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

tax_tina
Sat, 28 Mar 2026 01:19:10 +0000

As someone who helps small business owners justify price increases to their customers, I LOVE this approach. The framework is identical: know your numbers, know your value, know your market.

What you did here is textbook good negotiation – you removed emotion and replaced it with evidence. That’s powerful.

The Employer Response Factor

One thing I want to flag, though, based on years of client conversations: not all managers respond well to personal expense data. I’ve seen it go both ways.

The positive response (like yours): Manager sees you as analytical, prepared, serious. Respects the homework. Views it as collaboration – “Let’s figure out what’s fair together.”

The negative response: Manager thinks “Your grocery bill isn’t my problem. We pay market rate for your role, and what you do with that money is your business.”

The difference often comes down to company culture and the individual manager’s empathy level. Some genuinely care about employee financial wellness. Others see compensation purely as labor market pricing.

Better Framing Strategy

Here’s how I’d recommend framing this to maximize success across different manager types:

Lead with Market Data + Performance

Start with: “Based on my research, market rate for my role with my experience level is $X-Y. Combined with the scope expansion in my responsibilities over the past year, I’d like to discuss a compensation adjustment to $Z.”

This is the business case. No manager can argue with market rate + performance. It’s about your value to the company, not your personal situation.

Follow with Cost-of-Living Reality (If Needed)

If the manager pushes back or seems skeptical, then bring in your personal expense analysis: “I want to add some context. I’ve been tracking my actual expenses, and my cost structure has increased 8.2% over two years while salary grew 4%. That’s not a complaint – it’s just the reality that makes this adjustment more urgent for me.”

This positions personal data as supporting evidence, not the primary argument. It humanizes the request without making it about your grocery bills.

The Small Business Parallel

I have a client who roasts coffee beans. Last year, green coffee prices jumped 18%, packaging increased 12%, and shipping went up 15%. When she raised retail prices 10%, some customers complained.

Her response: “Here’s my cost breakdown. Here’s what competitors charge. Here’s why this price reflects the value you’re getting.”

She combined internal cost data (like your Beancount tracking) with market positioning (like your Levels.fyi research). Same playbook. Different context.

Presentation Question

I’m really curious: How did you present this?

Printed report you handed to your manager?

Slides during a scheduled meeting?

Charts in a shared doc?

Casual conversation with phone screenshots?

I find presentation format often matters as much as the content itself. Professional presentation = serious request. Casual conversation = “just thinking out loud.”

For Small Business Owners Reading This

If an employee came to you with this level of analysis, here’s my advice as a consultant:

1. Appreciate the preparation – this person cares enough to do homework

2. Separate personal data from market data – you’re not obligated to match their cost increases, but you are competing with market rates

3. Be honest about what’s possible – if budget is tight, say so and discuss timeline

4. Use it as a retention signal – someone doing this analysis might also be doing job search research

This is a conversation starter, not a demand. Treat it that way.

Final Thought

The Beancount community is uniquely positioned to do this well because we already have the data discipline built in. Most people feel their expenses going up. We can prove it.

That’s a negotiating superpower if used strategically.

Congrats on the outcome – and thanks for sharing the playbook!