Know Your Numbers: Income

NOTE:  This post is part of the Know Your Numbers Series, talking about how to find out and keep handy all your financial numbers. Before you can make smart choices about your finances, you have to know what you have, what you owe, and how you usually spend your money.

To know how much you can spend, you have to know how much money you make.   It's time to look up and write down the following sources of income:

Net employment income. 
This is how much money you bring home each pay period AFTER all deductions (income tax, CPP, EI, benefits, pension deductions, etc.) 
If your pay is variable, based on number of hours worked, try to figure out what your average is, or what your minimum amount usually is, and use that to budget.
CPP and EI benefits have a maximum that you contribute in a year, and once you're reached that maximum, your pay cheques will be larger since you won't have that deduction.  It's best to calculate your bi-weekly or monthly income based on the months in which you have those deductions ... then when it goes away, you end up with a little extra in your bank account, which will either cover leaks in your spending budget, or allow you to put a little more money into savings. You don't want to get used to spending that extra money on needs each month, because next January it will start being deducted again for the new year.  You can see the numbers for maximum CPP and EI contributions for 2013 here.

Benefits. 
These include:

• Parental leave top-up
• EI (for unemployment or parental leave)
• Disability payments
• Universal Child Care Benefit

Support.
Child support or spousal support payments should also be considered in your income.  If they are reliably paid, make them a part of your monthly budget.  If the payment is unreliable, then it's probably best to build your own monthly budget without relying on this income ... but you should still know exactly what SHOULD be coming your way, and keep track of how much is paid and how much is owing at any given time. 

Other income.
Any other money you usually have coming in each month. This could include money from odd jobs, casual babysitting, blog ad revenue, rental property income, and other sources.