The golden handcuffs calculator: are you underpaid for your misery?

Free calculator template

If you feel trapped by the golden handcuffs, I’ll help you cost that out.

Because for every high achiever, there comes a time when compensation stops feeling like enough.

You followed the path: an MBA, a fancy title, a six-figure salary with promising equity, stellar benefits.

But you’re also exhausted. Offline. You’ve stopped learning. You have to remain disengaged just to get through the day.

You want something different and better. And you may be willing to take a hit on compensation to do something else. But you need your current comp. Maybe a spouse and/or kids depend on your benefits. Leaving may mean pausing what you’re working toward financially. The thought of walking away feels impossible. Just too difficult. Too much stress.

There’s those golden handcuffs.

But fortunately, I have an exercise to help you cost the price of staying. So rather than relying on vibes, let’s get data.

This exercise was made for my clients: MBA women in tech who feel trapped by their own success. It takes 10 minutes and shows you exactly how much staying costs you.

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Here’s How It Works:

Make your own copy of the free Golden Handcuffs Calculator here

Step 1: calculate your 5-year compensation

Enter your current annual salary, bonus, and equity value. Estimates are perfectly okay. The sheet will calculate your total annual compensation and multiply it by five to represent your 5-year compensation.

This is what you’re actually getting paid to stay.

Step 2: price your misery

Now here’s where it gets interesting…

Write down the minimum dollar amount your company would need to pay you — as a lump sum — to endure everything that staying would cost you for five more years.

Be specific and think about:

• Your physical or mental health

• Time with your partner or family

• Your creativity and sense of purpose

• The career pivot you keep putting off

• Your ability to take risks

Step 3: assess your misery tax

The sheet automatically calculates the gap between your “cost of staying” and your actual 5-year earnings.

If your “cost of staying” is higher than what you’re actually earning, then you’re likely underpaid for your own misery.

That gap is your misery tax: what staying is costing you.

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What This Exercise Reveals

Most of my clients discover that their stay price is 2-3x higher than their actual compensation. One Head of Product told me she’d need $3 million to stay five more years. Her actual five-year earnings? $1.8 million.

After she saw that discrepancy, we started building her exit strategy.

This exercise doesn’t tell you whether to stay or go. Rather it quantifies what your gut may already know: you’re trading too much of your life for not-enough compensation.

Want to talk about what to do with your results? That’s exactly what I help my clients figure out. Comment below or DM me on LinkedIn and let’s talk about what comes next for you.

You don’t have to stay stuck just because you’re well-compensated.

Golden handcuffs are still handcuffs.

Later,
Rachel