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Everyone’s been there.  They need more money, to pay their bills and live the American Dream, but they’re not quite sure how to go about asking for a pay raise to make more money.  Heck, I’ve been there too. 

It seems like even people who make “good money” are struggling somewhat with this strained economy, outlandish gas prices, and just the astronomical cost of living in general.  What used to be good money is now just making ends meet for a lot of people with big mortgages, huge household costs like maintenance and other things, and then kids to raise too.

Here are some tips I’ve read over the course of the last few months on how to ask for a raise, the right way:

1.)  Know the market value of your job.  Look it up online - there are several good websites that offer this type of information.  Your company may even offer a broad range that other companies offer for the same position.

2.)  Get together a small presentation of the value you add in your position.  You can even compare your position to others (be careful with this one though) when using them as a point of reference as to what functions you perform.

3.)  Get an idea of what the company’s policy is on giving raisese that are not actually during a “review period” and are just simply because a person feels they need to get to the next step..

4.)  Indicate that you are also after a better title, and maybe don’t emphasize the actual pay increase so much.  This will show first off that you are willing to get ahead, and perhaps sacrifice the “money” aspect a little in order to seek a better title first.

We’re all looking to make a little more money, right?  I know I am!  Everyone nowadays seems to be drowning in debt, with little recourse but to suck it up.  Well, April commemorates Equal Pay Day, a day which recognizes that pay rates and salaries should be equal amongst men and women. 

Every yeah, the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) puts together this holiday which is now nationally observed (I’d never heard of it til I read about it though - think they need to work on their publicity campaign) to help to bridge the still existing gap between the money that women and men make, as well as the gap that still unfortunately exists racially (who knew?).

Equal Pay Day is a point-making holiday that aims to help equalize these gaps and bring us to what we’re supposed to be - a fair and equitable society that does not discriminate based on gender or race in the professional world.  The holiday strives to accurately display how far into each year a woman must work to earn as much as a man earned in the previous year.

Tuesday is the day that was randomly picked to symbolize the day when a woman’s wages would catch up to a man’s wages from the week before that. Because women on average earn less, they must work longer for the same pay. For women of color, the pay gap is even greater.