What do you really earn an hour?

What do you really earn for each hour your work? Why do you care what that number is?

Knowing how you much you actually take home an hour, after factoring in your expenses, your commute time, your taxes and health insurance is powerful.

I know, for example, that I actually earn $25 an hour. This is not what it says on my pay check! I can use that amount to help me make important decisions.

Do I want to pay to go to a restaurant? The meal will cost $75 for all five of us to each, get a non-alcoholic drink and desert. That means the meal costs me 3 hours of work time. Do I think it is worth being away for three extra hours to pay for that meal? Sometimes the answer might be yes, other days the answer might be no.

Do I want to buy that new car? It is $30,000. How many hours of work will be dedicated to paying it off? Am I willing to spend all of 1,200 hours of work over the course of paying off the car? That is without interest included? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Would it be better to get a used car for $15,000? That would cut my work time in half that is dedicated to paying off the car. Whatever I choose, I choose. But the question is an important one to ask.

You can not get back your time. Right now is the only time you have. So this summer, I would like you to figure out how much you earn an hour. Start asking questions about how long you need to work to pay for your purchases.

Before you start - get a calculator and your last pay check. You also might want to print out this post. Yes there is some math involved, but it won't take you more than 5 minutes to do and it might save you a lot of money in the future!

Here is how you are going to calculate your hourly rate.

Take your last pay check. Look at the net after taxes are taken out. Write that number down here: _________. (A) Net Pay for pay check period.

Look at the number of days you worked. You might have to use a calendar to see how many days were in your last pay check.
Write that number here: ________(B). Days worked last pay check period.

_______(A) / _________ (B) = __________ (C) Net per day.

Now figure out how much you work per day. What time do you leave home? What time do you actually arrive back at home. Including your commute, those are the real hours you work.
_________ (D) Real hours worked per day.

Now you need to determine the cost of working. Per day you need to add up the following:
_______ (Lunch you bought) + ______ (Gas it takes for your daily commute - make your best guess) + _______ (Wear and tear on car - figure 50 cents per mile you drive) + _______ (Amount you spend on your classroom - take your best guess on what it would be per day). All of that added up goes here:
________ (E) Real expenses of working per day.

What you earn per hour = ________(C) - _________(E) = ____________(F) Net earnings per day after expenses

__________ (F) / ____________ (D) = How much do you earn per hour worked!

Congratulations for figuring this out. Now you can use this amount to make honest choices about how you spend your time and money.


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