Cheating Options

Quid pro quo for couples that are married. If you cheat on me I'll have the right to sleep with a celebrity top model or sexy-looking person of my choosing as indicated in the prenuptial agreement. We'll buy the option to do that from an agency or an open exchange. The option can be exercised only after cheating is certified.

Proof of cheating can only be submitted by a third-party such as a private detective. If the suspecting wife or husband went all the way to pay someone to bring proof, then that proof is valid and the option can be exercised. The requirement for proof of cheating will have the effect that only very few cheating options and swaps will ever be exercised.

Top models, celebrities and sexy-looking people who are interested in making some money will apply to the agency or the online exchange and be bound to have sex with someone in case an option is bought on them. If the option is never exercised then they will be making a lot of money because the price of the option will be a percentage of the couple's annual income and payments will have to be made every year as in an insurance policy.

The only caveat will be that for a couple to buy a cheating option and be able to exercise it they will have to be married at least one year. Otherwise people could fake marriages to sleep with the celebrity of their choice and we can't allow that to happen.

The option will be in the money or worth the money if it is exercised but doesn't lead to a divorce!

If the celebrity's sex appeal has significantly changed by the time the option is exercised, the contracting party can ask for refund

http://thinkaloo.com

If you were a bachelor which type would you be?

1. A selfish, undeserving guy who has cheated some woman out of a divorce.

2. A person who doesn't have to leave a party just when he starts to have a good time.

3. A man who missed the opportunity to make a woman miserable.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

you just broke up

How long is it acceptable to you that your EX needs to wait before he/she has sex? Who cares right? Why would you want to know that your EX had sex in the first place?

Well, if it wasn't your decision you may care about it. It depends on what the two of you had. For some people even next day is okay. For me after something special it could be months, even years

http://www.thinkaloo.com

What's wrong "being alone"?

All single people are trapped because they are judged by others or given pity for "being alone". However, I spend most of my days listening to married people talking about their divorce or wanting out of their marriage. I think we're screwed either way. I mean, really! Why is being single so bad? Next time anyone tries to hook me up with the most random person they can find, I'm going to throw my drink at them. I'm single. Not Desperate.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Remarriage. Why is there a limit?

I'm having this debate in my head...Why is there a limit as to how many times a person can get remarried? I don't see the reason for setting limits. Why is a limit of 3 times better than a limit of 5 or 10 times? What's the point of setting limits on human relationships? Shouldn't people be free to arrange them in any way they want?

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Same-day divorce!

How about a same-day divorce service for marriages that are not contracted on a fixed-term basis? The application could be made online and the divorce issued instantly even if both parties do not consent to it. Whatever disputes the couple might have (money, children custody etc) they can be resolved in the court and take as much time is usually needed but from the day the divorce is issued the couple is no longer considered married under the law.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Good Relationship Banking

I have been doing some re-reading of a favorite book of mine "Emotional Intelligence" by Daniel Goleman. In one of the chapters it talks about John Gottman, a University of Washington psychologist who has charted the emotional ecology of marriage with such precision that, in one study, he was able to predict which couples seen in his lab would divorce within 3 years with 94% accuracy!!! This is how he does it:

While the couples talk, sensors record the slightest flux in their physiology; a second-by-second analysis of their facial expressions (using the system for reading emotions developed by Paul Ekman) detects the most fleeting and subtle nuance of feeling. The result is akin to an emotional X-ray of the marriage.

What does this have to do with banking you might be thinking. Well, this is my thought.

Although it would be good for all couples to go through such emotional analysis of their relationship/marriage, we can't force people to do it. What we could do is to give every couple a financial incentive to try it.

Set up a new type of bank that grants loans to married couples on the condition that they pass John Gottman's test. If your marriage is proven to have a 94% chance to succeed and doesn't lead to a divorce, it's probably a good chance that the couple will work well with each other to solve out financial difficulties that arise in the future.

I don't mean to suggest that all married couples that stay together will fully repay their loans but the premise is that loans to couples who can stay together and solve their problems in ways that are not destructive can be more reliable.

It's just another metric to add to the decision to grant a loan if you are a bank. I admit it is an unusual practice/metric to add. But if good relationships lead to less loan delinquency and this metric is set as a condition before granting a loan, it will also bring social good in addition to more reliable profits for banks.

In the midst of the worst credit crisis and major scams such as the Madoff scandal, a lot of people talk about going back to the basics of banking, building anew relationships of trust. Investment banking used to be described as relationship banking in the not too distant past. Making loans to couples whose relationship is good can be Good Relationship Banking in the most literal sense of the term.

http://www.thinkaloo.com