It’s Always Great To Be A Man

I’ve asked hundreds of men, “When is a man in his prime?” and I have always gotten wildly different answers.

When considering the best times of a man’s life, men are often confused by the subject. They think back to their college days when they partied with many young women, or, if they are an older gentleman, they remember when they were at the top of their game and a true powerhouse of their company making tons of money.

What I’ve come to realize is that there is a lot going for the average man. We get to experience the unique pleasure of having many peaks in our lifetime: our sexual, financial, and philosophical prime.

Let’s talk about each in detail.

Sexual Prime

This subject has been covered to death by so many bloggers already, so let’s go over it quickly.

Going into your 20′s, a man is just starting to become a truly sexual being. No matter how sexually successful he was as a teenager, his attractiveness to women will continue to increase throughout his twenties. The only reason you need money at this stage is so you can pay your bills and get access to hot women, otherwise it’s all about having some really tight active game and using what God has given you.

Entering his 30′s, a man is finally grown up, and should by this point have plenty of experience with women and a much larger income to boot. He will be able to clean up with women if he did not waste his twenties jacking off. (The dotted red line going down from 30 is if a man does not use his twenties to constantly hit the gym, perfect his game, or make enough cash to survive.)

There are unlimited examples showing when men have had the most sexual success during their thirties, such as when Jerry Seinfeld was banging Shoshanna Lonstein in his late thirties (she was 17), but there are also many examples where very young men or very old men have great sexual success. However, these successes are exceptions that prove the rule; we notice these exceptions because of how well they defy the norm, not because they are the norm.

Finally, around age 45, men hit the wall. His grey hairs will need to be dyed (if he has hair), and going to the gym does not make him as cut as he used to be. His energy for going out and meeting tons of women has faded. The years of being a stallion are over. After hitting the wall, with diligence and hard effort he can preserve his once formidable sexual prowess, and he can maintain the leg up over women even fifteen years younger than himself. But if a man doesn’t take care of himself in the golden years, his body will quickly decay and he will find himself a sexual outcast (the red dotted line after the age of 50 represents this).

Financial Prime

Making money is a skill. You get better at it with time. Making money is also dependent on a lot of factors beyond your control, such as your political climate, business connections, and the value of your skill set.

Thus what tends to happen over a man’s lifetime, is a slow gradual build-up of income and resources until they hit that breakthrough moment sometime in their thirties when they start to make a lot of cash. The dotted green lane is the contingency of a man who fails to realize his financial potential during this time.

After leaving his parents in his twenties, a man begins to understand how he can fit into the economy. He makes friends with other men in the same situation as he is. He works hard despite shitty economic conditions, being screwed over by a loved one, or some other similar misfortune.

Usually it is not until a man’s 30′s before he understands how to make good money, and even then he’s just getting started. Although he is now proficient in his chosen field, he is at the point in his life where other successful men will take him seriously.

Just a fact of life: Until you’re 35, truly successful men aren’t going to consider doing business with you. Other men will see you as a child and will not take you seriously.

More importantly, as a man ages so will his friends. If a man choose his friends wisely during his youth, many of his closest friends will become very successful, and can help take his financial situation to the next level. Provided his friendships were properly cultivated and the man in question was not a total screw-up, he can reliably depend on his friends to help his future business endeavours in any way possible. Often the help is mutual, which means that successful friends help each other become filthy rich in their 40′s.

This brings us to the ages of 40-60, which are by far and away when most men make their fortunes (Just look at the Forbes 400). By now, his economic expertise in his field, as well as the tens of thousands of business contacts a man has met and sorted through, and/or the corporate ladder he has climbed, has resulted in a realization of all possible economic opportunities.

For every man making bank during these two decades, there are another three who never found success. Not everyone can win this game, and should a man fail he can feel some consolation provided he tried his absolute best.

As a man nears 60, he will be exiting this prime as other men view him as too old to take seriously. If he was part of a corporation, he will be pushed out. Often times men start to feel the burnout of working hard for decades, and this is a major contributing factor towards the decline of a man’s money making years.

However, it’s not until beyond the age of 70 does a man really lose the traction he had in his 40′s, as many of his friends who once helped make him into a powerhouse will have since retired, or have passed away. The skills he learned as a young man will no longer be useful, and it will be difficult to compete with 30 year old men who will seem to have unlimited energy.

