Career ROI: Why Your Salary Tells You Nothing About Your Actual Returns

Francisco changed jobs four times in three years. Each move brought a 15-20% salary bump. He tracks his comp in a spreadsheet and celebrates every negotiation win.

His career ROI? Declining.

Not on paper—his W-2 looks great. But Francisco's 18-month pattern means he never builds deep relationships, never gets the complex projects that create exponential learning, and burns through reputation capital faster than he accumulates it. His spreadsheet says he's winning. His actual career trajectory says otherwise.

Meanwhile, Sarah took a 50% pay cut to leave McKinsey for a startup. Her spreadsheet says she's losing. Her sleep quality, learning curve, and network say otherwise. She's building skills that will compound for decades and relationships with people she'll work with again.

The difference? Francisco measures one dimension. Sarah optimizes across six.

What Your Spreadsheet Misses

We've all been there. You get a job offer and immediately pull up the salary comparison spreadsheet. The new number is bigger than the old number. Decision made.

But here's what that spreadsheet doesn't capture: whether you're actually building career capital or just collecting paychecks.

Your career isn't a savings account where you check the balance every two weeks. It's an investment portfolio that compounds over 40 years. And like any portfolio, returns come from multiple asset classes, not just one.

Salary is the only dimension that's easy to measure. So we optimize for it and ignore:

Whether you're learning skills that will matter in five years
If your manager is someone you'd follow to another company
Whether you can sustain this pace without burning out
If the work actually matters to you
Whether this brand opens doors or closes them

These dimensions are harder to quantify. They're also what determine whether you're still employable, energized, and financially secure at 45.

You're not crazy for caring about these things. You're just fighting against a system that's trained you to optimize for legibility (salary) over impact (everything else).

How Francisco's Strategy Backfires

Let's look at what Francisco's spreadsheet can't see.

Five years in, his network is shallow. He knows hundreds of people. He can't call any of them for a favor. Every relationship reset at 18 months, right when it would have started compounding.

His learning curve flattened three years ago. He's done the same React patterns at four companies. Different logos, same problems. Meanwhile, his peers who stayed longer got the messy, complex projects that actually build expertise.

He's now pigeonholed as a job-hopper. Recruiters see the pattern and assume he'll leave their company in 18 months too. The roles he wants—the ones with real scope and impact—go to candidates with track records of seeing things through.

His salary is 60% higher than when he started. His career capital is lower.

This is what happens when you optimize one variable in a six-variable system.

The Six Dimensions of Career ROI

At 40yearscareer, we use the LA4P framework to measure career experiences across six dimensions. Each gets rated 1-5, where 1 is a dealbreaker and 5 is exceptional.

Here's what Francisco's current role actually looks like:

Learning (L): 2 — Same React patterns he's been doing for 18 months. No new technical challenges. No exposure to system design or architecture decisions.

Alignment (A): 3 — The product is fine. He doesn't hate it. He also can't explain why it matters without sounding like he's reading from the company's About page.

People (P1): 2 — His manager is absent. His teammates are junior. Nobody's pushing him to level up. He's the most senior engineer and there's no one to learn from.

Prestige (P2): 4 — The company has a good brand. The logo looks solid on LinkedIn. People return his cold emails.

Pace (P3): 4 — Reasonable hours. Flexible schedule. He can maintain this indefinitely.

Profit (P4): 5 — $200K total comp. Top of market for his level.

Total: 20/30 (Average: 3.3)

Francisco sees the 5 in Profit and the 4 in Prestige. He misses that his Learning and People scores are quietly destroying his long-term returns.

Now look at Sarah's new role:

Learning (L): 5 — Building operations systems from scratch. Wearing every hat. Learning how businesses actually work, not just how to optimize one function.

Alignment (A): 5 — Mission-driven climate tech. She can explain why this matters without cringing. She actually wants the company to succeed.

People (P1): 5 — Her CEO is someone she'd follow anywhere. Her co-founders are the smartest people she's worked with. These relationships will compound for decades.

Prestige (P2): 3 — Seed-stage startup. No brand recognition yet. The logo doesn't open doors.

Pace (P3): 4 — Startup hours but sustainable. She has energy for life outside work.

Profit (P4): 2 — $120K salary plus equity that might be worth something. Below market, but she can afford it.

Total: 24/30 (Average: 4.0)

The math says Sarah wins. Her spreadsheet says she's losing.

How Each Dimension Compounds

Not all dimensions compound the same way:

Learning compounds exponentially in years 1-10 of your career. A role with Learning=5 early on might be worth $500K+ in lifetime earnings compared to Learning=2, even if it pays less today. Skills build on skills. Each new capability unlocks harder problems, which unlock better opportunities.

People compounds through decades. One great manager becomes your advisor, investor, or co-founder 15 years later. One toxic team poisons your network for just as long. Your professional relationships are your career infrastructure.

Prestige has diminishing returns. The brand value of your first FAANG role is huge. Your fourth? Marginal. Use prestige strategically—build it early, spend it later.

Alignment prevents burnout, which preserves your ability to keep compounding everything else. Misalignment is a slow leak that drains your entire portfolio. You can't optimize what you don't have energy for.

Pace determines sustainability. A role that scores 5s everywhere but 1 on Pace will destroy your health and force an early exit—killing your compound returns. Marathon, not sprint.

Profit is the foundation. Too low and you can't take risks. But past a certain threshold, optimizing for Profit alone means sacrificing the dimensions that actually create wealth.

Minimum Viable Scores

Here's what most people miss: these dimensions aren't independent. They're interdependent.

Low Alignment kills Learning. You won't engage deeply with work you don't care about. You'll do the minimum, not the maximum.

Low Pace destroys People relationships. You're too burned out to invest in your network. You skip the team lunch. You don't mentor the junior person. Your relationships atrophy.

