Nico from Pocket GearsPOCKET GEARS
Free printable · 8 pages + worksheet

$2,000 on paper. $494.18 came out. Here's the address of every dollar.

Find your own number. On the sample, 75.3¢ of each dollar landed.

Where Did My Paycheck Go? is a one-page breakdown you fill in with your own pay stub. Fifteen minutes, one pen, and every missing dollar gets an address.

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$2,000 on paper. Way less in the account.One stub, every line explainedThe four tax lines and where each goesThe lines you choseWhy was my first check even smaller?The One-Page BreakdownThe 60-second stub checkStub words in plain English
The first-paycheck shock

Nobody stole it. Nobody explained it either.

You took the job. You did the math in your head. Then the first deposit showed up and it was hundreds short. You opened the stub and found a wall of abbreviations: FIT, OASDI, SIT, Sec 125, YTD.

"$2,000 on paper and only $1,456 actually lands in the account."

That's a real viewer comment, and versions of it keep showing up. School spent years on things you'll never use and skipped the one piece of paper you'll get every two weeks for the next forty years.

The stub isn't a bill. It's a map. Every line that shrinks your check has an address: a tax with a law behind it, a benefit you signed up for, or money you're sending to future you. This page helps you read it.

Try it right now

The three buckets

Every deduction on every pay stub lands in one of three buckets: Government (taxes the law requires), Benefits (insurance you bought through work), and Future you (retirement money that's still yours). Sort the lines and the "missing" money gets a lot smaller.

Before: what it feels like

Gross pay$2,000.00
Stuff that came out−$494.18
Net pay$1,505.82

"I lost almost $500 and I don't know where."

After: sorted into buckets

Government: four taxes$378.80
Benefits: health insurance$55.38
Future you: 401(k), still yours$60.00
Net pay$1,505.82

Per dollar earned: 75.3¢ lands in your account, 18.9¢ goes to taxes, 5.8¢ buys insurance and savings you chose.

Sample: $2,000 biweekly, single, Illinois, average single health premium, 3% 401(k), 2026 IRS, SSA and Illinois rules. Your state and choices change the numbers. The guide shows how each one is figured, so you can check yours.

What you get

8 pages and a worksheet you'll reuse every payday

A worked sample stubEvery line of a $2,000 check, with the cents each one takes from your dollar.
The four tax linesSocial Security, Medicare, federal and state tax: what each one is, how it's figured and where it goes.
The lines you choseHealth insurance and 401(k), and why they lower your tax bill.
"Why was my first check smaller?"Six things you might see, what each usually means and what to do.
The One-Page BreakdownThe fill-in worksheet, in the guide and as its own US Letter PDF to print.
The 60-second stub checkSix boxes to tick each payday, plus stub words in plain English.
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Look inside

Real pages from the guide

Sample pay stub page
One stub, every line explained
Fill-in worksheet page
The One-Page Breakdown worksheet
Tax lines page
The four tax lines
Benefits and first check page
Why your first check was smaller
Start here page
The three buckets
Checklist page
The 60-second stub check
Nico, the voice of Pocket Gears
Who made this

Nico at Pocket Gears

Pocket Gears opens up one money system per video: taxes, banks, debt, money crime. Most of it isn't secret. It's just never explained, and once you see the gears it stops feeling like magic or a conspiracy.

Every 2026 figure in this guide comes from the agency that sets it: the Social Security Administration, the IRS, the Illinois Department of Revenue, and KFF's 2025 survey for health premiums. The sample stub was worked out line by line from those rules, with every step shown. We don't give personal tax advice, and the guide says so.

5 official sourcesFigures checked Nov 15, 2026Education, not financial advice
Questions

Before you grab it

My state isn't Illinois. Does this still work?

Yes. The worksheet works with any US pay stub. Federal tax, Social Security and Medicare follow the same national rules everywhere. The sample uses Illinois because its flat rate is easy to follow; your state line will be different, or zero in the nine states with no wage income tax.

I'm paid weekly, or I'm on salary. Is it for me?

Yes. You copy the numbers from your own stub, whatever the schedule. The guide shows how to turn hours or salary into gross pay per check.

Will it tell me how to pay less tax?

It shows the two levers that change your check: pre-tax benefits and your W-4, plus the IRS's free Tax Withholding Estimator to check yours. It's education, not personal tax advice.

How do I get it, and does it work on my phone?

Enter your email and the PDF arrives right away. It reads fine on a phone; print page 6, or the separate worksheet PDF, to fill in by hand.

What happens to my email?

You'll get the guide and occasional Pocket Gears emails about how money works. Unsubscribe any time. Questions: pocketgears@awakeup.shop

Follow the Fine cover
When you want to follow bigger money

Follow the Fine

You found where your $378.80 in taxes went. Follow the Fine: Where 12 Bank Penalties Went, Dollar by Dollar traces where 12 bank penalties went, from the headline number to every agency, fund and victim program the government's own papers name. $17.

See Follow the Fine

Find out where your dollar ends up.

Your next stub is coming either way. Read it this time.

Send me the breakdown

$0 8-page PDF plus printable worksheet, in your inbox now. Unsubscribe any time.