Family and risk taking

So I've been reading Losing My Virginity about Richard Branson's life. One of the interesting areas that is brought up is the whole risk taking mindset. This is particularly interesting as he takes a lot of personal risks with his adventure challenges as well as his standard business risks. In a lot of ways its a lot easier to to take business and personal risk when you're younger before you have a family. He mentions how he'd be horrified if he was to die in one of his adventures and leave his wife and kids a widow and fatherless. So why keep doing it when the stakes are so much higher.
I think this comes down to:

1. Having the opportunity.  He can bankroll it.
2. And most importantly what he describes as "I love to experience as much as I can of life." 

I think this is quite inspiring and food for thought with risk taking in the business and adventure worlds.  It definitely raises some interesting questions on where the boundaries are and thinking through what the risks really are. But in Branson's world I think its a tenacity in being driven into the doing part rather than the being overly analytical. I think with the masses of information we are bombarded with its easy to just not take the plunge and take no risks.