With the end of his financial prime, hopefully he has enough cash to carry himself through his twilight years. This brings us to the often neglected…

Philosophical Prime

Philosophy is often misunderstood as a noun, and people try to ask, “What is philosophy? What works are considered philosophical or not?”

But they are looking at it the wrong way. Philosophy is a verb, and is the creative mode of thought that leads to new discoveries by analyzing the world in a different way. And there is no time better suited towards difficult thinking than the end of one’s life, which is why a man’s philosophical prime is between the years of 55-70.

Immanuel Kant published The Critique of Pure Reason when he was 57, and the second, more polished, version when he was 63. Socrates delivered The Apology in his old age, which has served as the foundation of all philosophy since. Aristotle was 50 when he founded The Lyceum and almost certainly produced all the works we have from him during his philosophical prime.

Even of philosophers who create great works early on, such as Wittgenstein or Hume, they often return to their early works in their later years only to renounce it entirely, as Wittgenstein did with his Tractus when he wrote his Philosophical Investigations, or as Hume did with his completely revised Treatise of Human Nature.

The reason why a philosophical prime comes so late in life, is because knowledge is difficult to acquire, and takes decades of learning before a man is able to make sense of things. And even then, we are always in a perpetual state of ignorance. Kant said that the only philosopher who could solve all of the world’s problems is one who could live forever; who knows?

As a man processes information and becomes more and more self-aware of his human condition over the course of his life, he reaches his zenith of processing it all before old age sets in. After 70, the mind begins the gradual, inexorable, and often horrible decline that render’s a man’s memory incapable of recalling things he could once recite by rote. His mind is slower with each day. Senility is a bitch.

And yet, in spite of this, a man at 80 is still much more capable of understanding the world than he was at the age of 50, simply due the compounding effect experience has on the male mind. So as long he is capable of using his mind, a man should continue to have discourse with other younger men so that they may carry forward the great philosophical tradition binding the western man across centuries.

The only thing that can stop a man from using his life experience to inform and educate others is the risk of cognitive illness, such as Parkinson’s, which is represented by the dotted blue line. If a man gets that he is done.

Conclusion

No matter a man’s age, he is uniquely situated to take advantage and exploit his position in society to the best of his ability. A full life involves many sexual conquests, business deals, and thoughtful nights of quiet contemplation, with each taking a higher priority depending on the life experiences accumulated up to that point.

So, to answer the question, “When are a man’s best years?” I would have to answer, “All of them.”

About the Author

Samseau is a player philosopher psychologist who enjoys a good discussion. His column runs every Tuesday. You can follow him on Twitter.

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Chemical O

What about artistic prime and i mean across all genres: music, writing, filmaking, etc.
- http://thesoulisnotasmithy.blogspot.ie Francis Begbie
  
  In general, writers tend to peak between 40-55. You get exceptions, like Jame Joyce writing stuff like Dubliners when he was 25, but fiction writing, writing in general and film making tends to be a middle aged man’s game. Eg, Dostoyevsky wrote all his best work from 45 onwards. Same for Shakespeare.
  
  Musicians tend to peak at a much earlier age, late 20′s to early 30s, especially in genres like punk, black metal, hardcore, electronica. Rap in my opinion is even earlier, early twenties it peaks. I think Nas was 19 when he made Illmatic. Genres like jazz and classical take longer though, again,
  
  And in general, mathematical/scientific discoveries (with exceptions from people like Andrew Wiles) are all early to mid twenties. Though writing in economics tends to be longer as well. Debunking Economics, one of the finest works of writing on economics, was written by Steve Keen when he was 60.
  
  So, it depends on the field. The difference between crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence. On the whole though, exceptions aside, you’re past your peak at 60+.
  - http://www.percyruxman.com Ruxman
    
    It’s said to be 40′s for music, but you just don’t get the exposure in those years and if you played something in vogue that might not be popular anymore, doesn’t mean ones compositional skills have decayed.
http://www.twitter.com/dumasworld dumasworld

great article Samseau, a great contrast to the ugly fat bitches crying about being called ugly and fat.

