How to work out the ratio ... ?

[katekoala]

... Im trying to work out a ratio so that my new partner and I can pay bills in ratio to our wages. I am really struggling ...

Basically we have 2 wages; one of £1964 and £1531 - the total bills are £2000 we are trying to work out how much each of us should put into the 'kitty' to pay the bills as there is quite a difference between wages .. if anyone can help, I would be grateful !

thanks

[HowardKennitby]

you have 2 ratios

1 = 1964/(1964 + 1531)

2 = 1531/(1964 + 1531)

then multiply £2000 by each ratio

[sandyRoe]

One wage is about 75% of the other. Divide the amount of the bill by 7. The person with the lower wage pays 3 times that. (3/7) The other partner pays 4 times (4/7)

[sandyRoe]

But that's not working out the ratio. ^^^

[Old_Geezer]

0.561945637 and 0.438054363
Or 56% and 44% approximately.

[katekoala]

brilliant - thank you so much ! :)

[Ellipsis]

All the answers above are correct.

You can get very near the right answer in your head, by making the numbers a bit simpler, and this might help.

You are paid about £2000 and £1500 respectively, a total of about £3500. So the ratios are 2000/3500 and 1500/3500 or more simply 4/7 and 3/7 (as 500 goes into 1500 three times, 2000 four times and 3500 seven times). So the person on £1964 should pay about four sevenths of the bills, and the person on £1531 about three sevenths. This works out slightly in favour of the person on the lower salary.

[Wak]

Look at it like this:-
£1964 divided by £1531 = 1.28
Therefore for every £1 you put in, your partner puts in £1.28.
£2000 divided by 2.28 (£1 + £1.28) = £877 = Your share,
£2000 - £877 = £1123 = Your Partner's share,

[gollysailor]

Nicely put Wak.

[factor-fiction]

Another way:
The bills total £2000.
The wages total is £3495.
The bills as a percentage of wages is (2000/3495) x 100 = 57.22%
So you each need to pay 57.22% of your wages into the kitty.
A little bit of rounding may be needed.

[BRIGHT SPARK]

Why not just add the 2 wages together...take off 2000 and divide the balance by 2

[New Judge]

I think that would give them ((£1964 + £1531) - £2000)/2) = £747.50, which is half the total money left over after bills, BS. And I dont think that's quite what they're looking for.

[BRIGHT SPARK]

The idea of the ratio is to determine the fairest way to divide bills based on both earnings...my method seems simple to me because if either wage changes then so does the ratio and its back to answerbank for a solution.Why do we need a ratio?

[factor-fiction]

^ because the question title was "How to work out the ratio ... ?"

[New Judge]

I think, quite simply, BS, because it is unfair. It seems they want to contribute to the bills in proportion to their earnings (and hence have spending money in proportion to their earnings).

Perhaps the best way to demonstrate the deficiency of your method is to imagine one of them got a huge rise. If the higher earner suddenly had an increase from £1964 to £10000 (and the bills remained the same) they would have an income of £11,531, bills of £2,000, so would share £9,531 (so get £4,765 – more than £3k more than earned!).

[BRIGHT SPARK]

I take your point NJ..you are correct.However when we were in a similar position I earned 3 times more than my partner ....so....me being a fair sort of guy used my method so that the disposable income was divided equally and there was no excuse for a naff birthday pressy.

[New Judge]

Yes, that's quite right, BS, and it's what a number of couples do. But it seems that katekoala wants the two members of the partnership to retain an element of independence by paying the bills in accordance with their earnings.

One other way to look at it would be to suggest, perhaps, that the bills should be split 50:50 (after all, most organisations rendering bills do not do so on the basis of earnings). But if that's what kate wants, that's what she must have !!!

[jon1968]

Blimey!

Combined income / 100 = A

Either persons income / A = % of bills payable for that person.

[lucymatt]

It depends on two factors, exact contribution in expense out of the bill or profit / loss sharing ratio as per partnership deed. Anyways! here's simple tactic.
step 1: 1964 + 1531
step 2: 1964 / total amount of wages repeat this for second partner
step 3: multiply 2000 bill amount with percentage