Top 5 Salary Calculators

As the cost of living seems to rapidly increase each year, managing your income and career is more important than ever. Tempting as it may be to spend your precious cash on expensive gadgets and treats, saving is a more rewarding option.

A fairly wide number of tools label themselves 'salary calculator' on the web these days but we feel these tools actually respond to very specific calculation needs: benchmarking, tax advice, cost of living etc... We thought we would give you a short guide to the main type of salary calculators out there, and their different approaches; you may find yourself using all 5!

Tax Calculator: Money Saving Expert

Money Saving Expert's income tax calculator calculates your take-home pay after tax, student loans and pensions. It then compares your results to previous years. This simple, intuitive site is pleasant to use due to its friendly presentation. A few advanced options are available, such as considering your tax code.

For a more in-depth calculation, try ListenToTaxman's salary calculator, as there's more options available, including childcare vouchers.

Cost-of-living calculator: Numbeo

Thinking about migrating to another country? Use this calculator to determine your monthly spending in the context of living in abroad. This tool compares 300 cities worldwide, from 18 months of accumulated data, such as housing, utilities, transportation and restaurants.

Would you need to drastically change your standard of living if you were to relocate? Turns out living in Tokyo, Japan would be ridiculously expensive!

Salary Calculator: Emolument

Make sure you stay ahead of your competition by comparing your salary to others and joining Emolument's transparency crusade. This free, easy-to-use salary calculator is great for benchmarking your earnings, considering your specific experience and qualifications. This data is 'crowd-sourced' directly from individual anonymous professionals before its checked and validated. This tool allows you to make more informed decisions about your career - you can actually print out the report for your job and take it to that key salary negotiation meeting with your boss!

Emolument is regularly featured and quoted on Bloomberg, Reuters and in The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Daily telegraph.

Pension Calculator: Money Advice Service

The money advice service pension calculator can estimate the income you'll receive when you retire. This is income from workplace schemes and private pension contributions, but the basic state pension you will receive.

This is vital in determining, for example, if your pension is less that what you would expect, what funds are needed for the lifestyle you want. Identifying any retirement shortfall is essential to budgeting for the future.

Budget Calculator: Money Advice Service

Money Advice Service offers a quick budget planning service on their site. It allows you to calculate the income available ager you've paid off your most important bills. There's also a detailed spending breakdown to remind you of all of your expenses. This is essential money management to keep track of where your money goes each month.

Alternatively, Financial Coach Dave Ramsey offers on his site budgeting software called Gazelle Budget Lite. Although strictly in US dollars, this software offers useful advice on where your money should be going. Various banks offer similar services on their sites.

Emolument provides bonus and salary statistics based on data submitted directly by professionals like you. It is free, anonymous, and already a trusted tool for thousands of professionals worldwide. Are you paid enough? Click here to find out now.