I actually think a man’s SMV is longer now, I reckon 45 is a bit low, 55 is more accurate if he keeps on top of his game.
Ed

Nowdays men have access to things like HGH, Test treatment, Pro-hormones and various other things to help. I would say a sedentary person may hit the wall at 45, I see many men going strong well into their later years. Really hate these generalisations seem rather bleak.
- dadadada
  
  You hate the generalizations? Imagine how women feel!
Race

Interesting article and I agree with all aspects. Regarding sexual prime, quite frankly I am happier in my 40′s with a slightly diminished libido then when I was 23 and always needing to chase after a piece of cunt every other day. Yes I still like to fuck but now it’s not consuming me like it used to when I was younger.

Esther Vilar once said that the female horniness factor is much lower than a man’s even when she is young. Although women have orgasms, for them it rates lower than a Gucci bag or cocktail party or drugs.

So what’s nice about not having to dump my load every two hours is that I’m now on a more level playing field with women; They no longer have the manipulative leverage they used to have many years ago. I can now snub them and walk away, or if I meet someone agreeable then I can opt to go out with her. And this includes young chicks in their twenties who still notice me due to the fact that I took good care of myself throughout my life. I’m no health nut, but I always excercised and never abused myself.

Meanwhile the skags many years ago who were too busy whoring it up and partying and were too good for me when they were in their prime are now stuck with aged turkey neck, droopey tits and having to look at me having a blast with my 26 year old girlfriend.

This is definitely an advantage men have as we age.
- DC Phil
  
  Spot on with the diminished libido. Indeed, since younger guys want it more than the younger chicks, the chicks have the advantage. As the one adage goes: the one who has the least invested in the relationship is the one who has the most control.
BB

Back when I was a kid, my dad used to tell me that a man´s peak was around 38 years old. Of course, 38 for a kid sounded very old and I wondered if he was right or just being an old fart. Now I´m 45 and though I Iook fine and slightly younger than my age, I agree that I´ve reached the masculine wall. LOL! I Sure enough I was at the top of my game a few years ago but it feels like ages.
Of course my dad was right, and 38 (or mid to late thirties is the best age for a man. Young at being old and old at being young, as they say. The right balance between youth and maturity, experience and sexual prowess, freshness and depth.
As for the life of the mind, don´t delude yourself, if some men seem to mature later intellectually, it´s only because they haven´t found the time or the right moment to write down their ideas. By 40, they should have reached their peak.
To sum up: by your mid thirties you should be at your best with the ladies: still able to perform in bed and at your top masculine charisma.
After 40 it´s al downhill.
You don´t feel any regrets though if you´ve lived to the max.” Been there done that” is the attitude that helps you go through the motions of decay. But bitterness awaits you if you´ve failed to slay pussy when you were supposed to, or make money when you were supposed to. You can´t chase young girls at 50 or even 45 unless
you´re a celebrity or a millionaire.
As for intellectual pursuits, well morons are happier than smart people. Not everybody is cut for an intellectual inner life.If you don´t have it, you won´t miss it.
Cheer up, life is still fine after you hit the wall as long as you adjust. You can develop a fuck you atittude towards women because of the lower libido, and can still enjoy life´s many minor pleasures.
- Vorkuta
  
  Great post,very wise words.
  
  I’m 38 but if I do not make the most of the next 3 or 4 years I know I will have regrets in my mid 40′s when it will be too late to rectify them.
  
  Seize the day.
- Benton
  
  “You can´t chase young girls at 50 or even 45 unless
  you´re a celebrity or a millionaire.”
  
  Respectfully I’m not sure if I agree. I know guys 40′s ish getting
  with chicks age between 25 – 30, and good looking chicks. Ok maybe these guys are not getting the volume that old Gene Simmons is getting because Simmons, despite being advanced in years is famous so he will pull more.
  
  But it takes a special knack for older guys to get with younger chicks. I believe Heartiste aka Roissy wrote something in this topic.
  
