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Morning, Greg here!

Welcome to Midlife Male, the fastest-growing, #1 newsletter and lifestyle brand for men 40+. In today’s issue we’ve got my Viewpoint on our panel at Eudemonia, Jon’s Manologue on Sherlock Holmes’ Strategy for Mental Decluttering, and, as always, our 6F recs, including a new piece on the next 10 years of the S&P 500 from our Financial Consigliere, Ron Speaker. If a fellow MLM reader shared this with you, subscribe here:

Competing with Halle Berry

By Greg Scheinman

Last year at Eudemonia, I walked the floors as an observer. I listened. I watched. I paid attention to the crowd, the tone, the programming, and the conversations that were happening, along with the ones that were nowhere to be found.

And the truth was obvious within the first hour.

Men were present, but we were not represented. Not in any way that looked like our lives, our responsibilities, our pressures, or our path forward. Not in any way that looked like you or me or the men I talk to every single week.

Most of the guys walking the summit floor looked like two completely different species. On one side you had the Burning Man monks in linen robes, giant hats, beads, and palo santo vibes. On the other you had the young, jacked influencer types in matching ALO sets. And in between those two extremes stood a giant empty space where the real midlife men should have been.

Where were the husbands? Where were the dads? Where were the operators, the founders, the leaders, the providers, the men carrying the weight of families, careers, and expectations. Where were the guys who wake up at 5 in the morning, train in the garage, grind through their day, and still want to be healthier, calmer, connected, and fulfilled?

Where were our readers?

The short answer: they were not there. 

Why? Frankly, because that summit was not built for them, meaning, it’s not built for us.

Sherlock Holmes’ Genius Mind Trick: The 130-Year Old Strategy to Unclog Your Brain

By Jon Finkel

Guess what? It’s okay if you don’t have an opinion on that big thing. Or if you don’t give two shits about that other topic. Or if you have no idea what that trending thing is even about. It’s healthier, actually. Saner.

We live in a time where all of the world’s information is available, updated, curated and presented in the most addicting, dopamine-inducing, divisive way imaginable, directly to you all the time in your pocket. It’s an insane way to live, but if you’re looking for an icon of ignorance, a man whose philosophy you can follow by not following any “breaking news” or news at all, I’ve got just the guy for you. 

His name? Sherlock Holmes.

Yeah, that Sherlock Holmes, one of my favorite literary characters of all time and someone you may not have thought about for a while.

In a day-and-age where a single tap on a screen will show you a deadly car crash, a crypto bro pumping an alt-coin, a politician who said a thing you must hate and five dudes telling you to take peptides or die, it is imperative that you listen to the esteemed Mr. Holmes.

Because long before TikTok, long before X and iPhones, long before the concept of “dopamine hits,” Sherlock Holmes, in 1887, gave a timeless, brilliant monologue on the need to unclutter your mind. Trust me. Read what the great detective has to say and it’ll set your brain free:

The Return to Reality: Why Your Next 10 Years Won't Look Like Your Last 10

By Ron Speaker

If you have been an active investor in the financial markets over the past 10 years, you should be feeling good about your success. The S&P 500 is up an average of 14.26% over the 2015 to 2024 full-year periods. This compounded return would make a $100,000 investment ten years ago worth $374,179 at last year’s end. Yep, that’s a 3.74x

Add in another +18% for the S&P 500 year-to-date 2025, and you should feel like a financial guru for your family. These are just your average index returns, which anyone could capture through low-cost index funds or ETFs. For investors who overweighted the technology sector or happened to buy their own shares in the famous 7 or 10 stocks, their returns are even more impressive.

These staggering returns can easily lead one to extrapolate the past returns into the future and predict exciting results for your planned retirement date. The beach house can look in reach!

The Facts

While I’m a constant optimist about the future, it helps to be a student of the past to consider other possible outcomes. The past decades' CAGR (compound average growth rates) for the S&P 500 are:

2015-2024 - +14.26% Covid, AI Boom.

2005-2014 - + 7.67%. Great Financial Crisis

1995-2004 - + 12.07%. Dot-com Bubble and Bust

1985-1994 - +15.04%. Black Monday crash and Gulf War

Suppose you were a statistician or just a good odds maker. In that case, you might conclude that there could be challenging periods ahead of your retirement date, when the rolling ten-year returns could average 5-8% and the market could be down a few times in the decade ahead.

So, what should you do?

6 Family Habits That Are Disappearing

This video is one of the few to go viral that will have you nodding your head and saying, “this guy’s right”. The content is simple: It’s just a guy listing six things that have held families together for most of modern time that are all slowly disappearing. See how many you’ve lost in your own home and which ones you want to bring back.

Watch the video here.

Why We Ruck

We’re all-in on rucking. It beats running for full-body fitness and feels way more sustainable. Start with a plate carrier if you want simple. Or grab a GORUCK backpack if you need room for a laptop, a layer, or gear for working remotely. That’s how we do it, ruck to a meeting, ruck home. We’ve got some big rucks coming up later this year. Stay tuned if you want in.

Charles Barkley Has Some Thoughts on How to Handle Balding

Greg recently wrote a full breakdown of how to handle facial hair and balding called, “To Beard, or Not to Beard”. In the piece he covers his own journey fighting his follicle battle, but sometimes it takes the great Charles Barkley to pull off the band-aid quickly and give you the straight advice you need:

Make Your Own In-N-Out Burger

If you’ve ever lived in a state with In-N-Out burger (and there are only a precious few) and now you live in a state without one, you likely crave that legendary taste from time to time. This dad has come up with the exact set of ingredients and cooking strategy to recreate In-N-Out in your own house, right down to the onions and secret sauce.

If you love In-N-Out, you have to try this here.

Want to Know What It’s Like to Grab a Steak with Matthew McConaughey in Austin?

Just about everybody loves McConaughey. Like Austin Powers, women want to date him and men want to be him. Or at least, grab a beer and a steak with him. He seems cool, relatable and down-to-earth. But is he really? The closest you may get is this first person account from Dax Shepherd about what a one-on-one night out with McConaughey is like in his hometown of Austin. Some terrific storytelling here:

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MLM Founder: Greg Scheinman / Follow Greg on Instagram & LinkedIn

Love Greg’s Viewpoint column? Visit the full Viewpoint Vault HERE where he shares his personal insights, experiences and perspectives on everything affecting midlife.

MLM Editor-in-Chief: Jon Finkel / Follow Jon on Twitter/X and Instagram

Love Jon’s Manologue column? Check out the full Manologue Archive HERE where he writes about pop culture, parenthood, sports, nostalgia & everything in between.

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