Which raise measure do you need: nominal, real or long-term value?

Match one decision question to one primary measure

Record the basis before comparing two outputs

Two values can both be correct and still be unsuitable for direct comparison. Pay Raise compares current and proposed annual gross pay: its money outputs are amounts per year, while its rate outputs are ratios. A salary path and a raise stream cover several entered years, so keep their annual, cumulative and present-value outputs separately labelled.

A real raise and a present value are not synonyms. The first compares annual pay with an entered price-change assumption. The Lifetime Value model derives an initial annual raise, grows that difference with the entered baseline annual growth rate, and discounts each year of that derived stream to today using the entered annual discount rate. Neither assumption is supplied or verified by this article.

Choose the specialist model that owns the question

For an immediate current-versus-proposed annual gross-pay change, read the Pay Raise guide, open the Pay Raise calculator, and review its methodology for the exact annual inputs, per-year money outputs, rate outputs and exclusions.

For a salary path expressed in nominal and today-money terms, read the Inflation-Adjusted Salary guide, open the Inflation-Adjusted Salary calculator, and review its methodology and supply the growth, inflation and horizon assumptions yourself.

For a stream derived from an initial annual raise plus entered baseline annual growth, annual discount and horizon, read the Lifetime Value of a Raise guide, open the Lifetime Value of a Raise calculator, and review its methodology and read present value as the derived stream discounted to today, not to a selectable valuation date or as a guaranteed working lifetime.

Use a secondary view only when it answers a second stated question

An immediate raise comparison can be followed by a purchasing-power scenario or a raise-stream scenario, but the second result should be introduced as a new question with new assumptions. Do not combine the outputs into one score or select the largest number as the decision answer.

If the offer also includes a bonus or equity, move to the raise, bonus and stock-compensation comparison after the raise measure is labelled. That comparison owns compensation-form timing and uncertainty, not the three raise measures on this page.