1 Thing To Do Every Year If You Want To Make More Money, According to a Money Expert

Most wealth-building practices aren’t very difficult to comprehend or implement. Strategic investing, budgeting and income diversification are key. But when it comes to making more money specifically at work, the rules are a bit more situation specific — or are they? Is there something all of us can be doing to increase our income?

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Sallie Krawcheck, the co-founder of Ellevest, a women’s-focused investment platform with more than $2 billion in assets under management (AUM), wrote a piece for CNBC Make It about how to increase your earning power in the workplace. The tactic? Negotiating your salary. This is hardly an unheard of maneuver, but it’s one that a lot of people miss out on, perhaps because they don’t know their worth as an employee or they’re struggling with impostor syndrome or they think it could anger or insult their boss. Go about it tactfully and you have nothing to lose. Here’s how to successfully negotiate.

Negotiate as Though You’re Doing It Solely for Others

Negotiating for more — be it a raise or better benefits — is difficult for some, including those who consistently put 110% into their work and always go the extra mile for their boss. Advocating yourself can be hard for a lot of reasons; what’s usually a lot less difficult is advocating for somebody you really care about. So, if you have mixed feelings about negotiating for you, think about the other people in your life who would benefit from a successful negotiation. It can be kids or parents or even a stranger in need of charity.

“If you want a raise, focus on how that raise will help you put funds toward your kids’ college educations or your favorite non-profit,” Krawcheck wrote. “If it’s a more flexible schedule, think about how our friends and family may appreciate having us around more.”

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Open Your Mind to Other Ways To Win

Usually, we set out on a negotiation with our boss with a single goal in mind and usually that goal is more money. This can be a setup for failure if we walk out of the negotiation without a pay raise. Instead of heading into talks dead set on the one thing you want, be open-minded to other types of wins that may be less obvious.

“If you go in with just one ask, you sell yourself short, because if you hear ‘no,’ you leave empty-handed,” Krawcheck wrote. “There are many things to negotiate for that can have value for you, and your employer, as you develop your career. This could be a more flexible schedule, exposure to other parts of the company, working on a project with a top manager or even a sabbatical.”

Make Negotiation an Annual Affair

Negotiation isn’t something to do once or even just a handful of times in your career. It’s something you should do on a regular basis. Krawcheck recommended doing it annually.

“You should be having the raise conversation with your boss every year,” she said. “Ask them, ‘What does it take to be successful in my role? What are the metrics I’m being measured against? If I hit these metrics, what kind of career progression and raise should I expect to see?'”

Nervous? Get Comfortable Talking With Your Boss on a Regular Basis

If you’ve read all this and you’re thinking, “Sound great, but this won’t work with my boss,” you’re surely not alone. A 2022 survey by GoodHire found that only 44% of American workers said their manager was “open and honest during salary and compensation conversations.” So how do you break through with your boss in order to have a productive negotiation?

Consider Krawcheck’s recommendation to get into the habit of talking with your boss casually and frequently.

“You don’t need to have a serious, sit-down conversation with your manager every month,” she wrote. “But I do recommend getting comfortable with talking more consistently about compensation and bonuses in a low-stress environment.”

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 1 Thing To Do Every Year If You Want To Make More Money, According to a Money Expert