My SO and I have been talking extensively at how many of our friends struggle to vet, and also how unrealistic some peoples expectations are for men especially.

We were discussing the six sixes and specifically how the only reasonable one is, "six months out of a relationship" and the "six hundred horsepower car" seems especially silly if the lady in question doesn't have a pointed interest in vehicles.

Plus, none of these characteristics indicate an actual guy worth locking down. So we tried to come up with new criteria that can actually help vet out bad character. We thought we did pretty good!

6 close friends - not a lunatic (and if he is, he's a charismatic one), people generally like him. Less than 6 exes - not a player, he's not got a string of women behind him with plans to make you the next. 6 months worth of savings - not irresponsible, he's planning for the future. 6 months out of a relationship - not emotionally unavailable, he can be present and intimate. 6 years living independently - not codependent or reliant on others to fund or enable his lifestyle. 6 shared interests - not incompatible, you and he have many opportunities to connect and bond.

We figured most of them are pretty flexible. A guy might be introverted and have only a very small number of close friends, or he's fresh out of college and hasn't been independent long, but I'd say most of these are worth holding to.