Without getting into my problems which are listed in other topics, my rant would be this. I think in the United States in the 50's you were expected to get married at a very young age, the wife was the home-maker etc, raised the kids. In the 60's it was free love and hippies and that nonsense. Now i think women have more job opportunities and money than ever before. The after-effects of that, is that dating is completely weird now. Women depend on men less than ever for money or resources or companionship. The problem as a guy i think is that the roles are now reversed and women are "using" guys, as opposed to the other way around. The stereotype of men as users today could not be less far-fetched. My point is that I don't think many people today, men or women, want the white picket fence anymore. There is less traditional ways of thinking now than ever. You can make 10 million dollars a year as a gamer (video games) and you could also make 10 million a year with a Youtube channel if you can get enough followers and someone can advertise during your videos. So I think what people want now is more open-ended than ever. I still think that without a career or money or confidence or friends and connections, without most of those things, you are kinda nowhere. There are so many bizarre professions now that you can make money with, especially online, that everything is all over the place. If you tell a woman you are dating that you make a lot of money online in an unorthodox profession, I doubt she would care what it was, as long as you could provide a decent life. On the other hand, like I said, many women are so self-sufficient now that men feel emasculated and self-conscious if a woman earns more than they do. I think way less women want to have kids now than ever, and way less women want to get married. It mostly has to do with money, because women now more than ever can afford their own cars, home, vacations. If a woman wants to have fun with her friends and hang out and drink, it is too easy today to have a fling with a guy here and there and then ditch them, as opposed to starting a relationship. Relationships are dying out, kinda like the dinosaur. i think there are way more sensitive men who want relationships now that fall under the radar, where women today see men as disposable, or fun for a short period of time, and then back to their own freedom of hanging with the girls. To sum up, i think that yes, a career that pays well is crucial, not just for money but for a person's identity. I don't think marriage and kids is as big a factor now in what people want for themselves. Nobody stays together anymore, where decades ago you would get married and it stood a chance to last a lifetime. i think as a guy or girl, if you are not married today, it is less of a red flag than ever before, but if you don't have a decent job or life experience on some level, you are still basically lost