Want to get a bigger raise at work? Ever since I started pursuing FIRE I’ve done one little thing that’s helped me to effectively DOUBLE the raise I get each year at work.
How To Get A Bigger Raise
The first few months of each new year can be very good for many full-time employees across America. February is especially nice since that is when many employees can see an influx of cash from their annual cost of living increase, a performance bonus, and depending on how you handle your taxes, you could also be getting some of your own money back via a tax return. For me personally February is also when I get a stock grant.
February is usually my best or second best financial month of the year!
Today at work
• My avocado seed split
• I got a raise
• I also received my bonus
• And got a stock grant
But best of all they catered Qdoba!
Give Yourself a Raise
The typical cost of living increase in the US is 3%-5%. That’s not game-changer money, but I don’t know anybody that’s going to turn it down.
There’s an easy way get a bigger raise, and it’s not at all hard to double that 3% to 6%. Here’s how: when your wage goes up 3-5%, trim back your expenses by an equal amount and boom! Just like that you’ve DOUBLED the amount of money you get to keep from that point forward.
If you’re not sure where you could cut back, check out this list of nearly 100 unusual ways to save money.
Doing little things like this is just one way that I’m going to make progress. Find enough of these dumb little tricks and before you know it you’ll have more money left over at the end of each month that you can use to pay down debt or to invest.
Keep The Money You Make
One reason this has worked so well for me is because finding a measly 3% to cut for our monthly expenses is so easy! In the beginning I hardly even noticed the cut.
Now that I’m much more efficient with my spending it’s getting harder and harder to find places to cut, but that just means I’m wasting less of my money. And because we’re wasting less we’re able to save 100% of our bonuses and stock grants (and that’s where I see major gains to my net worth). But had we not taken steps in the past to improve, then we wouldn’t be able to take advantage today.
This is my plan to Get Rich Quick’ish. There are a few other little things like this trick in my plan.
Chime in!
What tips or hacks do you do to get the most out of your money?
8 replies on “How To Effectively Double Your Next Raise At Work”
That is clever but I’d also think about doing enough networking that you are frequently receiving offers from competitors. Usually a competitive offer will include a 10-20% increase over current compensation. I never took the offers but I let my boss know exactly what and who and how much when I got a good offer and I ended up getting two or three times the standard raise next time around. I never threatened to leave, the information of what my market worth was did all the talking for me.
I’ve got one or two posts that point out the same thing: throughout my career my major jumps in salary have come from jumping ship to a new company. I’ve never used the offer as leverage on my current employer, but I know of many people that have done just that. Thanks for the reminder!
Really good way to look at a raise. Their are always 2 sides to the financial equation and if you can tackle both at one time you can make significant change. Beats the lifestyle inflation most people experience with a raise. Great stuff Ty!
It’s a combination of “a penny saved” and “a penny earned” … I think Ben Franklin would be proud 😀
“[W]hen your wage goes up 3-5%, trim back your expenses by an equal amount and boom! Just like that you’ve DOUBLED the amount of money you get to keep from that point forward.”
I effing love it! Engage your functioning brain and wonderful things happen. Great post, sir. You made my day.
It’s not that hard to optimize your finances w/ little tricks like this, but once you do the money starts to pile up faster than ever!
Such a simple, yet valuable concept. Incremental changes can yield powerful results in time. Love it, Ty! I’m curious, was this the ‘red eye’ post? ; )
haha – yes, this was the red eye post (so sleepy!).