  Think of Sean Connery and how many younger women would like to get with him (the Sean Connery in his 40s, 50s, and even part of his 60′s)
- Stuki Moi
  
  Chasing teenagers at 50 may be pushing it, but once girls have joined the cubicle drone force (early 20s for most), age differences doesn’t really matter much, unless thing’s get serious enough she invites you to see daddy, who went to school with your kid brother.
- DC Phil
  
  So how to do you rectify the bitterness, as you say, if you didn’t live life to the fullest when you were younger? I wasn’t slaying the chicks when I was in my 20s because I was interested in other things and because I had two strikes against me: (1) lack of competent teachers in Game (before it was even defined as such), and (2) living in a small town and struggling to get that first job to get me out of that town. There are times when I look back and regret not having more time to chase the girls, but other times when I’m glad that I didn’t because I focused on things that set me up for success later in life.
https://twitter.com/Teedub_5 Teedub

Great article and hopefully accurate as it means I’m some way off my peak! Provided I stay in shape etc.
Rael

The main difference between men & women is that women hit menopause in late middle age.
This limits their sexual lifespan in a way that does not happen to men.
Women can also have financial, philosophical, artistic peaks later in life.

That doesn’t matter to most people on this site because they are viewing women one-dimensionally,
only as sexual beings. So the only women we really consider are women in their late teens
to early 30′s. We are not really interested in the accomplishments Marie Curie or Margaret Thatcher or Georges Sand (for example) had in late middle age. We wouldn’t have hit on them then so we don’t care, right?

We bemoan the idiocy of women’s sexual choices,
without considering that the relatively few women whose sexual choices we care about
are stupid simply because they are young.

Which of us didn’t make stupid sexual choices in our early 20′s?

Have some compassion for young women.
They must decide who will father the next generation,
but cannot rely on the wisdom of age to make their choices.
They can only rely on the instinct of youth.

This site is a testament to the fact that those instincts are easily manipulated.
- samseau
  
  I didn’t include women because frankly, I didn’t think anyone cared; but, a woman’s sexual prime begins and ends sooner than a man’s, her financial prime often coincides with her sexual peak and only grows beyond if she climbs some corporate ladder (how often do women start huge businesses?), and she’ll never have a philosophical prime because women aren’t capable of philosophy (except maybe 1 in a million).
  - https://twitter.com/Teedub_5 Teedub
    
    Fucking spot on!
Doc

Being 50, I was going to take issue with some of what you wrote, but realistically, while I still limit myself to women in the 18-25 bracket, it can be challenging, although I’ve learned how to mitigate most of those issues by other means. A lot of that is the “how” I interact, it used to be that I would meet women blind at clubs, now I am usually in control of the interaction so it’s either after a performance of some kind, or as the person in charge of a production, or as someone in control of a business. Sure these young women want something from me, but that’s fine – it’s like the old saying, it’s a mutually beneficial arrangement.

So while my stamina may not be what it used to be – I remember those 12+ hours exhaust-a-thons with a couple of cuties, these days it’s more like one-at-a-time and a leisurely pace. But it is a kick to be with that sweet young thing that is still in high-school and doing more than most women even heard of when I was that age… :)

So, I would say that things are definitely different, but there are other “fun” things still to experience. And while I think that at 60 I’ll be too old for this – when I was in my 30′s I would have said the same thing about being 50 and still taking home 20 year olds. But I have yet to see a decrease in availability of women… So who knows… I’m sure that at some point, the well will start to run dry – but it hasn’t happened yet, and there is a certain interest in seeing how long I can go before I have to change my life-style…
- samseau
  
  If you look at my graph, I compare a 25 year old to a 55 year old. I thought I was being very generous to older men.
  - Finck
    
    You did mention the exceptions in your article, and perhaps there are a few of us who are those. I’m 48 but I literally look 38 so I can realistically get away with telling everyone that. And yes, I’m not all over built up but I do excetcise and watch what I eat.
- DC Phil
  
  Good point about “controlling the interaction.” It’s analogous to what Roosh and Krauser have said about controlling the frame — which is an essential part of Game, right?
  
  Being in a bar or club, you’re not controlling the frame, unless you’re throwing money around and/or have the gift of gab and can cut through the bullshit that’s in such places.
BB

Once you hit the wall, realistically around 45, you start feeling out of place around the younger crowd. You start feeling and acting middle-aged.
I used to have erections at will until 36. Now it sometimes involves some work to perform and I fear viagra will have to do the trick not too far from now. And I’ll be 46 soon. That’ s rapid decline if you ask me.
Sure, some girls go for older dudes. And sugar daddies will always be in demand. But it’s not my idea of seduction and conquest.
As for older women -late thirties to forties-bedding them is more difficult than I thought.
Being in decent shape and single is no longer enough to seduce the older set -bagage, wrinkles and all, the hypergamic drive is still with them.
Hell, these old shrews still fall for the occasional bad boy 15 years younger.
Young lads will bang everything in sight. It used to be a divorcee wouldn’t be caught dead with a boy or a Black.
Those days are gone. A tall, fun, decent looking and single ( well, divorced) man in his forties with an ok job used to be a good catch among the spinters/divorcees set.
How times have changed! I’ ll have to settle for sugar daddy or maybe order myself a Philpina mail bride.
Problem is, I don’t want to marry ever again.
Samson

“His energy for going out and meeting tons of women has faded.”

