Career Money - Offer Analyzer
Job Offer Comparison Calculator
Two offers, one decision. Compare total compensation - base salary, signing bonus, annual bonus, RSUs and 401(k) match - across year 1, ongoing pay, and the 4-year total that actually matters. Free, no sign-up.
1. Nominal APY vs. Real Post-Inflation Yield
A common pitfall in yield farming and staking is prioritizing high nominal APY percentages without factoring in baseline network token inflation. For instance, if a network offers 14% nominal staking rewards but dilutes circulating supply by 10% annually, your real purchasing power expansion is only ~3.6%.
2. Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSTs) & Capital Efficiency
Liquid staking protocols (such as Lido stETH, Rocket Pool rETH, and JitoSOL) allow institutional participants to maintain yield generation while retaining liquidity for DeFi lending and liquidity provision. However, LSTs introduce smart contract and depeg risk that must be modeled into portfolio variance.
How to Compare Job Offers Like a Negotiator
Base salary is the smallest part of the story. Two offers 10% apart on salary can be 40% apart on total compensation once bonuses, equity, and retirement match are counted. This calculator puts both offers on the same math.
The 5 numbers that matter
1. Base salary — the foundation everything else multiplies off. 2. Signing bonus — one-time; divide by 4 mentally to compare fairly against ongoing pay. 3. Annual bonus — ask for the last 3 years of actual payout percentages, not the target. 4. RSUs — value the grant at today's price spread over vesting years, then discount for risk: unvested RSUs vanish if you leave. 5. 401(k) match — a 6% match on $165,000 is $9,900/year of free money; a 3% match on $150,000 is $4,500.
The traps
- Front-loaded offers: a big signing bonus masks weak ongoing comp. Always compare the 4-year total, not year 1.
- RSU refreshers: ask whether new grants arrive yearly. A company with annual refreshers beats one with a single cliff grant.
- Vesting cliffs: a 1-year cliff means zero equity if you leave at month 11.
- Uncounted benefits: health premiums, HSA seed money, PTO days, and remote-work savings are real dollars — price them.
Worked example
Offer A: $150k base, $25k signing, 15% bonus, $200k RSUs over 4 years, 4% match. Year 1 = $253,500; ongoing = $228,500/year; 4-year total = $939,000. That is the number to negotiate against — not the $150k salary.
Once you sign, protect the equity with our 401(k) calculator and model the retirement side with the retirement calculator.