Gross Income

Why is gross income so important? It is the amount you bring in as your income. This is the amount that recruiters and employers will advertise on a job they are sharing.

For years as I was a college student I only made a small percentage of the money that I have later on in my career. And to think we made it through those tough times. We were very creative in terms of what meals to make and prepare in order to be as frugal as possible. I can remember buying food items in bulk and making weeks worth of sandwiches. Mac’n’cheese with chili from the can was another favorite. This reduced our money going out by a large percentage.

I can remember my first job out of college after I graduated. All the jobs I had had previous to that were hourly wage and did not have benefits. I went to work for this small software company and thought I had made it big. Until I got offered an internship at another company and literally doubled my income.  This is at the heart of Income vs Outgo.

Gross income is important because this is the starting point of where all the other personal financial metrics are based off of.

Your income is your biggest wealth building tool

Dave Ramsey