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"Friends aren’t lottery tickets. They’re compound interest."

Hey Reader,

Thanks for being one of 8,000+ readers who’ve decided to prioritize friendship. You’re here because you know it matters...but you also know it doesn’t just happen.

Each week I give you a 👥 Friend (wisdom), a ⚒️ Fix (action), and a 📘 Reco (something worth your attention). Think of it as your weekly framework for making friendship a habit, not a hope.
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👥 The Friend

Lately I’ve been thinking about my portfolio. In my 20s and 30s I lived at max risk tolerance in many facets of life: startups, stand-up, even getting wrecked in crypto. Now, with two kids, I don’t have the bandwidth for volatility.

It made me wonder: what if we viewed friendship the way we view investing?
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Eight hundred years ago, the poet Rumi gave the best guidance:

“Be with those who help your being.”

Notice he didn’t say “be with those who are fun" or “be with those who are exciting” or “be with those who have a heated pool" (though maybe he would have if they had them in the year 1200.)

When you’re young, you’ll load your social portfolio with lottery tickets..thrilling, but volatile. Some rocket. Most tank.
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By midlife, your risk tolerance changes. You start rebalancing toward the relationships that actually appreciate over time. The ones who compound.
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I call these your "blue-chip friends."
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⚒️ The Fix

Imagine you had a Friendship Investment Advisor. Here’s how that conversation might go:

• “You’re chasing meme stocks. Too much energy tied up in flaky acquaintances.”
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• “You’re underinvested in blue chips. Just hold Apple. The steady friends who always deliver.”
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• “Remember: even the S&P 500, steady and boring, has beaten most flashy strategies over the last 50 years. Consistency wins.”

So this week, run your own rebalance:

• Reinvest dividends → when a friend gives you a little “payout”: a thoughtful text, an inside joke, a shared moment, instead of just replying "😂" roll it back in by using it as the seed for the next hang. That’s how small wins snowball.
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• Trim losses → quietly reduce exposure to a draining or one-sided friendship that never pays back your investment.
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• Diversify → don’t put all your social capital in one bucket (all work friends, all parent friends, all college friends). Spread it. Strong portfolios are balanced.

That’s how you build a friendship portfolio that compounds.
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​The Poll

👉 If you actually had a Friendship Investment Advisor, what would be their top tip to you?

• ​Double down on your blue chips​
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• ​Add a growth stock
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• ​Cut the underperformer
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• ​Find someone with a heated pool​
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Click ONE to vote. I’ll share results next week.

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📘 Reco

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel.

Key line: “Compounding is magic. Don’t interrupt it unnecessarily.”

Housel’s point: over time, steady habits beat flashy bets. One of those rare books that resets how you see risk, behavior, and long-term returns in money, work, or life. Check it out on Audible here​
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Your money portfolio builds wealth.
Your friendship portfolio builds a life.
Invest wisely.
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If this resonated, forward it to a blue-chip friend who’s been compounding in your life. That’s the highest ROI move you’ll make today.
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Catch you next week.
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— Matt Ritter
​The Friendship Guy
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PS: Last week's poll was one of the tightest ever, a majority of my readers feel they are on the second mountain, way to go!

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