Many of us plan our career moves. We start at an entry-level job but move to more senior positions over time. However, many of us don't plan our lifetime earning progress. Your salary is your most important wealth-building tool. Understanding the inputs to projecting your earnings can help you plan your future.

Understanding the factors that can impact your lifetime earnings is complex. Many online calculation models are helpful but often oversimplify the real picture. I will give you advice on why and how to calculate your earnings and what you can do to increase your total earnings over your lifetime.

Men and Women start working full-time at age 23 with almost no wage gap, but by age 60, the lifetime earning gender gap is over $1M. This is due to a lifetime of lower pay and loss of working years due to caregiving responsibilities.

- US Bureau of Labor Statistics

Why You Should Understand Your Career Earnings

Having insights into what you will earn when can help you plan your life goals. Will you be able to buy a house, invest, or retire? Understanding your earning potential can ensure you optimize the value of your time and create the life you want. Planning your career and earning potential is not just a necessity; it's also an empowering journey that puts you in control of your financial future.

The income-to-cost-of-living ratio has increased by 10% to 40%, depending on where you live. Doing good work, having a great career, and making a living income don't always align; you need to plan for it. From your first paycheck to your last.

Take charge of your career by selecting a path that aligns with your interests, capabilities, and earning potential. This decision is a powerful tool in shaping your career trajectory and can significantly impact your professional success. Understanding the progression path in your chosen career is crucial. This knowledge will make you feel informed and prepared, setting you up for success in your career journey. 

Maximizing your income does not mean focusing only on income. You will work for the best years of your life, so make sure it is something you like to do and are good at. But there is also a 'test' of income stability, growth, and total earnings that you should consider.

Are Maximizing Your Earnings

Whether you are one of the 70% salaried or 30% self-employed. You need to know that you are maximizing your income and follow a plan to improve it over your lifetime,

• Be Results-oriented: Make sure you're worth the money and know the value you bring to the business.

• Be a Lifelong learner: Continuously growing your skills is the best way to stay relevant. Learning on the job accounts for 60-80% of job growth for most roles.

• Be Indispensable: Be the person who makes a difference, but at the company, not in the role; keep yourself promotable.

• Be Easy to work with: Good social skills, a positive attitude, and being a team player are the reasons some people move forward and others stand still. Build your EQ; your emotional and social intelligence determines 80% of your success in life.

• Be Engaged: Networking at work is important. Hard work without good connections means you may be letting someone else get the credit for your ideas. Don't brag, but don't hide your efforts either. Finding a mentor is a great way to combine learning on the job, connecting with the right people, and having an advocate for your next promotion.

• Be Ready: Promotions don't come often, but being ready with your skills, capabilities, and connections can put you in the right place at the right time. Prepare your promotion plan so you know how to get the offer and are ready to negotiate when the right offer comes.

And know what does not matter to your success. For example, you may not need to 'dress for success' these days. Learn to read the room and the situation. Know what is important at your company.

We don't care what you wear. We care what you think.

-Amazon interview advice

How to Calculate Your Earnings

The method for calculating earnings is simple. It is based on what you make today, the number of years you plan to work, and your annual salary growth. While these assumptions may be estimates, the data helps you understand the potential projected number. This number can often be surprising. However, this may be a “best-case scenario”. You may be impacted by the scenarios below. It creates a ‘worst-case scenario” by adjusting the numbers based on years of work or earning growth. A number between these two values may be a more reasonable number.

Want to know more? This website, which is easy to use and free, can show you how this simple calculation works.

However, many factors influence this number in reality:

• Will your job progress at a stable pay rate? Some jobs don't keep up with inflation today.

• Will you work full-time for all of your working years? You may be unemployed, take leave for child care or parent care, or return to school at some point in your working life.

• Will your base pay be a substantial part of your earnings? As you advance in professional jobs, your bonuses and benefits may outweigh your base salary, making the calculation more complex.

• Will your salary level off? Data shows earnings growth slows or stops 10 years before retirement for men and up to 20 years before for women.

• Will you work in a gender-specific field? If so, good news for men: gender-specific fields, such as engineering and coding, pay better initially and over time. Bad news for women: gender-specific jobs, like nursing and teaching, will pay lower lifetime earnings.

