Weighting Joint Contributions Means You Both Get That Raise

A topic that has the potential to be a source of trouble for couples is what to do when one of you gets a raise. Obviously both partners want to share the good fortune, but deciding how and where to allocate it between you may be hazardous to your marital harmony.

Fortunately the simple weighting mechanism used to figure out how much each of you should be contributing to the joint bills works just as well in reverse.

For example, let's say Jack currently earns $40,000 and Jill earns $50,000. That means for every $1.00 in joint ("needs") expenses, Jack contributes $0.44 (40/90) and Jill $0.56 (50/90).

Now Jill gets a big promotion that changes the relative weighting of their income, so that for each $1.00 in joint expenses, Jack's contribution falls to $.40, and Jill's rises to $.60. Jill has more in her paycheck each month, but that's been partially offset by an increase in her contribution to the joint expenses -- she doesn't get to keep all of her raise, since she now "owes" 7% more each month to the joint account. At the same time, even though Jack's pay stayed the same, he now "owes" 10% less to the joint expenses, effectively increasing his leftover ("wants") money.

Both Jack and Jill have more spending money, and there's no room left for argument.

Sticking with it: this round's pick: GYI

The only way I can really know if the Greenblatt strategy really works is if I stick with it, even when "Mr. Market" as Greenblatt calls it, is acting up.

This round's pick is Getty Images (I was spooked enough to pick something with a fairly large market cap at $1.8B), and I'm also selling Herbalife (HLF), for a gain.

Interesting counterpoint on Getty here. My involvement with content and digital-asset management suggests to me that replacing Getty with a wiki will take a mite longer than my 1-year investment horizon.

Spanked by HLYS

The past week was particularly painful, as wheeled-shoe maker Heely's Inc. disappointed everyone. My stake lost more than half its value overnight. Ugh.

With this much volatility, the question becomes whether to hold off on any new LBTBTM stocks, or to plow ahead (and ostensibly get something strong even cheaper). I've got until Wednesday to decide (when the bi-weekly transfer to my brokerage goes through). Stay tuned.

P.S. -- I dropped the ball on posting last round's trades, which were picking up KNL and unloading OVTI for a loss. Sorry 'bout that.