Vocations · Professional Development

The bigger bonus is not
always the better offer.

Put up to three offers side by side, including signing bonuses, repayment terms, relocation money and vesting stock. See which pays more by year, the month one passes another, and what you would owe if you left early.

Compare offersWhat you get

The calculator

The worked example compares three made-up analyst offers. Change any term and every total, line and sentence follows.

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What you get

Vocations · Professional DevelopmentFree

What you finish with
A side-by-side total for each offer over one to four years, a month-by-month chart with the points where one offer passes another, what you keep and repay if you leave after any month, and a printable comparison or spreadsheet file.
Who it is for
Students and graduates weighing a first job offer, adults changing jobs, and the career counselors and job coaches who help them read an offer letter.
Format
Browser tool. Works on a phone or computer. Print or save as PDF, a year-by-year .csv, and a file to move offers between devices.
Access
Free. No account and no sign-in. Offers stay in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Professional Development space in Caveat Vocations.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Enter each employer's base salary and the raise you expect each year. Leave the target bonus at 0 if there is none.
  2. Add the signing bonus, whether it is paid at once or in two parts, and the repayment clause from the offer letter.
  3. Add relocation money and any stock grant with its vesting schedule and cliff.
  4. Pick a view of one to four years, then move the leave-early slider to see what each offer leaves you with.
  5. Print the comparison or save the spreadsheet before you call the recruiter.

Compare offers

How the totals work

Simple month-by-month arithmetic, written out so you can check it.

The rules the calculator follows

  • Base pay is paid monthly, one twelfth of the year's salary. The raise applies at each anniversary.
  • Annual bonus is counted at target, paid at the end of each full year you stay.
  • Signing bonus is paid at the start, or split, with the rest paid after the month you enter if you are still there.
  • Equity vests in equal parts every month, quarter, six months or year after the cliff; nothing vests before the cliff, and at the cliff everything earned so far vests at once.
  • Everything is before tax, in today's dollars, with no investment growth.

The four repayment clauses

  • All: leave before the date and you repay everything you received.
  • Prorated: you repay the share of the period you did not work. Leave after 10 months of a 24-month clause and you repay 14/24.
  • All, then half: everything before the first date, half before the second, nothing after.
  • Clauses vary. Many apply only if you quit or are fired for cause, not if you are laid off; some count from the payment date rather than the start date. Read yours and ask the employer to confirm in writing.

The worked example, checked with exact fractions when the page is built. Larkspur pays $82,000 in the first 12 months, the most of the three, because of its $12,000 signing bonus and $4,000 relocation. Bayline's higher base and 5% target bonus move it ahead after month 17, and over three years it totals $239,461 against $219,999 for Larkspur and $237,272 for Copperleaf. Leaving Larkspur after 10 months means repaying $11,000: 14/24 of the bonus plus all of the relocation money. Employers, salaries and terms are made up.

Sources

  1. Internal Revenue Service, Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer's Tax Guide, section 7, "Supplemental Wages": the optional flat rate of 22% for federal income tax withholding and the mandatory 37% on supplemental wages over $1 million in a calendar year (irs.gov/pub15).
  2. Internal Revenue Service, Publication 15: Social Security tax of 6.2% up to the annual wage base and Medicare tax of 1.45% on all wages, including bonuses.
  3. Internal Revenue Service, Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income, and Publication 17 on repayments of income received in an earlier year (the "claim of right" rules), for why a repayment in a later year is handled differently.
  4. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Investor.gov, on employee stock options and restricted stock: vesting schedules, cliffs and the risk that shares lose value.

General information, not tax, legal or financial advice. The calculator adds up the terms you enter; it cannot read an offer letter or predict bonuses, raises or share prices. The worked example's employers and terms are made up. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.