Michael West Financials · Conversation guide
Reading a first job offer.
The first thing anyone reads is the hourly number, and that's fair — it's the part you can spend this week. But the wage is only half the offer. The other half is quieter: health coverage, a retirement match, paid days off. Across the country, benefits add up to roughly a third again on top of the wage. This sheet is for reading the whole offer together.
1 · Score the offer together
Tick what the job actually includes. Where you can, jot what each is worth — roughly what you'd pay for it yourself. Two offers at the same wage can be very different jobs.
-
Health insurance
the employer pays most of the premium — money you'd otherwise spend yourself
Worth roughly $ / yr -
Retirement match
extra pay added to a 401(k) when you contribute — only if you put in enough to capture it
Worth roughly $ / yr -
Paid time off
days you don't work but still get paid for
Worth roughly $ / yr -
Sick leave
paid days when you're ill, separate from vacation
Worth roughly $ / yr -
Full-time hours (35+/week)
the line most benefits live above — below it, employers rarely offer them
Worth roughly $ / yr
2 · Talk it through
- Once you add the benefits to the wage, what's the offer really worth?
- Are you already covered for health some other way — a parent's plan until 26, say? If so, weigh the match and the paid time off more heavily.
- If it's part-time, is there a path to the full-time role that carries the rest?
- In a tight market, is holding out for a better offer worth turning this one down?
3 · Three questions before you sign
You can ask all three in a two-minute call or email. The answers turn the unknowns on your scorecard into real numbers.
How many hours a week is this, and is there a path to full-time and benefits down the road?
Do you offer a retirement match, and how soon would I be eligible to start getting it?
If there's health coverage, when does it start and how much comes out of my paycheck for it?
4 · The one move no employer controls
Whatever you decide about this offer, this part isn't a maybe. The single most powerful account a new earner can open has nothing to do with the company: a Roth IRA is yours. You open it, you fund it, and it follows you from job to job — match or no match. All it asks for is earned income, and a first job just gave you some.
Open one, set one small automatic contribution, and start the clock no employer can start for you.
Weigh it, don't agonize over it — and take the real offer over a perfect one that isn't on the table. Based on the first-job-offer lesson.