salary

Who doesn't need more money? We've given you many ideas to earn extra income, but sometimes there are intangible factors you may or may not have control over that affect your salary. Thankfully, we have scientists hard at work in their labs trying to figure out the answers for us. Here are various results of research studies of the things that impact income:

• Height: An Australian study found that 6-foot men earned $1,000 more than guys who were two inches shorter. "Taller people are perceived to be more intelligent and powerful," says the study.
• Regular exercise: People who work out regularly, according to a study in the Journal of Labor Research, earn nine percent more than their couch potato peers. Perhaps your monthly gym membership is literally paying off.
• Popularity in high school: Being well-liked in high school isn't something we can change right now, but if you were one of the cool kids, you're in luck. A National Bureau of Economic Research study says people who were among the top fifth most popular students in high school, earn a 10 percent premium on salary four decades later compared with the bottom fifth.
• When you marry: College-educated women who marry past their 30s make more income, while men who marry earlier see more financial benefits, according to a study by the National Marriage Project. One reason could be: women who marry earlier tend to have kids earlier as well, which forces them to take a break from their career during a period when they'll see a lot of growth. As for men, perhaps those who marry earlier tend to be more secure and confident than their single friends, leading to higher productivity.

Read on for more.

We're happy to present this post from our partners at Yahoo! Shine:

What's in a name? Lots and lots of "Benjamins," ($100 dollar bills, that is). Unless your name happens to be Benjamin, in which case, some research suggests, you had better stick with Ben.

The Ladders, an online job-matching site, recently crunched the numbers in its database of over 6 million career professionals to determine the top names for corporate executives as well as the names of the highest earners. They found that people with first names longer than five letters lose out on about $3,600 in salary every year—and that's per letter. So, for little Alexander that means potentially missing out on more than $500,000 over the course of a 40-year career.

Want insight on how names affect other aspects of life? Read on.

Whether it personally impacts you or not, it's important to be aware that the gender gap actually widened last year. In spite of — or maybe because of — that, our partners at LearnVest have put together a list of the best-paying jobs out there for women.

It's a shame that the inequality still exists, since reports show that closing the gender gap can actually help the economy.

We thought last year felt a little 2005ish, didn't you?

No? Okay, maybe not, but according to the latest numbers, one thing last year was very similar to 2005, and it doesn't make us happy. According to the numbers released in February, the gender gap actually widened by more than a percentage point in 2012, taking us back to levels from 2005 with women earning 81 cents for every dollar earned by men.

Additionally, the hourly pay for female college grads dropped 8.5% between 2000 and 2011, compared to 1.6% for men.

Despite that news, the good news is that Forbes came out with a list of top-paying jobs for women in 2012, and the position in the top spot offers equal pay for men and women.

To come up with their findings, Forbes analyzed the median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers in 2012, detailed by occupation and gender and tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Perhaps not surprisingly, top jobs included positions in health care, business and computer science.

The top 10 jobs, their median yearly earnings and the percentage of women who comprised the profession are listed below:

1. Pharmacist: $97,500; 52%
2. Chief Executive: $90,000; 26%
3. Lawyer: $85,000; 33%
4. Nurse Practitioner: $79,500; 84%
5. Computer and Information Systems Manager: $79,500; 26%
6. Physician and Surgeon: $74,000; 35%
7. Physician Assistant: $71,000; 69%
8. Software Developer, Applications and Systems Software: $71,000; 20%
9. Management Analyst: $69,000; 42%
10. Computer Systems Analyst: $65,000; 33%

Check out these other smart LearnVest stories:

A Guy Confides: I Get Paid More Than My Female Co-Worker

10 States Will Raise the Minimum Wage in 2013

10 Stereotypically Female Jobs in Which Men Earn More

5 Tips to Negotiate Your Salary Up

Are you getting a smaller paycheck this year? LearnVest gives you tips on how to cope with less income.

As we previously reported, the increase in payroll taxes that hit on Jan. 1 meant that workers making $41,000, the average nationwide salary, saw $64 less in take-home pay a month, translating to nearly $770 less for the year.

Related: How to Change Your Withholding

Whether it's taxes, a new job with lower pay, or just a good old-fashioned pay cut that's making you sweat, there are a few things you can do to soften the blow. We asked LearnVest Planning Services' Ellen Derrick, CFP®, to share some.

1. Reconsider What You're Paying For

Look for any nonessential deductions that might be coming out of your pay, and decide if you can go without them. "I often see deductions coming out of people's pay for things like Aflac or extra insurance that they aren't using," Derrick said. "I'm not saying that down the road you can't add these things back in, but if money's tight, you probably could use that cash in hand now."

Read on for more.

More and more companies are revealing how much each employee is getting paid, according to the Wall Street Journal. Advocates say this helps employees "better understand their individual contribution to the whole group."

