Comments on: Your Real Wage

By: What is your REAL hourly wage? | Tomasz Gorecki | Debt In Your 20's Is The Kiss of Death

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:23:43 +0000

[...] Your real wage [...]

By: June

June — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:38:42 +0000

I have used this calculator many times when trying to convince a woman that “staying home with the kids” is meaningful work.

http://www.justmommies.com/articles/hourly_wage.shtml

By: Steven

Steven — Sat, 09 May 2009 01:09:03 +0000

I absolutely agree, our taxes are being used to fund important aspects of our infrastructure such as highways, bridges, police as well as other public programs which benefit our society as a whole. I’m not arguing for or against that aspect of our wage, and if I were to pick a side, I’d have to argue for taxes as I feel they are a necessary part of what makes our country function efficiently (how efficiently could be argued).

The message I am trying to convey is that if our hourly gross wage is, for example, $10 an hour, we aren’t exactly putting that much money into our pockets. It is more likely that we end up with $8.50 an hour after federal taxes alone. If we also take into consideration state taxes and FICA taxes that $8.50 would shrink even more. Of course, we also need to consider our expenses directly linked to holding our $10 an hour position such as transportation costs, appropriate work attire, and all of the other expenses that come with our job.

We also should consider that our 8 hour workday may not actually BE an 8 hour workday when we factor in the time it takes for us to prepare for work, commute to work and back home, and then our wind-down time to de-stress from the day. That could be anywhere from 30 an hour a day to 2+ hours each day.

And yes, absolutely take as many deductions as possible in order to put more money in your pocket. No sense in giving Uncle Sam an interest free loan for a year when you could be putting that money to much better use. Thanks for the comment!

By: Katie

Katie — Sat, 09 May 2009 00:30:04 +0000

I’m all for looking at your real wage, but remember you wouldn’t have the roads you need to get to work or public schools to send your kids to if you didn’t pay taxes! You’re working for those privileges. Not saying it’s a perfect system, but you’re not working for free.

That said, claim as many deductions and score as many tax breaks as legally possible ;)