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They are basically Five Tips for Asking for a Pay






RaisePosted by Robin Jonson @ 2:18 PM on .


There’s a good share of employees that really deserve more money for all of the hard work that they do, but most of them never get it because they never take the time and make it a point to ask for a raise. If you work harder than most of your other employees and are more knowledgeable about the job that you do than they are, you likely can get a raise if you come up with a plan and ask for one. Here are five things to consider when asking for a raise.

Know what you want –

How much of a raise do you want? Do you just want more salary or do you want more vacation, a company car, or perhaps some flex time. Don’t be afraid to ask for a little bit more than you want, because likely your boss will try to negotiate down on your request to save the company money.

Know what your worth –

You have to do your homework ahead of time. Figure out what a typical salary for someone in your position is with your experience, training and education. Know what it would cost the company to replace your job. Figure out in advance how much money you’ve saved the company and how much additional revenue the company generates from you. This’ll take some work, but the knowledge is key. These are the arguments which will be the key in persuading your boss that you deserve a raise.

Approach the Right Person –

Make sure you’re asking the right person for a raise. Sometimes your direct supervisor is not the person that you need to be discussing this issue with. Start with your supervisor and ask him that if you had a question about your compensation package, who would be the right person to meet with? If the person is him, schedule a meeting with him, otherwise schedule a meeting with your HR department, or whoever the decision maker is.

Time your approach –

The best time to ask for a raise is when you’ve just completed a very successful project, have saved the company a bunch of money, or accomplished something else meaningful to the company, say landing a big account. You are much more likely to be successful in your quest for a raise if you ask after you’ve made some sort of accomplishment with the company.
Prepare for the Meeting – After you’ve got your meeting setup, prepare for it as if you were doing a major sales presentation. Rehearse what you’re going to say, the arguments you’re going to make, and responses to some questions or statements that they’re likely to make. Figuring out answers to “Why do you deserve a raise?” and “The company just can’t afford to give a raise why now” are probably two good ones to start with. If the company is unwilling to provide you with a direct salary increase, instead ask for some fringe benefits, such as flex-time or a company car. If you know that you genuinely deserve a raise because you work hard and earn the company a lot of money, not because you’ve worked there a while and feel entitled to one, you can get a raise should you put the effort into get one.

 Borrowing to Invest:Does it Make Sense?Posted by Matthew Paulson @ 4:00 PM on .

    A lot of financial counselors are now suggesting to their clients that they should borrow money on their home with the use of a home equity loan to invest into the stock market. These people of course are earning a nice big commission from selling the home equity loan and are probably pushing the idea for that reason alone. If you’re being offered a home equity loan at 7% to invest in the market, it probably won’t make sense to borrow that money to invest, but are there ever any situations when one should borrow to invest?
    Unfortunately, there’s not a clear and easy answer here. It all depends on your risk tolerance. There’s the risk of investing the money in the stock market, and the risk of incurring additional debt. Some people who are more risk adverse such as myself would choose to minimize our debts and invest later when we have money. Others, such as my room-mate mike, will borrow anything he can at a decent rate to invest in small-cap mutual funds. He might come out ahead with his venture, but no one can say for certain.
    It’s just a matter of how much risk you’re willing to take. First, there’s the risk of borrowing additional money. You’re essentially agreeing to pay money in the future for the money that you have now. There’s always the possibility that they money won’t be there to pay off the debt because of a job loss, death in the family, or something of the sort. If you’re debt free, have plenty of savings, and make a good income, incurring a little debt isn’t very risky. If you don’t make a ton of money, already have a car payment and credit card debt, incurring more debt is probably a poor idea. You’re already close to the edge, you don’t need to move any closer to it.
    There’s also the additional risk of the investment. Investing in the stock market is by no means a guaranteed return. The $4000 I invested into VFIFX at the beginning of the year is worth about $3978 as I write this. I know that over the next 40 years it’ll probably make a lot of money, but there’s never a guarantee. The stock market could go down significantly in the near future, or it could reach another set of new record highs. We do know that over a very long period of time you can easily average 10-12% in most mutual funds.
    When you combine the risk of the added debt and the risk of investing in the stock market, it becomes a major consideration. Imagine if you tried something like this right before the dotcom bubble, lost your job and then your investment when down the tubes, ouch! You could also be very successful if you did this at the right time. If you borrowed money in 1995 and left it until December of 1999, you’d come out with a nice pile of cash from your venture, but you’re never going to know ahead of time.
    If you can get someone to loan you the money at a relatively low interest rate and want to take the risk, go for it! If you’re more risk adverse and would rather be certain in what you have , borrowing money to invest probably isn’t for you.