Why guys without a passive income of $500 had better not start dating.

 

There is a wealth of research emerging from the US on dating, family, and money that can be an enlightening read for individuals who typically only read books on investing. 

In Myra Strober and Abby Davisson's book, Money and Love, one of the most counterintuitive findings is that women who earn more than their husbands actually do an even larger share of housework than women who earn less than their husbands. The researcher named this the "economy of gratitude".

The more economically dependent men are on their wives, the less housework they do. 

It gets worse; you may think that modern society would shift this balance of workload, but the research papers are pretty recent, so this is not something arising from the 1990s. This also applies to women whose husbands are unemployed, as it can be particularly stressful to renegotiate household responsibilities. 

As a guy, even though I spent my NS doing more area cleaning than even NS guys today, I do negligible housework at home. However, to be fair to myself, I'm the only person working in my household and I'm hardworking, investing the family funds. But as a father to a daughter, I would not like her to have a deadbeat husband who does nothing at home when she brings home the bacon.

Which sort of brings me to one of the more controversial ideas in my talks. 

In an earlier presentation with Tiger Brokers, I mentioned that I had never seriously dated until my passive income reached about $500. I also had a fragile male ego in my 20s, and the $500 gave me the confidence to date, allowing me to graciously pay for all the dates using my dividend income with plenty of leftover money to buy even more dividend stocks. Over time, the dividends can grow to the point where the individual can become a two-income family on their own efforts, giving their wife the option to leave the workforce. 

Yes, this is a very old-fashioned way of looking at relationships, but clearly we're still living in an age of fragile male egos and toxic masculinity. 

One of the essential lessons you can learn from the book is that modern couples need to establish household responsibilities during the dating phase. Therefore, I think that if guys have a big ego, they should develop a substantial income or net worth to match. 

Be fair to the ladies, work on yourself so that you can contribute fairly to your future household.