my age and being retired, that stuff shouldn't matter at all, (but sure as hell seems to when I encounter educated career professional women on dating sites!) as long as they are well-educated, either formally or by self, and they have enough money to be financially secure and afford the same kind of travel and entertainment as me. Beyond that, the "successful" career history is simply all about status-seeking and impressing others, nothing to do with how well two people would get along or grow a relationship, and much more to do with how important it is to fit into the woman's circle of friends and family in a way that gets their approval and support for the relationship. Too bad so many women seem to still really need and seek that at my age.

I still have high expectations for what kind of heart, personality, mental health, and relationship skills the woman has, as those things are really crucial to having a good, lasting relationship, no matter who it is, and I will not settle on those things if there is any way to avoid it and still find a partner. I already went thru several hard years of doing all the emotional work while my wife had dementia, so why would I want to choose someone who I knew already was really lacking in one or more of these areas and set myself up to have to struggle extra hard from the git go to make it work with them?