SavvySugar

How-To: Determine If You Can Live on One Income

SavvySugar — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:08:03 PST

There are too many families who were taken by surprise when one breadwinner suddenly lost his or her job, but some couples might choose to give up an income for one reason or another. Maybe one person was offered a job in another city, leaving the other one without employment, the couple wants one parent to stay home with the kids, one half of the duo is miserable at work and wants out ASAP, etc. Before you make the choice to live on one income, you need to find out if it's a viable option by following these steps.

5 Money Issues Every Couple Should Prepare For

SavvySugar — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:29:01 PST

We talk about love and money quite a bit here on Savvy, and many of you have had a go-round or two with your significant other about the topic. In a new relationship, resolving money issues means adjusting to each other’s spending and saving styles, and coming up with a system you can both live with. But as relationships grow and change, financial situations do too, and many couples find themselves having to adjust their approach to money after years of marriage.

Here's a list of five issues that can cause financial bickering even in established relationships. To see them, along with my advice for how to address them, click away.

5 Ideas to Increase Your Income This Year

Emily Co — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:05:39 PST

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.

5 High-Stress Jobs That People Love

Emily Co — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:28:54 PDT

Most of the time, it's not just money and work-life balance that drives us toward our chosen careers. There are many people who feel like they have a bigger mission in life and want to make a difference in the world with their jobs. CNN compiled a list of 20 high-stress jobs with salaries don't quite compensate their "save the world" efforts. Here are its top five picks:

Jobs	Median Pay	Top Pay
Public School Teacher	$50,400	$77,500
Nonprofit Program Coordinator	$40,500	$57,900
Dietitian	$55,800	$76,000
Social Worker	$50,300	$72,300
Medical Case Manager	$58,600	$83,100

Other jobs mentioned include recreation therapists, environmental engineers, speech pathologists, and tutors. Is salary the most important factor for you when you're looking for a job?

Keep Getting Raises Long After the Dreaded 37

LearnVest — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:15:31 PDT

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Apparently some things don’t improve with age.

According to a study by Payscale.com, women tend to top out their compensation at age 37, while men keep getting raises until age 45. Even more infuriating, while men’s salaries in the study rose to an average of $95,000, women’s plateaued at just $61,000.

The good-ish news? There is one swath of women who outearn men: Single women under 30 who live in large cities tend to make more than their male peers, but after this brief halcyon period (which doesn’t apply in rural areas or to women with children anyway), we tend to lose ground.

Experts point to two key causes: family obligations and the fact that women tend not to pursue fair compensation as aggressively as men. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

How You Can Earn More

Whether you’re a 23-year-old city girl or a 45-year-old mom in a small town, it’s time to look at what you make with a critical eye. We want you to get all you deserve and more - until the year you decide to retire.

Read on to find out more.

Would You Want Your Company to Disclose Salaries?

Emily Co — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:44:37 PDT

We're always curious to see what other people are making, but less so about disclosing our own. Salary transparency is more common among CEOs at public companies who are required to disclose what they make, but not really among everyday employees working the daily grind.

It's easy to see why firms shy away from revealing what their employees make - salary is the biggest source of discontent among workers. A study by Berkeley and Princeton economists tested out salary transparency on a group of workers, and it turns out those who found out they were receiving less than the median were dissatisfied and were more inclined to leave. Those who discovered they were making more did not see a change in job satisfaction or retention. Although revealing salaries may cause some workers to leave, it might create more equality among workers.

What do you think of salary transparency - would you want your company to disclose what everyone's making?

How Much Pay Raise Will It Take to Make You Happy?

Emily Co — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:21:30 PDT

Workers won't be satisfied with just any raise. In fact, if the salary hike is too low, it can have the opposite effect and workers might start feeling resentful, according to Psychology Today.

Researchers at the University of Northern Iowa found that the pay raise needs to be at least seven or eight percent for the employee to feel satisfied with the increase and to feel incentivized to work harder. Salary is one of the biggest factors for job satisfaction, so it's not surprising for emotional reactions to happen.

If a company can't afford awarding a seven percent pay raise, it should definitely look into providing other kinds of benefits for its workers. In fact, a Cisco survey found that 66 percent of employees would even take a pay cut if it meant more flexibility, such as being able to work from home.

What about you - would a pay raise less than seven percent make you feel resentful?

