To address the comments of
@BackInTheGame78 and
@BadBoy89 ......
Firstly I agree that most of the guys around here are decent guys. No debate from me about that. Further I agree that if a man is not sorted as to what he wants his life to be, then he has no business getting married, because he has no purpose or journey established for a good woman to join.
But here is where I disagree, and disagree strongly...
The 20s are NOT the years that young people should be finding themselves. The TEEN years are.
You see, I think modern parenting is largely failing Gen Z because teenagers are not being taught adulting with training wheels, are not being taught to fail with parental advice and guidance, are not being taught that at 18 you are an adult and its your life to go live, so to figure out what that life looks like.
I mean seriously? In another 50 years are we going to tell grown adults that its ok to be an imbecile in your teens and 20s, and that your 30s is for finding yourself, and life really gets underway in your forties? Too many people are imbeciles in their 20s already, immature and ill prepared to be a self sufficient adult. For desirable women those men who DO have their act together are a clear choice over the immature guys trying to grow up in the 20s.
I know dozens couples who were high school or college sweethearts who married young, raised families, stayed together, and now that their children are grown are enjoying a freedom to enjoy life, and now they are not struggling or broke, so they have means to do this. The basist in my band is such a guy. Married 30+ years, super cool wife, three grown daughters, grandkids, and he built a business in his youth that takes care of his family very well. I know many couples like this....
He grew up the son of a small businessman in Chicago, and as a teen he was working in the family business, earning money, figuring out what he wanted to do with himself. He was also in a band and playing out, touring, working his ass off. He is short, stocky, and average looking. But he was ambitious and found his wife in his early 20s, settled down and they built a great family and great life together. The business he built was very different than the family business (a bakery), but he learned HOW to run a business, and decided that was what he was going to do.
My son knew very young he wanted to be a pilot. He has done everything throughout his teens and college to achieve that goal. He is building his legacy as he builds his family now. And he will be WAY ahead of men in their 20s who are trying to figure out life at that age...
My son married a young woman who wants to be A WIFE. A wife who is utterly devoted to him and who trusts him to lead the family. And their marriage is rooted firmly in religious faith, which aids my son in his decision making.....There are girls like that out there, but many young men run screaming from women who seek to be wives and mothers because they are ill prepared to lead such women, take on the responsibilities that entails, and lead. My son chose that responsibility because he was ready to lead a marriage and a family as well as his own life.
But as imperfect as his father and I are, we prepared him during his teenage years, we were brutally honest with him about what success takes, and we used our own failures as examples of what NOT to do. We prepared our daughters as well, and they are also focused in life, self reliant, and expect the man they choose to have his act together. They know at 18, they are grown. Off you go, so you better have a gameplan.
This is a huge part of the problem (lack of preparation of teens by parents) and it gets overlooked because it is an uncomfortable truth.
So part of this falls on crappy parenting (why young men are still so immature into the 20s)....how can we raise daughters to be good wives if the vast majority of sons are still grossly immature until 30? Gen Z people are asking this question to a fair degree...and the good ones out there pair off, get married, and are forever off the market.
Which is why the women who are still single at 30 are not taken....there is a reason nobody picked them. And I understand guys in that mating market may not believe what I am saying.....because they've never seen it, but it's going on between solid marriage worthy men and women. They are getting together and staying together more than the PUA community would have men believe.