Friday, October 07, 2005

I Got a Raise

I had my annual review this week, and got a 3.8% raise. So now my salary is $82,000 per year, not counting bonus, which could be around 10% of that. It's ironic to think of 3.8% as being a cost of living increase when the cost of owning a home has increased by 10 times that much since last year!
I was a little disappointed in the percentage, as the review was extremely complimentary, but raises at that level seem to be fairly typical in my industry these days, for people who are lucky enough to get annual raises at all! And I did negotiate for a bigger increase last year, so I didn't think I could pull it off 2 years in a row. Also, my boss volunteered the information that I am in line for a promotion and bigger salary increase next year, so I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy and appreciated.
This raise will be retroactive by a couple of months so my next paycheck should be a whopper.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! It's always nice to feel appreciated for all the hard work performed.

Anonymous said...

Nice! Good job! In my company, just about everyone is rated a "3" out of "5" (no matter the words used to describe the performance) and therefore gets the average cost-of-living increase, which was around 3 percent last year.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the raise. Every little bit helps.

Nina Smith said...

It is nice to hear that you received a raise this week. You make a good point about your cost of living increases not keeping up with the cost of owning a home. At 3.8% -- it would be hard for anyone to get ahead. Your blog focuses on the way you save money, but I am curious if you have some silent trump card that will help you generate more income. Many books talk about passive income, but it initially takes money to make money. I had home appreciation/equity working in my favor these past several years. Without this I'm not sure how else I could have saved enough to start investing. Just curious as to how you plan to do it?

Caitlin said...

That is great news! Especially for next year...woohoo :)

Madame X said...

Nina, I wish I could say I had a silent trump card! I really don't have any plans to generate income from anything other than my salary, and a very small amount of interest/dividend income from investments. I don't really have the time or desire to run any sort of sideline business or be a landlord. My focus right now is to become a homeowner again, and at least be building equity in the place where I live, and try to budget sensibly so I can make the most of the income I have.

Anonymous said...

Congrats. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, as the saying goes. In my industry, the concept of a cost of living increase is a thing of the past. They pay us just enough to keep us from walking out the door. And each year is one grand negotiation.

While I earn considerably more than you, each year is a huge wildcard, as most of that compensation is in the form of bonus. Such is the way of Wall St. But, sometimes (the grass always being a little greener on the other side), it seems like it would be nice if they would just acknowledge that the cost of living in NYC has gone up immensely and that we should get some adjustment for that.

Sounds like you're on a great professional track to keep increasing your income, and more importantly, your responsibilities and experience.

Anonymous said...

Yes, it's better than nothing, tho i wasn't very happy with my 3% last year since it was my first annual review and i took a $30K paycut to come here, in exchange for much better quality of life benefits (no commute, easy workday, a boss who appreciates me).

Maybe next year...