Not necessarily. My policy (with close friends) is that if I invite someone, I'll pick the place and pay. They can pick the place and the tab next time. I don'

Not necessarily. My policy (with close friends) is that if I invite someone, I'll pick the place and pay. They can pick the place and the tab next time. I don't want to have to worry about my friend's finances when inviting them out (I want to grab sushi with Irene, but can she can afford it?). They can pick a cheaper place or invite me over for a home-cooked meal if they can't afford to invite me out to a nice restaurant. I work in tech while most of my close friends are still students, the point is to be able to do nice (more expensive) things with them, which we could never do if we always split the bill.