These nagging bugs pay back dividends in the long term if you are on the right side of them though, which was my point. Let's say that I get a 6% raise every ye

These nagging bugs pay back dividends in the long term if you are on the right side of them though, which was my point. Let's say that I get a 6% raise every year because I ask for it (either directly, or through promotion), while people who don't get a 4% raise. If someone starts out making $80k a year, after 10 years, the person not asking is making $118k per year, while the person asking for it is making $143k/year. Over the 10 years, that means that the first person makes about $1.078 million, while the second makes $1.198 million - a difference of $120k before taxes. After 5 more years of this, that difference turns into over $300k.