About Us
I’m Hans Bauer, a financial journalist in my 40s and the writer behind SalaryByCareer.com.
I started this site because the first number in a story about work is rarely the whole story. A salary sounds good until you account for the hours. A business looks profitable until you see what the owner pays themselves. A startup costs $500 to launch, then needs several months of rent, software, insurance, and patience. Patience, regrettably, doesn’t cover the rent.
I write about careers, earnings, self-employment, and small businesses. Some articles begin with a big trend, such as a rise in new business applications. Others begin with a question one person might ask at their kitchen table: *If I stop working for a month, does my income stop too?*
Both kinds of questions interest me. I want to know what the numbers show, what they leave out, and how they affect the choices people make.
How I approach a story
I start with the claim that caught my attention and check what sits behind it. If a statistic counts new businesses, I look at what qualifies as a new business. If someone describes a low-cost startup, I look at the expenses that follow the launch. If an income figure sounds impressive, I ask how much of it the person gets to keep.
I use data and concrete examples, but I try to keep the writing readable. You shouldn’t need a finance degree or a second cup of coffee to get through an article about money.
I’m also careful about the limits of any number. An average cannot describe every career. One owner’s experience cannot predict what will happen to every new business. I’ll tell you what the evidence supports and where the answer depends on the person or situation.
What I hope you get out of it
I won’t tell you that everyone should start a business, stay in a job, or chase the highest salary.
Those choices depend on your finances, your responsibilities, and what you want your working life to look like.
What I can do is help you ask sharper questions before you make them.
If you leave SalaryByCareer.com with a clearer sense of where the money goes and what a headline number might be hiding, I’ve done my job.
Also, if you want to ask some questions or propose some changes, feel free to hit me up.