Do people in industry have business cards? Had a reunion with a few college friends and they were gobsmacked that I don’t have one..

I’m in NYC to attend a college friend’s wedding. For the past few days, I’ve been hanging out with three of my closest girlfriends from college who all live here.

We graduated 7 years ago from a top school and have different careers. I’m the only who didn’t continue my education after undergrad (I’m still struggling to finish up a credential called the CFA and came back to accounting 2 years ago to focus on my health). I come from a family of working class immigrants - my family’s income was so low that financial aid covered pretty much all of my tuition.

Currently am working mostly remote and don’t give a f about prestige anymore (but have incredible work life balance - I only really “work” 20-25 hours/week) with occasional travel and make $115k including bonuses and great benefits (no deductible health insurance and 7% 401k match).

My three college roommates are either surgeons, engineers, or hedge fund managers, and they come from EXTREME wealth. I’m sure they all make 2-4x more than I do but they also work long hours and none of them have flexibility in their jobs.

All of them were taken aback when I told them I took out a mortgage on a $320k townhouse (with a 20% down payment) because their parents had paid for their multimillion dollar condos in Manhattan with CASH. My parents stopped financially supporting me (I actually pay for THEM) after I turned 18..

My closest friend told me while we were all in an Uber that she doesn’t give out her business cards to her patients, but she does give them to her friends and family. She then proceeded to give me one and ask for MINE. I became embarrassed and said I didn’t bring any - this convo caused our other two friends to look at her business card. One of them took out hers and gave each of us one. The other had a photo and sent them to us.

I was the only one who didn’t have a business card (had them at last job in high finance but HATED the toxic work culture and long hours). They also asked me if I had my CPA (…I don’t).

Is it common for friends to share business cards with each other? I honestly didn’t enjoy my time with them as much as I should have because we talked about $$, our jobs, networking events, wanting my help with minimizing taxes (I don’t do taxes..), the best stocks to pick (I told them to stick with ETFs with low expense ratios..), meeting guys (they’re all single and I am too), and taking photos every other second (to post on Instagram).

I felt like they weren’t my “real” friends who don’t attach someone’s value to their job title.

They also planned the whole get together by the hour and were determined to eat at $$ restaurants (even though we had to wait over an hour for a table - WITH a reservation).