The reason men tend to ‘peak’ around 38 is because this is, or should be, the phase in which he has the most potential for making himself into the best man he can be. It is generally the phase in which a man has “the full package” or is expected to:

http://therationalmale.com/2011/11/11/the-mature-man/

Of course a man may be able to be a better “package” earlier (or later) in his life due to talent, (contextual) celebrity, affluence or simple hard work and determination, but these are the outliers – these are the men women fixate upon when they latch onto the Apex Fallacy.

The general truth is that women largely consider men older than themselves to be more attractive for their long term personal investment than men younger than themselves. Some of my critics like to point out exactly this same fact – women want a guy somewhere between 5 to 7 years older than themselves, why do you suppose that is?

Because an older man represents success, accomplishment and security in the now, not in an undetermined future. I’d like to think that this sexual investment immediacy may be the result of contemporary women’s solipsism and a desire to optimize hypergamy (which certainly play a part), but it’s also due to evolved, psychological schemas which predispose women to investing themselves in a proven commodity, or a commodity that has certain potential.

It’s fascinating to me to listen to women completely agree with the notion of an inborn predisposition to be attracted to taller men, yet become hostile at the idea that women provenly have a psychological predilection to desire men older and more accomplished than themselves.

http://therationalmale.com/2012/06/04/final-exam-navigating-the-smp/

http://qz.com/177694/why-major-creative-breakthroughs-happen-in-your-late-thirties/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/01/30/hollywood-women-pay-salary-men/5050433/

http://therationalmale.com/2012/06/12/smv-in-girl-world/

http://therationalmale.com/2013/09/19/the-curse-of-potential/

http://therationalmale.com/2013/10/25/smv-is-it-real/

http://therationalmale.com/2013/10/20/sex-lies-and-statistics/

http://therationalmale.com/2013/11/03/cashing-out/

http://www.whatsyourprice.com/blog/the-cougar-and-cub-dating-study/

http://www.justfourguys.com/quantifying-sexual-market-value/

http://therationalmale.com/2014/03/16/preventative-medicine-part-i/

http://therationalmale.com/2013/06/20/smv-ratios-attachment/

If I had paid double for my copy of Rational Male 1, it would still be a bargain. When I think of all the $ I wasted on my last GF – from theater tickets and expensive dinners and V-Day garbage to my time, skills and best intentions – in addition to 2 years of expensive therapy (my review – don’t do it), I would have been better served by a look at this site a year before I did.

Getting played and losing hard can make a man bitter, but the best investment of his time afterward is in his own improvement.And being armed with the behavior science behind women’s motivations – the shit tests, shaming and rampant hypergamy – has made me finally understand how much the deck is stacked against a well-meaning, lifelong fem-conditioned beta shlub who doesn’t know the score.

Like the saying goes, “Don’t wish it was easier, but wish you were better.” Forget the PUA stuff; while scoring women is a great past time, it’s ultimately hollow because you’re never fully investing in yourself. If you internalize the truths and data on this website, and spend the time becoming the man you were always intended to be, you’ll find that your own confidence and power (and male actualization) will do the work for you.

Best $10 I ever spent, full stop.