When you look at a job and have figured out what they're going to pay
you, you should do some quick math to figure out what your true salary
will be. You can take the annual salary and divide it by 2,000 hours
(roughly how many hours you'll work in a year) to get what the overall
salary is. However, Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin have a better
calculator in their excellent book, Your
Money or Your Life.
Their approach takes into consideration
all the costs, obvious and subtle surrounding the new job. For example,
time spent commuting is something you are trading for the job. Dry
cleaning, eating out, child care, and the need for a vacation to
decompress - all of these are new stresses as a result of the new job.
They outline how to calculate the true cost, and surprisingly you may
find that a higher paying job actually pays less and isn't worth it.
Over
the years, I've used their approach to evaluate offers and it works. I had one opportunity in Boston that would have required me to commute an average of 3 hours every day. Using their calculations, it added 15 hours per week to the time I was trading for the money. As a result, it drove the hourly rate to lower than the job I had at the time, and made me quickly realize that it wasn't a great job offer. I quickly moved on and didn't waste any more of my time considering the "opportunity."
Check out their book from your local library and read it before you get an offer so you can really see the true salary you'll be getting. It
really helps you keep your priorities in order.