When you are hired for a new job, you will inevitably have a conversation about your salary. The employer will ask about your salary expectations and will want to know how much you made at your previous job. Employers like to know how much you previously made so they can gauge your market value. If you were under-paid and you did not know it, the new employer may try to under-pay you as well. There are online salary calculators that will provide you with an estimate as to how much money you should be making.

How to negotiate a salary
When you sit down to negotiate your salary, be aware that most employers will start with a low offer. Employers do not like to sit around and negotiate salaries all day, so if you were over-paid at your last job and you expect to receive the same salary at your new job, you might as well walk away now if its tens of thousands of dollars more than your new employer can pay. The best way to avoid telling the employer how much money you made is to omit this information from your resume and from your employment application. If the employer wants to know how much you made, they will come out and ask you directly.

One way to negotiate your salary is to ask the employer how much they expect to pay for the position. You can offer to provide your desired salary range and begin negotiating from there. Since most employers do background checks and they contact your previous employer, you need to provide them with a truthful answer. If you made $37,000 at your last job and you are trying to negotiate for $48,000 with the new employer, be honest about your past salary and your request for higher pay. Some companies will offer the same amount of money, but will add in stock options or other bonus packages to sweeten the deal. If you know that the bonus packages will pay off in the long run, you may want to consider taking a decrease in salary.

Determining if your salary is fair
Asking your friends and loved ones about your salary won't get you too far. If you think you are being under-paid the best place to go is the internet. Several web sites offer salary calculators that allow you to input your information and come up with the minimum and maximum salaries for your job.

Salary.com is one of several salary web sites that offer's salary information. They designed their web site to help employers and employees find out what type of compensation should be paid for each job. The Department of Labor Statistics also provides information about different salaries for various jobs. The information collected on Salary.com and other web sites is found from salary surveys. This information is broad, but it will give you a good idea of how much money you should be looking at for your particular job.

Most salary web sites offer links to current job openings. The jobs listed on the web site normally pay the amount that is stated on the web site. One of the best features of the salary calculator is the ability to enter your experience, education, and location into the search results. Depending upon all of your personalized factors, you can find out how much you are truly worth.

Another salary calculator is to look at the classified ads in the newspaper. These ads may list the starting salary for the open position, and this can help you set the low-end of the salary range for your job. Normally the numbers found in the classified section are too general and it is hard to know if you are being paid fairly.

Job recruiters often have salary calculators available to help you find out if you are being paid enough. The job recruiter will be able to give you an accurate salary assessment and they can provide advice on how to increase your salary. Some job recruiters may be able to help you move from your current job into a higher-paying job. If you cannot find a job recruiter to talk to, ask your colleagues for salary information. Talking about compensation wages with your coworkers can help you gauge if you are being paid enough.

Another way to determine if your salary is fair is to look at your overall salary package. A Registered Nurse usually makes more than a Police Officer, although the Nurse may pay more for medical benefits because the Police Officer receives state medical benefits, which are normally lower. In the end, their salaries end up becoming equal even though it looks like the Police Officer makes less. Always examine your retirement plan, vacation time, sick leave, and health care benefits when you are looking at your salary. Having a high-priced benefits package may off-set the higher-salary you receive.

It is important to check the salary calculator often to make sure you are being paid what you are worth. Market fluctuations and other factors may cause the numbers to decrease, but they usually start to climb again within a few months.

How does the salary calculator work?
There are several different styles of salary calculators. Some calculators will allow you to input your home loan, car loan, credit card debts, and other debts and compare them to your monthly salary. A salary calculator can help you determine how much an extra 50 cents an hour will increase your yearly salary. If you are applying for a new job or promotion, the salary calculator will allow you calculate the salary you need in order to support your lifestyle.

Salary calculators were designed to help people track their finances. There are 3 main styles of salary calculators, the take home pay calculator, the hourly wage calculator, and the required salary calculator.

The take home pay salary calculator allows you to input your annual salary and then select all of your tax withholdings and deductions. Once you have completed entering your tax information, you will provide the number of dependants you have and then input the amount you deposit into your retirement account.  After the information is input, the computer will automatically generate a number that will allow you to see your gross salary, taxable income, monthly and weekly wages. This is a great calculator for someone that wants to know what money is left for them after all of the taxes have been taken out.

The next style of salary calculator is called the hourly wage calculator.  If you are paid on an hourly basis and you want to predict what your yearly salary is, this is the perfect calculator. You will input the hourly wage you make into the appropriate box and then follow the next few steps of the salary calculator. Some salary calculators will allow you to compare the wages from your current job to the wages of a new job. You will need to provide information about your age and your tax information in order to come up with an accurate number. Once you have input all your tax information (dependants, withholdings, etc.) you will wait for the calculator to provide you with a series of numbers. Most calculators will provide you with your gross salary amount, taxes you pay, and your weekly and monthly pay.

The final type of salary calculator is called the required salary calculator. This calculator will allow you to input all of your debts and other expenses and then find out how much money you need to make in order to pay all of your monthly obligations. This calculator will help you determine what type of lifestyle you can afford to live on your current salary. This calculator is commonly used by individuals that are changing jobs and need to know how much money they must make in order to support their family. Like the other calculators, you will provide information about your yearly salary and then your monthly payment obligations. The calculator will provide you with your "left over" pay and you can find out how much money you can use to save or to buy other things with.

Your salary needs to include your cost of living. If you are moving to accept a new job with a higher-paying salary, you need to factor in your new cost of living. You may find out that you will pay more money to accept a new job than you would if you stayed with your current job. Cost of living includes expenses like food, gas, housing, taxes, and other expenses. Several web sites offer cost of living calculators to help you determine if you are making the right decision.

Financial advisors can help you assess your current situation and determine if you need to move to a new job with a higher salary, or negotiate with your current employer for a higher salary. With any increase in wages, there will be an increase in taxes. You must make sure that you can afford to pay for your taxes before you accept the new job offer.