How Much Money Do You Really Earn?

The one question that is often guaranteed to provoke a variety of interesting answers is “how much money do you really earn?”

Some people find it extremely offensive because they believe the answer will be used to judge their level of financial success.

As a result, they will often quote as high a figure as possible, without taking into account of the various deductions that cut the amount from gross to net or take home pay.

Few people realize that how much money you earn is not as important as how much you take home – your disposable income.

In this article, we’ll go over four deductions that can actually make your take home pay dwarf your gross income.

1.  Taxes

Taxes are usually the largest deduction from your gross income, especially if you work for somebody else. Income tax in most cases is deducted at source, so the amount you quote as your gross pay is typically a nominal figure.

Since the rates are usually prescribed by law, you have little control over the amount of income tax that is deducted from your gross pay.

You can engage a tax planner to help you reduce the amount of income tax you pay thereby decreasing this deduction, but that is beyond the scope of this article.

2.  Retirement Benefit Plans

If you take part in any retirement benefit plan, you need to make regular payments as part of your contribution. These payments will be deducted from your gross pay.

The idea is that the company or organization you work for is helping you save and invest for your future by making automatic deductions from your current earnings.

As noble as this may sound, your decision to participate in these plans should be based on your financial goals. As with all other investments, you have to know exactly what you are getting into.

3.  Share Ownership Plans

Some companies give their employees the opportunity to buy shares or stock belonging to the company.

Although this is not usually compulsory, the ease with which the shares are acquired, usually at preferential terms, makes this offer hard to resist.

The biggest risk with these plans arises when the company goes under. You are at a risk of losing your income, your savings and your investments all at the same time.

The amount of stock you opt to buy will normally determine the size of the deduction from your gross pay that goes towards this scheme.

4.  Loan deductions

If you have loans, you have to service them from your income or earnings.

Unlike taxes which are usually progressive with higher income earners paying more, loan deductions will vary significantly from one person to the next depending on the level of debt they have incurred.

These deductions also include car loan and mortgage loan repayments. As a result, this will usually be a major deduction and can even comprise of more than half of your gross pay.

The amount of debt you carry will directly affect the size of your loan installments.

Analyze your pay slip carefully to see where your money is going before it ever reaches your pocket to understand how the various deductions can affect your net pay.

In this way you will be able to know how much money you really earn.

Keep in mind that other than taxes, any deductions from your pay that do not go towards any form of investment represent an income leakage.

When you focus on your gross pay, your spending pattern will be based on an inflated amount at a subconscious level. Consequently, you will always find yourself short of money.