I think this is mostly a US thing. Why use yearly salary? You’re not paid once a year, are you? Most likely once a month. Referencing monthly salary makes much more sense.

“I’m making 50k”. Great, now I have to guess - dollars? Monthly? Yearly? If yearly then what’s the monthly paycheck? Net? Gross?

  • @[email protected]
    20•1 year ago

    As others have mentioned, a few possibilities (I’m in the US, not sure how specific this is):

    • Payment isn’t always monthly, it is often every two weeks. So sometimes you get two paychecks in a month, sometimes you get three.
    • Compensation isn’t just salary, even if you’re salaried. Bonuses, stock grants, etc. might be done yearly/every 6 mo./every quarter.
    • Expenses aren’t always monthly. If you own a place, you probably pay property tax which isn’t due every month AFAIK. If you budget for vacations, holiday travel, etc., these are costs that vary wildly month to month, but have some stability on a yearly basis.
    • ETA: taxes are based on annual income, too.
    • @[email protected]
      8•1 year ago

      The tax point is probably the biggest one. People just want to know what tax bracket you fall into. And it corrects for seasonal variations.

    • @[email protected]
      4•1 year ago

      Expenses aren’t always monthly

      Mortgages neither. Mine is accelerated bi-weekly, meaning I pay essentially 13 months a year… It shaves a wooping 3 and a half years on my 25 years!