Financial tip of the day.com - FREEDOM THROUGH FINANCE
Social Sites
  • Financial Tip Of The Day
  • Books
  • Websites
  • Contact Us
  • Disclosure

How much does your job cost?

3/11/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture

Everybody wants to know how much you make. But who ever asks, "How much does your job cost?". Do you know?

We spend a lot of money on our jobs and we don't even realize it.  Eating out, wear and tear on the car, clothes, day care, etc. 

Have you ever actually written it down to see what it all costs?  When I help people with their finances I'm stunned to see how much money they spend on just having a job. They're also stunned when I show it to them!  

The most eye opening thing is to take your take home pay deduct the work expenses and then divide by the number of hours you work.  This can be very frightening for some, even negative!  When you realize that after taxes and work related expenses that you're making around $5/hr.  It'll bring some people to tears.  

The good news is that you will soon know this and can take steps to adjust.  So let's look at the variables that cost you to work:

Car - assume 20 miles round trip per day with govt allowance of 55 cents a mile
Childcare - assume between $14 to $74 per working day
Clothing - assume a cost of $2 per day for cleaning and proper attire
Eating out - assume you eat out a low cost place, instead of bringing your own lunch liked you eat at home
Misc - could be anything, pot luck at work, additional cost of getting sick, Christmas gift exchange, etc. 

The above scenario is the average American family.  Mom and Dad work, and are extremely busy with at least 1 child.  

Daycare is the biggest variable, so here are the two costs showing the extreme.  The person with the low cost daycare spends about $3.90 per hour on going to work.  While the high cost daycare spends $11.40 per hour on going to work.  The later may be more than some of you make!    

Now take how much you bring home in your paycheck (after all taxes), divide by the number of hours you worked and then subtract the above figure from what you make.  This is truly how much you make from your job.  Feel free to change the numbers above based upon your actual situation.  So what can you do about this?

1. Find a job closer to home.  Preferably one that you can ride your bike to.  
2. Seriously look at quitting your job if this figure is ridiculously high, like if you live in the Northeast and have multiple kids.  You can still bring in more income by looking after other children in addition to your own.  Just be sure to see what the state regulations are on this so that you don't break the law.
3. Find a job that doesn't require you to look like a lawyer or banker.  They can easily spend a few hundred a month on clothing and dry cleaning.  Ridiculous! 
4. Always always always bring your lunch to work, along with any snacks to hold you over for the day.  It's healthier and will save you a ton of money. At least $5 a meal.
5. Not much you can do about this, but it only costs you about 20 cents a day, so it's just part of the deal.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    This website was created due to the atrociously misguided financial advice that I've heard over the decades.  Financial freedom is not intellectually strenuous, but it takes discipline. 

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    BHAG UPDATE
    College Savings
    College Savings
    Credit
    Economics
    Estate Planning
    Estate Planning
    Financial Planning
    Financial Planning
    Insurance
    Investing
    INVESTMENT JOURNAL
    Mistakes
    Net Worth Update
    Retirement
    Tax
    Thrift

    Archives

    October 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    January 2011

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.