Everyone wants to make more money, but sometimes an enticing opportunity might not turn out to be a good deal.
Once, a client came to me with a problem. While he was satisfied with his job and not actively looking for something else, an interesting offer fell into his lap. A good friend and coworker went to work for another company and wanted to recruit my client for a job with a $10,000 increase in pay.
That was worth considering! So together, we did the math:
After-Tax: We estimated that he would take home $8,500 in after-tax money.
Weekly: That would give him an extra $163.46 per week.
Daily: That would give him an extra $32.69 a day.
Hourly: That would give him an extra $4.08 per hour, less than that if he worked more than eight hours. That’s about the cost of a Starbucks coffee.
And there were other things to consider:
- Would he have to pay more to commute? Filling up a car with gas or taking a subway can be expensive.
- What about health coverage? If he had to pay more for his kids, that could eat into the $10,000 pretty quickly.
- Would it be ok to wear jeans to work to avoid expensive dry cleaning bills? (It all adds up!)
He eventually decided not to take the job after running the numbers. A $10,000 increase sounded good, but it really wasn’t worth making a change for an extra $4.08 an hour (or even less).
If you have ever faced a tough choice like this and want some help working through the implications to your career, feel free to contact me today. With my experience as a career coach, I can see these things from angles that you might not have considered! So, let’s make sure that you are always making the right choice about your future!