{"id":125,"date":"2016-07-18T01:51:55","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T01:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialaid.syr.edu\/ofl\/?page_id=125"},"modified":"2021-12-20T17:40:55","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T17:40:55","slug":"understand-future-salary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/financialaid.syr.edu\/financialliteracy\/financial-basics\/understand-future-salary\/","title":{"rendered":"Understand Your Future Salary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">It&#8217;s never too early to begin thinking about your career. Help ensure a smooth transition to the working world by learning about your future salary and paycheck.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\">Explore Careers and Salaries<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>While in school, explore potential career paths and\u00a0salaries using free resources like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.payscale.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">payscale.com<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"http:\/\/salary.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">salary.com<\/a>. Connect with <a href=\"http:\/\/careerservices.syr.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Career Services<\/a> to talk with a counselor about your job search. After all, you need to make money in order to manage it!<\/p>\n<h2>Consider Pay Structures<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Do you want to work a traditional nine-to-five job, or are you looking for work that is flexible?\u00a0The structure of your\u00a0work schedule can\u00a0greatly impact your pay.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you have a commission-based position, your hours and pay could vary and may require you to save for months when income maybe a little lower.<\/li>\n<li>If you work a more traditional 40-hour workweek, your income is likely to\u00a0be fixed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Understand the difference, build a budget specific to your situation, and avoid living paycheck-to-paycheck.<\/p>\n<h2>Compare the Cost of Living<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Cost of living&#8221; is defined as the\u00a0scope\u00a0of\u00a0living expenses in a certain area. These expenses vary, but cost of housing is nearly always\u00a0a significant factor.<\/p>\n<p>Online\u00a0cost of living calculators, such as\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bankrate.com\/calculators\/savings\/moving-cost-of-living-calculator.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bankrate.com<\/a>, offer free cost of living statistics for cities and allow you to compare while you explore.<\/p>\n<h2>Understand Your Paycheck<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>What\u00a0you see isn&#8217;t always what you get when it comes to your paycheck. You are required by law to pay taxes to the federal government and, in most cases, to the state in which you reside.\u00a0These taxes are withheld from your paycheck. Taxes for Social Security and Medicare (FICA), your contributions for retirement savings, and any payments for health insurance as part of your benefits package, are also withheld.<\/p>\n<p>Free, online\u00a0paycheck calculators, such as\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.paycheckcity.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">paycheckcity.com<\/a>, can help you determine your net pay.\u00a0Use the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/individuals\/irs-withholding-calculator\">IRS withholding calculator<\/a> to further explore your potential exemptions. Consult a Certified Public Accountant for all of your tax questions.<\/p>\n<p>If your employer offers a retirement savings plan, you can\u00a0directly allocate funds to it from\u00a0your paycheck. Many employers will match a portion of the dollars saved this way. Ask your employer about their match options and work with a plan administrator to develop the best strategy. The IRS lists <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/retirement-plans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">retirement plan options<\/a> online.<\/p>\n<h2>Resources<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.state.gov\/m\/fsi\/tc\/79700.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Department of State<\/a> &#8211; Salary, costs of living &amp; relocation resources.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sujobopps.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SU Job Opps<\/a> &#8211; Explore work study and internship\u00a0opportunities on campus.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/careerservices.syr.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Syracuse Career Services<\/a> &#8211; Talk to a counselor about building your resume and discovering career opportunities.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.payscale.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">PayScale <\/a>&#8211; Research industry salary information based on experience and location.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/retirement-plans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">IRS Retirement Plans<\/a> &#8211; Explore retirement plans options on this thorough website.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s never too early to begin thinking about your career. Help ensure a smooth transition to the working world by learning about your future salary and paycheck. Explore Careers and Salaries While in school, explore potential career paths and\u00a0salaries using free resources like payscale.com\u00a0and salary.com. Connect with Career Services to talk with a counselor about&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"parent":56,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-125","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialaid.syr.edu\/financialliteracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialaid.syr.edu\/financialliteracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialaid.syr.edu\/financialliteracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialaid.syr.edu\/financialliteracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialaid.syr.edu\/financialliteracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/financialaid.syr.edu\/financialliteracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":880,"href":"https:\/\/financialaid.syr.edu\/financialliteracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/125\/revisions\/880"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialaid.syr.edu\/financialliteracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialaid.syr.edu\/financialliteracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}