I know a friend in his 70′s who was a gash monger up until he had a heart attack at 60. I think pussy is like beer; every man has his amount to get his ‘fill’ then he goes home and throws up.

I think in certain men and circumstances it is not about having energy to go and pursue females, but rather, at a certain point in a man’s life he thinks of women, and his sentiment “Been there done that” is what takes hold and he goes off
lester_pole

Top 4 comeback words in feminist retort post, typically when your post is about some American girls being fat or some foreing girls being slim..and that you like the foreign girls more.
1) “Horrific”, “Horrible”
2) “Terrible”
3) “Mysogenic”
4) “Sad”
5) “Lonely”
and the classic fake concern “My heart goes out to you for being so lonely and hating woman bla bla ”
I know there is more but now I just need to look at a comment for 2 sec and I know.
lester_pole

Top five i mean , add more if u want
http://www.percyruxman.com Ruxman

Too many guys shack up with a girlfriend/s in their late teens early 20′s.

I thank you for letting me know I’m doing the right thing to earn and acquire that sexual prime when I’m 30.
Solomon

Plus, your brain actually works.
http://rivsdiary.wordpress.com/ rivsdiary

great article. got me thinking.
Mike

“Just a fact of life: Until you’re 35, truly successful men aren’t going to consider doing business with you. Other men will see you as a child and will not take you seriously.”

Regarding the above, I must politely disagree. I am 10 years younger than this age and, like many of my peers and this has not stopped anyone I know who has wanted to:

1) Raise money $500k-5m from serious HNWI (ex-banking chairman, hedge fund manager, venture capitalists etc)

2) Not stopped the above individuals offer very senior positions in new ventures (vp, director, senior product level etc)

3) Mentoring, advice, helping with recruitment, building board of directors etc

Believe me, if you would like me to give you plenty of examples I am happy to do so. Neither myself or my friends are operating at the genius level. We are all just smart, young, savvy and willing to take risks at this stage in life.

Veterans in the business game will always help you if you make a valuable proposition to them with a good percentage they’ll realize a strong ROI
- samseau
  
  If you’re pulling $500k-$5m at 25, chances are very high you’ll be doing some unbelievable figures at 45.
  - Mike
    
    Or you will fail (as a lot of these things genuinely do, just fail with class and no one will think you’re an a-hole and maybe they’ll fund the second venture).
    
    My personal take is young people can do the things I’ve listed above but it is heavily based on you displaying raw talent before someone takes a punt on you. I don’t think you need to wait till 35 to prove your chops.
WolfInClothing

These plots are not correct. You are forgetting about local markets.

There are local maximums at the senior year of high school and the senior year of college. In addition, there is a downward spike that occurs at freshman year of college. These curves should not be smooth as the power of local sexual markets is strong.
CDW

I am in agreement with the quality friends idea. I am now in that mega earnings period, the ex wife is long gone, kids are in their 20′s. I have never made so much money, and the stocks are growing nicely. But all of my friends from university, the Fraternity in particular, are now captains of industry, politicians of decisiveness, and yes, we are like the “Stonecutters”, some of us do control everything.(hahaha)
So when we are in tuxedo with our medals on and our wallets fat, holding a 25 year old scotch, we marvel at how much better our lives will be, and we honour the men ahead of us in their 70′s to 90′s upon whose great shoulders we stand, and have stood. This why it is good to be a real man. And many of the boys have picked up the girlfriend who is 15 years younger at least, and that always makes for some fun tales.
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http://www.staresattheworld.com Aurini

I’m late to the party, but I ought to share this anyway:

As my grandfather was edging upon ninety, and I was going through my big atheist faze, he said this: “Every generation comes to know God in their own way.” I wish I could apologize to him… and benefit more from his wisdom.

Age gracefully, my brothers.