How to Give Yourself a Raise Without Switching Jobs or Asking Your Boss for One My financial journey took a sharp turn when I discovered the power of this one expense trick — here's how you can uncover hidden savings and take control of your finances.
By Anita Kinoshita Edited by Mark Klekas
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Editor's Note: Anita Kinoshita, AKA The Retired Millennial, writes exclusively for BIZ Experiences+; join today to access her content.
Building a career isn't like it used to be. People used to be able to start their career at a company and earn enough income to comfortably live and retire from their growing salary at that same company. One in four young adults ages 18-40 switched companies at least once between 2018 and 2023, with 62% stating that pursuing a higher salary motivates them. It's easy to see why young people may continue to job-hop given the rising cost of goods, notably housing and the burden of funding their own retirement.
Despite the career-building paradigm shift, not everyone wants to job-hop, and not everyone should do it blindly. Here's how to give yourself a raise without switching jobs or involving your boss.
The benefits of an expense audit
Conducting expense audits has helped my audience "give themselves" hundreds of extra dollars per month. Some use the money to invest in the stock market or pay off old bills. Expense audits are a low-effort, low-time solution to have extra money every month. It's also a lot easier than trying to switch jobs or starting a new side hustle.
Sometimes, an expense audit can feel like a step in the wrong direction. You aren't making more money, but you are saving quite a bit, and that can make a big difference in your finances. Saving money doesn't feel as glamorous as earning more money, but saving is the best place to start from an intentional living perspective.
An expense audit can impact more than just your finances; it can help you create an intentional lifestyle where you thoughtfully spend your money on the things that matter to you — which can give you a heightened sense of joy.
Related: This Brilliant 'Cohort' Trick Can Help You Come Up With a Business Idea Worth Millions
Conducting an expense audit was the first practical step I took towards financial independence. It allowed me to reach coast financial independence in two years, quit my 9-5 job for a part-time job and still be on track to retire in my 40s.
The 7 steps to conducting an expense audit
Conducting an expense audit is simple and can take as little as one to two hours. Here's how you do it:
1. Analyze your past three months of expenses
Gather all your bank and credit card statements to get a list of all your expenses for the last three months (at minimum). Print them out or copy and paste them onto a spreadsheet, where every row has an item, description and the amount it cost you.
2. Identify if each expense is a want or a need
Identify if each expense was a need or a want. This will help you develop an elementary-level awareness of your expenses and help you create an informed plan in a later step.
Related: This Simple Money Formula Helped Me Escape My 9-5 and Find Financial Freedom
3. Assign a happiness score to each expense
Rate each expense on a scale of one to three, where one is unhappy, two is neutral and three is happy. Intentional spending is more than just buying your needs or wants; it also means spending your money on things you value and that bring you happiness.
4. Reflect on your expenses
After going through steps one through three, reflect on your expenses. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Are there any expenses that surprised you?
- Are you spending as much money as you thought?
- Are your expenses aligned with your financial goals and values?
- How much are you spending on your needs versus wants, and how much are you spending based on your happiness scores?
- Do your expenses express who you are or who you want to be as a person?
If you are interested in retiring early, I recommend calculating how long it will take you to retire based on your current lifestyle at this step. For example, if you spend $86,000 a year, you will need $86,000 x 25 to retire, which is $2,150,000. Use a retirement calculator to determine how long it will take you to reach that. Are you comfortable with that timeline?
5. Make a plan to cut, keep or eliminate each expense
Each item should get either a cut, keep or eliminate tag. To build momentum, start by eliminating everything you can happily live without. Keep anything that brings you the most happiness. Start cutting back on your top three expenses to optimize for the biggest savings. For most Americans, this is housing, food and transportation.
6. Reflect on your plan
Now that you have a plan, how much are you projected to save with your plan? How does that impact your retirement timeline? The power of saving is that cutting a mindless purchase out forever brings down the total cost you need to retire. For example, if you were spending $86,000 before your plan and $70,000 after, you no longer need $2,150,000 to retire; you need $1,750,000 to retire. Thinking about this can motivate you to actually implement your plan, which is the last step.
7. Implement your plan
This is where the magic happens. Start with the items that won't take too long to give you a dopamine boost, which will help you move on to the items that may require a little more time. For example, if you decide you want to move into a housing unit with a smaller floor plan or sell your car for a fuel-efficient option, those may take some more time, but you can do one thing at a time.
Give yourself the gift of awareness, intentionality and potentially early retirement by doing an expense audit. If you've been looking for a way to increase your income without switching jobs, this is a good first step.
