I had just graduated high school and was excited to cement my new adulthood with a real, live, outside-of-my-family-or-doing-chores-related J-O-B.
I peppered the mall with copies of my resume, which, at the time, was made up of volunteer work.
In less than a week, I had not one, but two retail job offers. I've never been so happy making minimum wage before... or since, lol.
The other day, I wondered just how much money I've earned since starting that first job. Specifically, I was interested in seeing what my earnings pattern was over time. I recalled seeing the number once before but couldn't remember where, so I searched the internet for answers.
What I found was truly enlightening.
After creating an account, navigate to the Earnings Record link (under Overview) and, voilà , there are your pre-tax lifetime earnings, sorted by year.
I won't post the numbers here, but I'm happy to report that my lifetime earnings were in line with my expectations. If your own earnings weren't what you expected, though, don't be too hard on yourself. There are a number of factors influencing the dollar amount in your earnings record:
- Life events (i.e., being laid off from work)
- Gender and race
- Field of work
- Education level
Regardless of the factors at play, there's no denying that knowing your earnings history is useful, especially if you're saving for retirement or trying to predict future wage growth. Even if you're not interested in tracking that information, it's pretty cool to see the ebb and flow of your life through the amount of money you reported earning that year. A sort of financial résumé, if you will.
For more ideas on using the knowledge of your earnings history to your benefit, read this helpful Shift Upwards blog post.
