Portfolio Diversification #1: How to Do Ethical Investing in the Dating Market

Most financial advisors recommend the strategy of Portfolio Diversification. That means don’t put all your eggs in one basket. That’s because at any point in time, some stocks will go up while the others go down. Since no one ever truly knows which will be which (otherwise we’d all be stinking rich), buying a little bit of everything will yield the best overall return. Some of the good ones will cancel out the bad ones, and your risk exposure is reduced.

This concept works for dating as well. And with a few conditions, it’s also ethical. When I say ethical, I mean being respectful while protecting your own interest, and without being a player. These conditions are:

1. It’s the early stage of the dating game, i.e., casual dating.

2. No agreement of exclusiveness has been reached.

3. No sex is involved with any of the potentials (it just gets too yucky otherwise).

Now that the ground rules are established, let’s look at the many advantages of Portfolio Diversification:

1. Interacting with a variety of guys gives you a baseline of what guys are like, so when you’re in a relationship you’ll know:

a. If an issue is a “you & him” thing, or a “Mars & Venus” thing.

b. What’s normal (no not every guy expects rides to the bar from their girls)

2. You could say that you didn’t marry the first guy who asked.

3. You might begin with five guys. But after a week four of them could drop out of the race already. You might discover there’s just no spark, he has a wife living in the attic, etc. Starting with a bunch could save you time and energy.

4. Having other options keeps the sting out of rejections, since you’ll always get a call from somebody.

5. It takes the pressure off from I MUST MAKE THIS WORK. No, he’s not the only man on earth. Take your time and choose carefully.

One thing though: create a spreadsheet to keep track of who’s who. When a guy doesn’t work out, do a Strikethrough and hide his row. But don’t delete it. Why? You’ll want to remember exactly why it didn’t work out, because his online profile might get “rebranded” in a couple of months and looks delicious all over again. You don’t want to say: “Oh NOW I remember why I dumped him!” midway through yet another boring date.