Low Profit forces premature exits. You can't wait for Learning to compound. You can't take the strategic role that pays less but builds more. You're optimizing for survival, not growth.

This means you need minimum viable scores across all dimensions:

No dimension below 2 — A single 1 makes the role unsustainable
At least four dimensions at 3+ — You need a solid foundation
At least two dimensions at 4+ — You need something exceptional to make it worth it

Francisco's role: Two dimensions at 2, only two at 4+. This is a slow decline disguised as a win.

Sarah's role: Zero dimensions below 2, three at 5. This is a fast climb disguised as a pay cut.

If you want help comparing job offers using this framework, check out our guide on how to compare job offers.

How to Calculate Your Career ROI

Step 1: Score Your Current Role

Rate your current job on each dimension, 1-5. Be honest. A 3 isn't failure—it's neutral.

Use these questions:

Learning: Are you solving harder problems than six months ago? Are you building skills that will matter in five years?
Alignment: Can you explain why this work matters without reading from the company website? Do you want the mission to succeed?
People: Would you follow your manager to another company? Are your teammates raising your game?
Prestige: Does this role build career capital? Will people return your cold emails because of this brand?
Pace: Can you sustain this workload for 2+ years? Do you have energy for life outside work?
Profit: Does the compensation let you build wealth? Are you being paid fairly for your market?

Step 2: Compare Opportunities Using LA4P

When you're evaluating a new role, score it the same way. Then compare.

Here's a real example:

Offer A: FAANG Product Manager

L=3 (incremental features on mature product)
A=2 (don't care about the mission)
P1=4 (great manager, strong team)
P2=5 (brand opens every door)
P3=2 (60-hour weeks, always-on culture)
P4=5 ($300K total comp)
Total: 21/30 (Average: 3.5)

Offer B: Series B Startup, Head of Product

L=5 (building product org from scratch)
A=4 (mission matters, not obsessed)
P1=5 (CEO is exceptional, team is hungry)
P2=3 (decent brand, not a household name)
P3=4 (startup hours but sustainable)
P4=3 ($200K + meaningful equity)
Total: 24/30 (Average: 4.0)

Offer B has the higher score. But here's the nuance: if you're early career and need the FAANG brand, Offer A might still be right. If you're mid-career and already have prestige, Offer B is clearly better.

The framework doesn't make the decision for you. It makes the trade-offs visible.

Step 3: Adjust for Your Career Stage

Different dimensions matter more at different stages:

Years 0-5: Learning and People matter most. Optimize for skill development and relationship building. Prestige is valuable. Profit matters less (if you can afford it).

Years 5-15: Balance shifts. Learning still matters but you're also building track record. People relationships start paying dividends. Profit becomes more important as life gets more expensive.

Years 15+: Alignment and Pace become critical. You can't sustain misaligned work at this stage. Your network is established (People compounds). You're optimizing for impact and sustainability.

Francisco is in year 6. He should be optimizing for Learning and People. He's optimizing for Profit and Prestige. This is why his ROI is declining.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Let's say you're Francisco and you've just scored your current role at 20/30. What do you do?

Option 1: Stay and Fix

Can you improve your scores without leaving?

Ask for harder projects (boost Learning)
Find a mentor outside your team (boost People)
Have a conversation with your manager about growth (boost Learning + People)

If you can move from 20/30 to 24/30 by staying, that's better than job-hopping again.

Option 2: Make a Strategic Move

If you can't fix it internally, look for roles that score 24+ with at least three dimensions at 4+.

But here's the key: stay long enough to let it compound. Two years minimum. Three is better. The returns come from depth, not breadth.

Option 3: Track It Over Time

This is exactly why we built 40yearscareer.

You can track all six dimensions across every role, visualize your career ROI over time, and make data-driven decisions about your next move.

Instead of optimizing for the biggest salary bump, you're optimizing for the highest total return over 40 years.

Here's what Francisco's career looks like when you plot his LA4P scores over time:

Job 1 (Year 0-1.5): Average 3.8
Job 2 (Year 1.5-3): Average 3.5
Job 3 (Year 3-4.5): Average 3.3
Job 4 (Year 4.5-6): Average 3.3

His salary went up 60%. His average LA4P score went down 13%. This is a declining portfolio disguised as a winning strategy.

Compare to Sarah:

McKinsey (Year 0-3): Average 3.2
Startup (Year 3-present): Average 4.0

Her salary went down 50%. Her average LA4P score went up 25%. This is a compounding portfolio disguised as a pay cut.

Your Spreadsheet Is Lying to You

The highest-ROI careers rarely maximize any single dimension. They maintain 4+ across all six.

This is uncomfortable because it means:

Sometimes you take the pay cut
Sometimes you stay when you could leave for more money
Sometimes you optimize for things your parents don't understand

But here's what happens when you make decisions using all six dimensions:

You build skills that compound. You develop relationships that last decades. You work on things that matter to you. You maintain a pace you can sustain. You build wealth. And you do it without burning out or pigeonholing yourself.

Your spreadsheet will fight you on this. Your parents will question you. That's because we've been trained to optimize for the one number that's easy to measure.

But career ROI isn't about the next paycheck. It's about the total return over 40 years.

Francisco is learning this the hard way. Sarah figured it out early.

Which one are you?

Start Measuring What Actually Matters

Score your current role across all six LA4P dimensions. Be honest. See what your spreadsheet is missing.

Then ask yourself: Am I optimizing for the next paycheck or the next 40 years?

If you want help tracking your career ROI over time and making decisions based on all six dimensions, not just one, try 40yearscareer.

We built it because we were tired of watching talented people optimize for the wrong things.

Your career is too long to get the math wrong.