Disclaimer

Last updated: 2025

Read this first

Every tool on this site is provided for educational and informational purposes only. The outputs are estimates, drafts, and frameworks. They do not constitute professional advice in any domain — legal, tax, immigration, financial, career coaching, or otherwise.

Not legal advice

The Salary History Responder and Visa Sponsorship Likelihood Assessor touch on areas regulated by federal, state, and city law. Salary history questions are restricted in NYC (Local Law 67 of 2017), and other jurisdictions have similar rules, but the exact phrasing of a refusal matters legally.

These tools provide a starting framework, not a legal script. If you have a specific concern — particularly anything related to visa status, employment classification, or wage disclosure — consult a licensed attorney in the relevant jurisdiction.

Not tax advice

The Cost-of-Living Salary Calculator, RSU / Equity Value Calculator, and Total Compensation Decoder produce tax estimates based on publicly available 2024-2025 NY state, NYC resident, and federal brackets.

They do not account for:

Pre-tax retirement contributions (401k, 403b, backdoor Roth)
Health savings accounts, FSA contributions, or commuter benefits
Itemized deductions vs. standard deduction
AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax) exposure, especially relevant for ISO exercises
State-specific credits, exclusions, or phase-outs
Your filing status, dependents, or spouse's income

Confirm any financial decision with a CPA or enrolled tax agent. Tax law changes annually — verify the year of the tables used.

Not immigration advice

The Visa Sponsorship Likelihood Assessor reads public signals — H1B salary database entries, sponsor history, role types — to estimate an employer's likely openness to sponsorship. It cannot see:

Whether the specific role has an approved labor condition application (LCA)
Internal headcount budget allocated to sponsored hires
Your specific visa category, status expiration, or country of chargeability
Pending cap-gap, lottery, or premium-processing timelines

Treat the output as one input among many. For decisions affecting your visa status, talk to an immigration attorney accredited by your state's bar.

Not career coaching

The STAR Story Builder, Behavioral Question Pacing Timer, Negotiation Phrase Library, and related tools help you draft and self-critique interview material. They are not a substitute for:

Mock interviews with a human who knows the role or industry
Targeted feedback from a mentor, manager, or career coach
Reading the actual job description and company research (we cannot do this for you)
Your own judgment about tone, context, and authenticity

The phrasing in templates may be wrong for your specific situation. Always read the output as a draft to revise, not a script to memorize.

No warranty on numbers

Salary benchmarks, cost-of-living multipliers, and tax estimates are based on third-party data sources that may be outdated or incorrect. We do our best to keep them current, but we make no warranty as to their accuracy. Use them as conversation starters, not as authoritative numbers.

No guarantee of outcomes

Using these tools does not guarantee job offers, salary increases, visa approvals, or any specific outcome. The interview process involves many variables we cannot model — interviewer preferences, internal politics, team dynamics, and timing.

If you have a high-stakes interview (e.g., a dream role or a visa-critical opportunity), invest in human professional support beyond what a free tool can provide.

External links

This site links to external resources (Google AdSense opt-out pages, tax tables, etc.). We are not responsible for the content or practices of those third-party sites.

Frequently asked questions

How do I use Disclaimer step by step without mistakes?

Follow the order given in the usage section: What these tools can and cannot do. Read before relying on the output. The step-by-step part matters less than the unit check that sits inside it. Confirm every unit matches the thing you are actually trying to measure before you press calculate - that single check catches more wrong answers than any other habit, and it costs about ten seconds.

What are the common mistakes when using Disclaimer?

Most common mistakes come down to four habits: entering 20 when the field expects 0.2 because the field is a percentage; leaving a field blank and accepting the default without checking what it stands for; changing one input and reading a result that was calculated before the change; and quoting the output as an exact figure when the page describes it as a reference estimate. Press calculate again after any edit, and treat the number as a reference point rather than a final answer.

How do I read the result from Disclaimer?

Read the final figure first, then come back to this section for the conditions behind it: What these tools can and cannot do. Read before relying on the output. Keep two things apart: the number itself, which comes from the values you typed, and the assumptions it depends on, which decide whether that number is meaningful. The page sets out what a higher or lower result means for your case, so check that direction as well as the magnitude.

Can I act on the Disclaimer result directly?

Treat it as one reference sheet before you decide, rather than as the answer itself: What these tools can and cannot do. Read before relying on the output. The output describes a magnitude under the conditions you entered. It does not include what it actually costs to act, what might change while you act, or how the other side behaves. Before you commit, compare the result against reality and note which assumptions do not hold where you are.