Suze is right. Knowing what the salary ranges are for your peers and superiors is very handy information, especially when you get a raise...I would've lost almost 10k during my last promotion if I didn't know they were trying to low ball me...
Oh and these salary discussions are relatively useless unless COL is factored into the equation...
Congrats on the raise.
I do agree about COL, too. I just lowered my former spouse's child support payments and she started crying the blues. But she refuses to move to a less costly area...she has her reasons, all of them selfish and without an eye on the bottom line. Without any retirement plan in place aside from the little IRA I set up for her (that I stopped funding when she asked me to move out), I have no idea how she's planning to live in the future. Being 25-30 and poor was no problem. I could not imagine being 65 and poor, though...that's not the life anyone should strive for.
So, if we're still in Cali 12 years from now, I'll be moving as soon as the kid graduates. I can't assume that she'll go to school back east, but either way, I'm moving.