Money in, money out · Module 1 of 10
What lands in your account
Read your payslip line by line and see where the gap between your salary and your paycheck goes.
Key terms in What lands in your account
- Earned income
Earned income is money received in exchange for work, including wages, salaries, tips, and other taxable employee pay. It also covers net earnings from self-employment. Interest, dividends, and Social Security benefits are not earned income, which is why tax rules treat the two kinds differently.
Source: Internal Revenue Service, Link & Learn Taxes - Glossary
- Passive activity income
Passive activity income is revenue from a business in which the taxpayer does not materially participate, or from rental activity. It differs from wages and other pay for personal services, and from portfolio income such as interest and dividends. United States tax law separates it from other income because losses from passive activities face special limits.
Source: Internal Revenue Service, Publication 925 (2025), Passive Activity and At-Risk Rules
- Employment taxes
Employment taxes are the federal taxes tied to paying workers, covering income tax withholding, Social Security tax, Medicare tax, and federal unemployment tax. Employers deposit and report them. Social Security and Medicare taxes are withheld from wages and matched by the employer, while federal unemployment tax is paid by the employer alone and is not taken out of an employee's pay.
Source: Internal Revenue Service, Understanding Employment Taxes
Every term on Lever is in the money glossary.
About this module
What lands in your account is part of Money in, money out, one of 15 subjects in Lever. It’s a short run of 5 lessons, about 13 minutes in all, so you can finish it in one sitting.
Every lesson takes one idea at a time. You read it with the math worked out step by step, answer a question that puts it to use, then see why the right answer is right and why the others aren’t.
It’s for anyone who was never taught this, and you don’t need to know anything first. Every lesson is free. Lever works out what you already know, so you can start here or let your path bring you to it.
More in Money in, money out
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2
Your floor and your slack
Work out the least you need each month, the wiggle room above it, and what to do in a tight month.
13 lessons -
3
The size of a life after work
How much of your income to keep for later in life, and why your working years are the easiest time to build it.
5 lessons -
4
The pension that's already being built for you
What the pension deductions on your payslip are buying you, and what changes if you claim early or keep working.
5 lessons -
5
The costs retirement doesn't warn you about
The retirement costs people forget: relying on one income, what a partner is left with, and health costs that rise later.
5 lessons -
6
When there is no wage
Managing money without a regular paycheck: cash income, gig work, months with nothing coming in, and making savings last.
7 lessons -
7
When the plan stops matching the month
What to do when your budget stops matching real life, including when it’s the budget that needs to change.
6 lessons -
8
Tracking without obsessing
A simple tracking habit you’ll keep, a quick monthly review, and how to stop a raise from quietly disappearing.
6 lessons -
9
Everything you own, minus everything you owe
Your net worth: everything you own minus everything you owe, and why watching it over the years tells you so much.
6 lessons -
10
When the money itself shrinks
How to protect your money when prices rise fast: what to buy ahead, and what inflation does to your debts and your pay.
5 lessons
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It’s part of Money in, money out. Lever will bring it to you when you’re ready, or you can go straight there.