Negotiate A Salary With Your Monthly Budget In Mind

Be Clear On Your Financial Needs As Well As Your Financial Goals

Whether you're fielding a job offer from a prospective employer, getting ready to sit down for your annual performance appraisal, or steeling yourself for a conversation with your boss and our the rep from human resources about why you deserve an increase in pay, be clear on your financial needs and goals before you enter into any talk of this kind.

You Can't Be Too Prepared When Talking Salary

Money isn't everything, but it does have a way of making lots of things easier in life, so you should take your salary negotiations very seriously and know that you have a say. Too many people are too happy to just take what's being offered to them. Whenever money is on the table at work, a negotiation is implied: they're offering something, and they probably aren't going to be too surprised if you come back with a counter-offer. How do you determine what that counter-offer should be? Review your budgetary needs and your financial goals. Your salary at your new job or your raise at your current one should definitely take care of the fixed expenses you encounter in your life, and help you along the way toward meeting your financial goals as well. Once you're clear on what your needs and desires are in terms of financial gain from your employment, you will be more comfortable advocating for yourself so that you can get your needs met. Do some homework before you talk to your boss or your prospective employer and get a ballpark estimate of what someone who does what you're going to be doing should be earning. By doing this, you'll know whether or not your job or prospective job offer is suitable for your financial goals. If it's not, you might decide to pursue other avenues of employment or to change your financial goals, but at least you will know going in what to expect. If your boss or prospective employer comes in low in terms of an offer, don't be afraid to politely lay the facts on the table, and don't be afraid to make a case for yourself: you are worth the investment, and on some level, they know this, otherwise they would be offering the job or the raise to someone else.

There Is More Than One Way To Get A Raise -- or A Better Offer

If the job you're holding or the job you want is coming in low with an offer of what you'll get in take home pay and you want to continue pursuing this job nonetheless, think about other forms of remuneration. Sometimes, employers are more willing to offer tuition reimbursement, for example, or another week of vacation time, than they are to up the ante in dollars and cents. Who knows? You might get more out of these kinds of benefits anyway!

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