I think he has a good reason for wanting to be the top earner, but it's not for the reasons he stated, and he may not even know it.

Women eventually tend to be turned off by guys who make less money than them, a lot of marriages end for that reason. Here's a New York Times article on one such marriage.

Here's an article from Time magazine how women who earn more than their husbands. They suddenly realize that it's not "our money," it's "my money." In households where men make more than women, spending decisions are usually equal. In households where women make more than men, it's usually 2/3, 1/3 in favor of women.

A Pew Research Center study found that in households where the husband brings in more income, buying decisions are made equally, but in households where the wife earns more, she typically makes twice as many buying decisions as the man.

While he was still unemployed, Michael took their cat to the vet and approved an expensive procedure without asking Rose. "I was kind of upset about it," she says. "I don't know if I would have expected him to ask my permission, but at least tell me before spending it. I did kind of feel like, You just spent a bunch of my money without telling me."

More than one woman had a hard time embracing the idea that her earnings were not entirely hers. One lawyer in Washington is married to a consultant who took the slow track, with her wholehearted approval. Even given their careful egalitarianism, the wife acknowledges secret, almost illicit proprietary feelings about her income. "I have friends where it's the man who's earning more money, and the woman says to me, 'He gets really upset when I want to redecorate the kitchen,' and I'm supposed to be very sympathetic to the woman because I'm a woman," she says. "But I also understand the husband's point of view much better than I would like to. I understand the feeling that 'I've earned it.'" The lawyer is aware that feeling more entitled to the money undermines the sharing inherent in a marital partnership. "If I caught myself feeling [that way], I would censor it, but I think it's there--it's there from the culture."

Some girls have told me straight up they could never date a guy who made less than them because it's a psychological thing, like height (I asked them why they needed to do that if they would had a high paying job themselves), not a utility thing.

Here's a story from this sub about a woman who resents her husband for being a fast food manager even though he's in that position because he sacrificed his career so she could pursue hers.

You're young, maybe still in the honeymoon phase of your relationship, and I think deep down you expect his career to take off. Don't. 10 years down the line, when the spark has waned and you make twice as money as he does, things might be different.

Look, obviously this isn't 100%, and some women make more than their husbands and they're not divorced, but no man has ever resented his wife for not making enough money unless they're poor and in dire straights, while large swathes of women have, and do, all the time. Do a little more research, this is only a few examples, and you might change your mind.