Assessing your current position against future options and opportunities can help you see what is possible. Researching jobs on LinkedIn and Salary.com can provide you with insights into the most promising career path. Doing your homework helps you to define a plan of action to build your abilities, skills, and credentials to get your desired job. You can calculate a best and worst-case scenario to give you a sense of direction. But remember, you are not locked into that “reality.” You can change things starting today and surpass your current earning projections. Read on to find out how, and read this article to improve your negotiation skills to get the salary you deserve.

Learn to Treat your Career Earning like a Project

If you want to move to the next level, the right job, career, and lifetime earnings approach it like a project. Your plans need time to take shape. Make a plan. Focus on the steps to maximize your earnings. You will also want to assess your job, industry, and career path for income stability, growth, and total earnings potential.

Treating your career review like a project provides structure and flexibility. You can plan for a dynamic future while being open to new opportunities (an unexpected offer in a new career path) and bumps in the road (job loss when the market turns). Integrate wants and needs (define salary requirements and align to career aspirations). Identify changes needed (see Maximize Your Earnings above). Define stakeholders so that you can communicate your goals to the right people. Document lessons learned to refine your plan along the way.

Project Kickoff - Visualize Your Future

Begin with your dream job. Consider what you like to do and what you do well. Do you have a hobby or interest that can be leveraged into a job that supports you? Brainstorm what you want, how to get it, and what skills you need to get there. LinkedIn is a great place to start. Look for your dream job and review how you measure up to the requirements. Need help visualizing a new future? Check out this video.

Planning - Setting Goals and Milestones

As with any project, planning is crucial. Review your career and research the health and viability of the job role and industry. Assess the long-term prospects of the industry or job type. For example, 22 million Project Management jobs will open in the next 3 years in a variety of industries. Jobs that can flex from industry to industry give more long-term protection against downturns. And some industries, such as health care, are more future-proof than others.

Career goals should be based on personal values and desired lifestyle. But remember to review your career progression and expected lifetime earnings to align your goals with the cost of living.  

Create your plan, and add a timeline to focus on job search and skill building. Using milestones in your timeline will help you stay on track. Need help creating a simple plan? Check out this video. If you have a meeting with your boss, watch this short video for a great summary!

Execution - Gaining Experience and Building Skills

As you gain skills and experience, review your career goals. Make sure you are on the right track. If you already have a job, ask your manager if you can make a career path plan for job progression (promotions or new job roles). Continue to work on networking and mentoring to create connections at work. Build your confidence by joining a professional association. Accounting, engineering, medicine, marketing, and project management are examples of disciplines with professional associations. Find organizations in your field that can help you grow and find the right future position to increase your lifetime earnings. Learning on the job can be one of your most effective ways of gaining new skills. Find out more about learning on the job here.

Monitoring and Controlling - Adjustments and Feedback

Monitoring progress is crucial for success. Feedback from self-reflection and external sources can help adjust the career path effectively. Graphs or charts illustrate career progress and feedback loops. Use the links in How to Calculate Your Earnings above to compare how your plan stacks up against other job opportunities. Adjust your plan based on your lessons learned and changes in the job market.

Test the benefit of the efforts in building your skills. Projects often track return on investment (or ROI). Use the information in this article to test if additional education, certifications, or job retraining are worth the effort and will lead to better job roles and higher earnings.

Adjusting your earnings can depend on your role, promotion opportunities, and how much you negotiate for your worth. Unsure of how to negotiate? Watch this video.

Closing - Achieving Goals and Reaping Rewards

Your project is in its final phase. Assess what you have learned and achieved. You may decide that you are happy where you are and with the projected earnings of your position. Celebrate the achievement.

Start a new plan if you have future goals to grow your position, job satisfaction, and financial stability.

This structured approach turns the abstract concept of career planning into a tangible project you can apply today. It makes your job goals defined and actionable. Let me know your job goal and how I can help in the comments below. And if you want to know more about how to learn on the job - stay tuned! My next article will cover this point.

If you need inspiration on how to visualize your future, read this article next.

Special thanks to Maria Ntomazi for inspiring the topic: Treat Your Career Like a Project. And Gijs Abrahams for providing feedback.