7 Tips to Negotiating the Raise You Deserve

Emily Co — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 03:05:00 PDT

If you're upset about your pay or the promotion you've been wanting for a while that never came, it's time to ask for it! Make sure your manager knows that you're gunning for a raise this year and bring it up at your annual performance review, which should be coming up for many of you. Jim Hopkinson, author of Salary Tutor: Learn the Salary Negotiation Secrets No One Ever Taught You, shared a couple of tips for savvy professionals to use when negotiating for a pay bump. Here they are:

List your achievements. "From your first day of employment, you should maintain a simple document that lists your accomplishments. Keeping this updated will give you ammunition to use during a performance review – or bullet points for your resume if you decide to move on."
Be seen. "Get noticed by volunteering for new and high profile projects and becoming more involved in the company as a whole."
Find the money position. "When negotiating salary in a bad economy put yourself in a position to work on revenue-generating projects with incentives for bonuses."
Emphasize your work performance. "When asking for a raise, don’t complain about your bills being high or what someone else in the company makes. This is about your on-the-job performance. You earn a raise by making the company money, saving the company money, or doing a task that no one else can do."
Consider the schedule. "You must know the process by which your company gives reviews. Is it once at the end of the fiscal year for everyone? On a rolling basis based on individual hire date? Knowing when operating budgets are created and approved is important so you can make your pitch for more money before funds are allocated."
Figure out your style. "Also, adapt to your boss’ style. If they’re the buttoned-up, no-nonsense, bottom-line type, you better make sure to back up any proposal with facts and figures to support your argument. If their style is laid-back and big-picture, present your case in terms of how you fit in with the company as a whole, how you interact with fellow employees on the team, and what your vision is moving forward."
Make yourself heard. "Make sure to increase communication in the weeks and months leading up to your review. Did you sign a new client? Hit your deadline? Bring a project in under budget? Go head and CC: your boss - and in some cases, their boss - so that they’re aware of your recent accomplishments."

5 Quick Tips For Negotiating a Salary For a New Job

Emily Co — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 03:05:11 PDT

If you're job-hunting, don't start sweating when an interviewer asks how much you would like to get paid. Be aware that salary talk might come up during your interview, so make sure you're prepared. Just keep these five tips from Jim Hopkinson, author of Salary Tutor: Learn the Salary Negotiation Secrets No One Ever Taught You, in mind, and you're good to go!

"Defer all specific salary talk until you know that they want you for the job. That means evading salary questions on job applications (write “negotiable”) and during initial screening interviews (stress the need to learn more about the position first)."
"As a job seeker, you should never be the person who brings up salary first."
"Once the salary question does come up, use the “Right Back at Ya” method to put the ball back in their court."
"Use effective pauses in the conversation, as people tend to speak to fill the silence and may divulge important information in the process."
"There is more to a job than just salary. Remember that other benefits may also be negotiable - a better title, more vacation, flextime, bonuses, education reimbursement, and paid travel to conferences."

Remember, salary negotiation at the start of your new job is very important, because it will affect your future earnings. One of the main reasons why women earn less than men is because they don't negotiate at the start of their new job. Keep these tips in mind when you're interviewing!

Savvy Confessions: Am I Silly to Expect a Raise?

Savvy Community — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 03:05:25 PDT

This anonymous poster in our Savvy Confessions group wants to know if she deserves a raise. Chime in with your thoughts below.

OK, so I have been with my current employer for three years. I have it made! I have wonderful bosses, and have a lot of freedom. My problem is . . . I came to this company straight out of college. The ad online stated that they were looking for someone with no experience and at minimum a two year degree . . . they were willing to pay 40 to 50k for this position.

I came along with even more qualifications than they were asking for and started out making 40k with the promise to re-evaluate in six months. Well six months passed and nothing, then a year and nothing, then two years and nothing. At two and a half years I received a four percent pay increase. I was a little offended because our business is doing very well given the economy, and I had waited so long for the "promised" evaluation. I didn't express my frustrations (although maybe I should have). I accepted the raise because after all it is a raise. My responsibilities have more than tripled since I started and where I don't expect my salary to mirror that . . . I at least expected a 10 percent raise. Am I silly to think so? And . . . if not then how do I approach it with the boss? (keep in mind that I am not one that feels like a raise should be asked for . . . it should be given if your work ethic proves worthy)

Share your own career- and finance-related questions anonymously in the Savvy Confessions group for a chance to be featured on SavvySugar and advised by fellow Savvy readers.