The Hidden Cost of Replacing You at Work, with “Money with Katie” host Katie Gatti Tassin

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Jul 1, 2025

Katie Gatti Tassin, host of the Money with Katie Show and author of Rich Girl Nation, unveils the true value of employees beyond their paychecks. She introduces a framework for negotiating worth, highlighting replacement costs that can soar to 200% of an employee’s salary. The conversation reveals how unique skills and relationships contribute to an employee's value, making a compelling case for understanding one's market worth. From retirement savings to mastering salary negotiations, Katie shares vital strategies for achieving financial independence.

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ADVICE

Spending From Income & Assets

Calculate spending limits by averaging your income and 4% of your invested assets.
This approach helps balance lifestyle with sustainable savings toward financial independence.

ANECDOTE

Friend's Automated Investing Success

Katie helped a fitness instructor friend set up automated investing which she forgot about.
This account grew to $30,000 and was crucial during her pandemic income loss.

ADVICE

Negotiate by Socializing Wins

Prepare for salary negotiations by socializing your wins continuously at work.
Manage your manager by presenting problems with solutions to ease their life.

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#620: You probably think your value to your employer equals your paycheck. Katie Gatti Tassin has news for you — you're worth way more than that.

The host of "Money with Katie" recently joined us to break down a framework that could change how you negotiate forever. Her formula is simple: Your worth equals your market rate plus what it costs to replace you, raised to the power of your unique skills.

Most people focus only on market rate — what similar jobs pay in your area. You can find this through salary transparency laws, LinkedIn data, or job postings. But that's just the starting point.

The real eye-opener? Replacement costs. When you leave, companies face recruiting fees, interview time, onboarding expenses, and lost productivity. For mid-level roles, recruiters charge 15 to 25 percent of your first-year salary. Senior positions cost even more — headhunters for executive roles charge 25 to 35 percent of total compensation.

A company replacing an $80,000 employee might pay $20,000 just in recruiter fees. For a $200,000 executive, that jumps to $70,000. Add training time and the productivity gap while they search, and replacement costs can hit 50 to 200 percent of annual salary.

Then there's your "special sauce" — the unique value you bring. Maybe you have deep client relationships, specialized skills, or institutional knowledge that would take months for a replacement to develop.

Katie learned this framework through her own career pivots. She started as an ad copywriter but shifted into user experience writing after working closely with a UX designer who told her the pay was much better. That internal pivot positioned her for an external move that doubled her compensation from $70,000 to $140,000.

Katie had to catch a flight — she visited our New York studios during her book launch tour — but the conversation covers practical tactics for earning more and building wealth.

For more information, visit the show notes at https://affordanything.com/episode620

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