Salary Negotiation by the Numbers: How I Used My Beancount Data to Justify a 12% Raise

finance_fred
Sat, 28 Mar 2026 01:17:56 +0000

This is absolutely brilliant, and honestly, I’m kicking myself for not thinking of this sooner! I’ve been using Beancount obsessively for 4+ years for my FIRE tracking, investment analysis, tax planning… but somehow NEVER connected the dots to salary negotiation.

You’re 100% right that the discipline of tracking builds confidence. When you have years of clean data, you know your numbers cold. There’s no hesitation, no “I think maybe…” It’s just facts. That confidence probably came through in your conversation with your manager.

Start Tracking NOW

Here’s my biggest takeaway for anyone reading: Don’t wait until 3 months before your review to start tracking. Start now, even if your next salary conversation is 6-12 months away. Future you will thank present you for having that historical baseline.

I’m actually going to start a dedicated “salary-negotiation-prep” branch in my ledger repo right now to organize this kind of analysis.

Presentation Matters

One thing I’d emphasize: you were smart to NOT share your raw Beancount ledger. Even sanitized, I think showing raw transaction data to an employer crosses a privacy line. What you did – using bean-query to generate summary statistics and then presenting clean charts – is the perfect middle ground.

Employers don’t need to know you spent $47.23 at Trader Joe’s on March 15th. They need to see “Food expenses increased 9.7% over 2 years.” That’s the insight, not the raw data.

The Housing Question

Quick question: did you include your full housing costs in the analysis, or just rent? I’m thinking about things like:

Utilities (which have definitely increased with electricity rates)

Renter’s insurance (mine went up 15% last year)

Internet (ISPs love their annual “promotional rate expired” bumps)

My suspicion is that true housing cost inflation is even higher than the rent number alone suggests. For anyone doing this analysis, I’d recommend a comprehensive Expenses:Housing:* query to capture the full picture.

Next Steps for Me

I’m actually inspired to do this analysis even though I’m not currently job hunting. My theory: knowing your “real” compensation trajectory vs cost-of-living trajectory is valuable information regardless. If the gap is widening, that’s a signal to either negotiate or start updating the resume.

Going to create a Fava custom query for “Real Purchasing Power Over Time” this weekend. If it works well, I’ll share it here.

Congrats again on the 12% – that’s a huge win!