How Much is My Real Wage?

I was planning on using this entry to detail my goals for 2012 but that will have to wait for another time.  I recently came across this article on renewablewealth.com about your true hourly wage.

Like most people I work at a job.  I live in Japan and I teach at a private junior and senior high school providing English education to young growing minds.  It is a great job and I really enjoy myself, but how much does this job really bring in for me?  Well lets find out.

First, totaling up on an average day all the time that I spend having to deal with work.  Well I generally wake up at 6:30AM in order to get a shave in, eat a bit of breakfast, throw on a suit and be out the door by about 7:20AM.  I catch the 7:30AM train and make it to my destination station 20 minutes later.  A short 5 to ten minute walk and I am usually at my desk.  Work officially starts at 8:20 AM and ends at 5:00PM.  Play the reverse of the going to work game and I am usually home at my door by about 5:30PM.  I've rounded a bit here to make it easier on me so I will round some more later.

My work pays for my train pass so I don't have to worry about paying for a car, gas, insurance, parking, etc. (it's pretty sweet!)  Reading the article further I should also include about 3 hours a month I spend with work buddies drinking at a bar where we usually talk about our students, what's worked and what hasn't with lessons, etc.  Other than that I don't spend much time thinking about work once I step off the school grounds.

So there are 365 days in a year, and 52 weeks.  I receive Saturday and Sundays off.  2 days x 52 weeks = 104 days off for Saturday and Sunday.  I sometimes have to come for festivals, or concerts so lets round down to 100 weekend days off.  Japan in 2011 had 13 national holidays, and I also receive lots of paid time off where I don't have to come to work.  Those include:  spring break; 11 days, summer break 40 days, and winter break 15 days.  All together 100+13+11+40+15=179 days off.  365-179=186 days of work per year (Wow!  Almost half the year!) 

I don't work every waking hour but spend 6:30AM to 5:30PM at work on work days, so 11 hours, and 3 hours a month decompressing from work.  So (11x186)+(3x12)=2082 hours a year I spend working.  I make approx. JPY310,000 a month after taxes (USD4032).  JPY310,000x12months=JPY3,720,000 a year (USD48,300).  Divide my yearly salary after tax by the number of working hours per year 3,720,000/2082=JPY1786 an hour.  I'll round that down to JPY1750 an hour (or UDS22.77 an hour) as I said there are some random meetings, after school tutoring, etc. 

I don't think that is a bad wage and I feel a fair trade for what I am doing.  I'm really glad I did these calculations to see what my real wage is and give me a good idea of what I need to look at if I ever decide to change jobs.  I'm hoping this real wage combined with a high savings and investing rate will allow me to reach FI before I hit 40.

What is your real wage?