This may sound cynical, but when I calculate the trade-off against my own hourly rate, I find myself thinking I can’t spare more than 90 minutes for a woman I’m seeing…

I’m Saito, a columnist ♪ I’m from the same generation as you. Exactly. I also feel that spending too much time on women is a waste, which is why I use Universe Club. I’m not good at being tied up for hours, and sitting through a four-hour full-course French dinner sounds painful. Unless you order an expensive bottle of wine and get the sommelier involved, there’s not much else you can do to pass the time. That said, 90 minutes is a remarkably precise calculation. I found myself nodding along, thinking, “Yes, exactly.” (I like counter seating, such as sushi restaurants and teppanyaki.) As more and more kinds of businesses expand, an increasing number of young people are able to retire early. I suppose I might be one of them, if you put it that way. But people who retire can become pretty unpleasant. Their conversations are out of sync; they’re already old, out of touch, and mistaken about themselves. And people who no longer challenge themselves—regardless of gender—“lose their appeal.” I almost became like that myself for a while. When speaking engagements kept coming in, I spent day after day talking about my own success stories until I started falling under my own spell and began acting like a reckless young man. Eventually, I reflected on how pathetic it was to keep talking about old success stories from a little while ago. (Though I also find seminars and members who want to hear those kinds of success stories somewhat questionable.) So, as you said, I think staying “semi-retired” is probably best. Just like back in our student days, it’s healthier to have relationships where you can laugh together about failed attempts at picking someone up, take down the guy who brags about how well it went, and generally have a lively time talking about your failures.

Maezawa from the Corporate Planning Office here as well. I don’t think anyone at Universe has retired, but everyone has different values. If that’s how you want to live, I think that’s perfectly fine. That said, it may be worth considering the minimum amount of time needed to enjoy spending time with women.

Seattle, a male member. If you have a goal, then your way of thinking is absolutely right. I hope you’ll value your time until you’re 45. As for me, I’m practically spending my second life just having fun. I lazily spend my time doing only the things I enjoy. What I enjoy most is writing answers for Universe Club and spending money on smartphone games. A useless, unemployed person like me can only fade away. Sorry for being alive.

I’m Date◎Yume, a male member. I don’t think it’s possible—or even necessary—to compare the time spent dating women with the opportunity cost based on my own hourly wage. For someone like me, whose hourly income is relatively low, I don’t have to spend that much on dating women. But the higher your hourly income, the more money you end up having to put into it. If you fall victim to a “type scam,” the cost-effectiveness of the relationship drops dramatically, making it extremely risky. Once might be manageable, but if it happened twice, you might never recover. To avoid that risk, I recommend adult entertainment venues.

I’m an almost-fifty male member who goes by Paper Airplane. I can really feel the passion and drive behind your question. Goals are important. I think it’s perfectly fine to work hard and enjoy yourself while aiming to semi-retire at 45. Once you turn 45, you can either semi-retire then or postpone it and choose a later age. If your time is that valuable, I think it would be more than soon enough to join a club after turning 45. Also, if you’re still young, you may enjoy trying ordinary dating and relationships until then without joining a club. You can only have those experiences while you’re young. I recommend having plenty of those experiences before joining a club. P.S. In clubs, even someone in their late forties is still considered a youngster. It seems impossible to compete with the older members in terms of their financial leeway and scale—the amounts they spend alone can differ by several orders of magnitude. The younger you are, the harder that may be to understand. Naturally, the wider the age gap, the more freely people can spend substantial amounts, so joining at that point wouldn’t be too late.