Asklemmy

My income varies enough that the yearly total is a better picture than the last two or four weeks are.

"I'm making 50k". Great, now I have to guess - dollars? Monthly? Yearly? If yearly then what's the monthly paycheck? Net? Gross?

I mean surely it's obvious in that example, no?

dollars

If that's the native currency wherever you are, then of course dollars

Monthly? Yearly?

$50k/month about be $600k/year. Pretty sure you'd be able to tell if the person you're talking to made half a million dollars a year vs just above the poverty line (in the US at least) just from context, but when in doubt - it's probably safe to assume that the person you're talking to isnt in the top 1% of earners

If yearly then what's the monthly paycheck?

Yearly divided by 12? If you're in a hurry and want a rough estimate just chop a number off the right and that'll get you to within ~10% of the correct value

Net? Gross?

I've literally never heard anyone give their salary as gross outside the context of financial planning, and even then they'll always specify "after taxes" or something similar.

Other comments go into plenty of detail about why they se various conventions are what they are (yearly vs monthly, net vs gross, etc(

In Spain it is also yearly. In general the annual salary is divided in 14 payments, unless you ask to have it divided by 12, depends on the employer, so it makes sense.

The income tax is also annual based. So depending how much you earned during the fiscal year you have a different tax rate. (And part of the income tax rate is dependent on the "state" but they are all more or less similar).

In France, people are sometimes paid 13/14 months a year. It means you get two months as a bonus, so it’s relevant in this case to tell the yearly salary

large part of Europe also.

also yearly before tax, because employers do not need to know about other incomes and thereof how much money you pay in taxes. you can tell, but they don't need to know.

when they hire you, they don't know about your taxes, anyway. they put the ad, and if you're hired and have other incomes, you'll pay more taxes out of it.

yearly because taxes are paid yearly.

some people are paid weekly, some monthly.

so yearly becomes the comparison to help taxes and compare across the market which might pay at different frequency.

it helps account for your budget and their budget.

if you don't care about budgeting or calculate taxes, you make the math.

Because it's easier to compare yearly salaries. If you say “I’m making 50k” then I can assume it's yearly (if it's monthly then good for you, but that's overwhelmingly not the case). Otherwise you need to specify the pay frequency and do math.

Same with net/gross. I can assume your yearly salary is given in gross because net introduces a bunch of variables with tax rates based on location/deductions that makes it a fairly meaningless value to compare against. Not to mention your net monthly income may change in a year as you hit certain tax limits like the max social security tax limit.

Some people may also not have consistent monthly earnings so averaging income over a year gives a more accurate picture of average income.

It's a financial year not a financial month

Happens in germany too. A lot of people get a special salary at the end of the year, Christmas money if you will, and that also accounts into the yearly salary. If I earn 4K a month, I earn 48K a year, but if I get 100% christmas money, I earn 52K.

What's up with yearly salaries not keeping up with inflation?

It's not as useful for day-to-day budgeting as a more granular one, but people generally only look at their finances closely once a year at tax time and so it's a good point of comparison for that; get a sense of how your financial life is evolving.

It's also the number you're asked for on tax forms, other financial forms (loans, financial aid, bank accounts), questionnaires (though you can lie or 'prefer not to say' on those)... comes up a lot, basically.

In my last three jobs, I was paid weekly, then bimonthly, and currently every two weeks. Weekly and every two weeks is easy to convert, but bimonthly my pay would fluctuate slightly.

There are also yearly bonuses and similar that would not be included.

If you know the yearly, then that is the allotted amount in the company budget for you. So, in the big picture, you are being paid yearly. Especially if you are salary or contract. I have switched to making a yearly budget with monthly categories, and the yearly costs are much easier to factor into. My budget became more simplified and less stressful. Also, another benefit is that I save for an average cost that is usually higher than most months, and the high cost months are less troublesome to plan for.

I try to calculate net income: deductions and taxes removed from gross income. Overall, I feel better as I can plan ahead of time and don't need to do it every month. Still need to keep an eye on following the plan and for anything that changes it. I don't just plan it either, I execute it.

I think most answered your question with one exception. Dollars? What else you expect it in? Cats?

(Ignoring you will want it in the country of your residence)

Wwll, I get 14 monthly payments a year, so two times a year the double amount, plus a yearly bonus, plus a fixed one time payment, so monthly would simply not represent how much i get yearly.