00:00As Chris Rouser writes for Bloomberg, quote, as my dad told me, when you retire, you don't just
00:05become a different person. You're the same guy, just in a new scenario. And I know I'd like to
00:09enter that scenario feeling and yes, looking as good as possible. Chris joins us now. So first
00:14of all, how's your dad doing with his aspirations of millennial hotness? Or I guess he's older,
00:18but my dad is not worried about his hot span, which is what we're talking about.
00:23And he read the story. It was like hot span. Okay. And I was like, well, you know, for people
00:28like baby, like at middle age. But yes, he's doing great. He's very healthy. And that's one of the
00:33morals of this story is like actually staying healthy through your retirement and beyond, like
00:38will make you feel better and like incidentally look better. How much of this is image and then
00:42how much of it is functionality? Because I know a bunch of women who all of a sudden they're 40s
00:46are
00:47like, I'm lifting weights, but it's less because we want to look hot. I mean, we all want to look
00:51hot, but it's more like we want to be able to be mobile longer in our lives. Yeah. So talk
00:56us
00:56through the balance there. Well, that's like a really interesting point that you raise. So
00:59this story is about men at midlife because women at midlife have been so forward thinking about this
01:04for much longer and also under societal pressures that men are only kind of recently in pop culture
01:09being put under. I know like, yes, thank you. It's so nice to be here. Thank you. It's terrible.
01:13You'll love it here. Yeah. Yeah. So like because of the obsession with longevity science,
01:19which became health span, which is exactly what you're talking about, like saying we fit and healthy
01:23into your old age. So it's actually like a nice time to be alive. Um, there has become this huge
01:29influence from like manosphere podcasts and all this stuff, uh, for men to suddenly look at
01:34themselves and see themselves in pop culture, aging through 40 and 50 and like having different
01:38expectations of how we move through the world, how we look and all that. And so there's a, like a
01:42lot
01:43of medicine and money behind it as men are finally like, Oh wait, I, I'm not supposed to give up
01:48when I
01:48get near retirement. I'm supposed to keep going. And I myself like really was just like had it in
01:54my head. I'm like, retirement is for margaritas. It's not for accounting macros. And I will need to
02:00be in cursive on a sign somewhere, but yes. Right. And I feel like I have to call out David
02:04Gura
02:05because you guys talked about this story when it came out. Very uncomfortable talking about this.
02:08Do you go to the gym? Do you work out? I'm not going to answer any questions for you. It's
02:13so funny.
02:13His face was like the emoji. That's just two dots in a straight line. You guys were like, how do
02:17you
02:17feel about having to be hot into your sixties? He's like, it was so good. Do you go to the
02:23gym, David
02:23Gura? No reaction. Like I relate, right? Like there's a guy at my gym who's like must be in his
02:28sixties. He looks like Tarzan, incredible. And all my friends are like, I want to look like that guy
02:33when I'm that age. And I'm like, but you're saying it's more than just a, like, this is a lot
02:37of money.
02:37Like how much money are these men spending? We're talking about plastic surgery. I mean,
02:41we're talking about a whole bunch. Yes. So this story, I talked to people who do plastic
02:44surgery, who, uh, surgeons and for people who receive plastic surgery, hair transplants is
02:48really big nowadays. Um, and then there's all the like peptide science, like, you know, the,
02:53the lifespan stuff that is kind of pretty experimental at this time, but there's a lot of concierge doctors
02:58that are, uh, coming up sort of just to prescribe you these hot, uh, you know, like medications
03:05that are sort of like trendy right now. It's the awareness of things that men can do in a way
03:10that to your point, women have known about and have felt obligated to do for much longer.
03:14And all of a sudden it's something men are having to spend money on.
03:16Well, Ozempic was a big social unlock, right? Like Ozempic and all the GLP ones, because you,
03:20like, you couldn't hide what, like a radical change in your, in your body. And, and celebrities
03:25also started talking about it. So then everybody kind of started talking about it and it wasn't,
03:28there's nothing shameful about it. And then that extended to something like hair transplants,
03:32we're like, also can't really hide that. And also men are talking about it. Celebrity
03:36men are being very open about it. Yeah. Especially had John Cena got a hair transplant. He was like,
03:40I was, fans used to make fun of me and I just got tired of it. And I got a
03:43hair transplant.
03:44But then you look at like a Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, like they look amazing.
03:47Yeah. Well, we don't know.
03:49But you don't know.
03:51Exactly. Do some Googling. There are some changes that have happened with them as well.
03:55I mean, so what's the takeaway? I, part of me karmically thinks this is great and you all
04:00should suffer along with us. And then honestly, part of me is a little bit sad because it is a
04:04lot to have to deal with. You know, you should be able to embrace the later half of life, um,
04:09health aside and not care as much about your image. Is there a concern that this is going to
04:13make people miserable? I hope not. I mean, the way I started this story was I was like,
04:19when I retire, I want to be like Galadriel and Lord of the Rings and diminish and recede into the
04:24West
04:25and no one will see me again. And think about whether I'm desirable or anything like that.
04:31And then by the end of the story, I talked to so many people who had been really taking care
04:34of
04:35themselves through their men and women, uh, through their sixties into their seventies and beyond.
04:39And the people who made decisions to start taking care of themselves for whatever reason,
04:43often for health, sometimes for look, sometimes for both, those people were so much happier.
04:47And, you know, and one of the doctors that got into this concierge medicine practice,
04:51I talked to, uh, Dr. Wesley Spiro. Um, he was like, I used to be an emergency room doctor and
04:56I
04:56was dealing with people who would come in with type two diabetes and renal failure in their sixties
05:01and seventies. Cause they didn't know, like they didn't know that they needed to be taking care of
05:05themselves or that anything was wrong. And it wasn't like, I want to look like a Marvel superhero when
05:09I'm 70. It was like, I just want to be happy and walk around and be the best version of
05:13myself.
05:14And so actually I'm hoping that this eyeopening stuff, uh, with surgery without is, uh,
05:20is actually going to help us all be in kind of a better place.
05:22Literally or metaphorically. Uh, Chris Roser, thank you so much. It's fascinating. Please come
05:26back. What do we, what do we think guys? Thanks for including me in that. I don't know if we
05:30can
05:30see go away and still, I drew the little emoji. It's called the neutral face emoji. I think is
05:36the official name of that. Do you have a neutral face? I have a terrible neutral face, but generic
05:40David. I don't know. I wish I had a neutral face. This is one of my bigger problems. I'll allow
05:49that
05:49Chris saw me in the pantry here at Bloomberg after that moment and remarked on what my face. He was
05:54very disappointed. You weren't here in person. He clearly came prepared to discuss your expression.
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