my friend just sent me this web site, paycheckcity because am terrible at figuring out take home pay between different states. obviously this does not account for your medical or dental deductions, but gets you within the ballpark.

I thought it was rather fitting after having read the latest from the brazen careerist about five online financial tools to use with caution, including a salary calculator:

First of all, most comparison tools give you an average salary within a 25 percent margin of error. If you don’t know what you’re worth within a 25 percent margin of error, that’s a problem.

Why not just compare salaries with friends who are in your field? If you’re in a business in which you have no contacts, you’re not worth the average amount anyway, because you’re so ineffective at connecting with people around you that you’re compromising your ability to add value to a company.