This wage transparency is most often practiced by start-ups, but if you're keen to know how much your peers are making even though your company doesn't reveal the numbers, here are a couple of alternatives:

Glassdoor: If your company is big enough, you may be able to find out the pay of employees through anonymous salary quotes at Glassdoor.com. What's great about this tool is it gives you specific information on what someone in your position is doing at your company, so the numbers aren't too generalized.

College career center: Even if many years have passed since your graduation, you can approach your college career center and ask the counselors if they have any statistics of what your fellow alumni are making in a specific field. The college career center often surveys its graduates, so it may have information on that. What's more, some graduates may be working in the same company, and you may be able to get a good feel of what your colleagues are making.

Ask others: It's generally taboo to talk salary with your co-workers, but there are still some who do regardless. Just be aware that if you bring it up, you'll have to be willing to divulge yours in return. You are also taking the risk of coming off as rude to your colleagues, even the ones you're close to. What's more acceptable is to ask your boss what the range someone in your position is making when you're trying to negotiate your salary.

Recruiters: If recruiters are a big part of hiring in your field, you can probably approach them to ask if they are willing to give you salary estimates about your company or companies like yours, which will give you a better gauge of what your colleagues are making.

Bureau of Labor Statistics: For more official numbers, there is a federal agency, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that has the sole aim of collecting and generating employment data. Take a look at its wage estimates page to see what people in your industry are making.

Salary calculators: There are plenty of online salary calculators like PayScale and Salary.com that will give you a rough estimate of what someone in your position is making almost instantly.

Promotion season at the office can cause a wide range of emotions — euphoria for those who received one and bittersweet for those who are happy for their promoted colleagues but feel left behind because they didn't get one. Not getting the promotion you wanted can be quite discouraging. It can leave you feeling resentful, disheartened, and confused about the direction you should take after the news. The first step is to take a look at yourself and your situation and figure out the reason why you were skipped over:

• You're too new. If you haven't been at your company for too long, your supervisors can't really judge you and the quality of work you're producing. You need some time to prove your mettle.
• There is a timeline. Your company may have a strict timeline and structure on how it approaches promotions. Find out what it is so you'll have a better idea of how to map out your strategy. Ask your manager more about the promotion process, and ask more-experienced colleagues how it has worked for them.
• You're doing the same thing. If you've been stagnant and haven't been taking on new responsibilities or different duties, then your manager may think your current title is appropriate for what you're doing. Just because they aren't giving you more responsibility doesn't mean you should accept that. Show your colleagues you're growing as an employee and volunteer for duties that aren't necessarily in your job description.
• Your superiors aren't advocating for you. It's really important to have your superior become your advocate. After all, they are the ones who work closely with you and monitor your work, so their opinion has a lot of sway when it comes time for evaluation. And if your manager says you aren't ready, it can really hurt your chances of getting promoted. It's hard to work around this if your manager is not supportive, but try to win her over with your accomplishments or try your best to be more visible so people other than your manager can see the work you're doing.

Read on for more.

You're doing everything right — saving and skimping — but somehow that's not enough. If you're not making enough to put aside a good chunk of savings for your retirement account and to pay off your debt, bills, and day-to-day expenses, you probably need to make more income. Here are a couple of ideas to raise your cash flow:

• Ask for a raise: If you don't ask, you don't get, so resolve to ask for the pay that you deserve this year. First of all, you need proof of why you deserve the raise, so start keeping track of all your accomplishments in a document. Or you can even email them to yourself and automatically squirrel away these accomplishment emails in an inbox folder. Make sure you can clearly show how you helped the company's bottom line and cite numbers and use examples. Do some market research on sites like glassdoor.com and salary.com so you can bring this data to the negotiating table. Start working on other efforts such as being more visible in your company and spearheading events. Also, ask for a raise at the right time — try to time it when it's review season or when operating budgets are being created and approved.
• Get a new job: The job market seems to be picking up, so you might actually find better opportunities. Start by freshening up your LinkedIn and looking up companies you'd like to work for. Once you have a few in mind, reach out to people in your network to see if they know anyone who can pass your résumé to the right people. Remember to negotiate the salary for your new job since it's the starting point for future raises.

Read on for more ideas.

Small start-ups are great to work for, but LearnVest shares why it might be better for your wallet to work for a larger company.

We’re big fans of the start-up culture here at LearnVest, obviously.

But here’s something to consider next time you’re choosing between the big corporation and the scrappy mom-and-pop: The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest report shows that, on average, a larger company will pay better than a small one.

RELATED: 5 Tips For Re-Entering the Workforce

At a company with 500 employees or more, the average compensation is a whopping $42.39 per hour, while companies with fewer than 50 workers pay on average just $22.96 per hour. That’s almost half!

Read on for more.