Why Your Menopause Tax Is Higher Than Hers—And How to Calculate What You’re Really Losing
You’re up at 11 PM scrolling LinkedIn. Every woman over 45 looks like she’s crushing it. Meanwhile, you just turned down a client project because you couldn’t trust your brain to show up.
Here’s the part nobody says out loud: The menopause tax—the money you lose during these years—hits different depending on how you work. And if you’re calculating it wrong, you’re protecting the wrong things.
The Problem
Most women hear “menopause costs money” and think doctor bills and supplements. Sure, those add up. But that’s not where the real damage happens.
The real cost? It’s the money you don’t make because your brain went sideways during your peak earning years.
And here’s the unfair part: If you get a regular paycheck, you’re losing about 20% of your income. If you work for yourself? It’s 25%. Same symptoms. Wildly different math.
Why Employment Type Changes Everything
This isn’t about working harder or being tougher. It’s about how your job is set up.
If you’re salaried:
Your paycheck still shows up on foggy days
Your company pays half your taxes
You have some benefits covering costs
You’re still losing money (missed promotions, smaller raises, showing up but only half-present), but the company catches some of the fall
If you’re self-employed:
No work = no money, period
You pay both halves of your taxes (that’s 15% instead of 7.65%)
You cover 100% of your healthcare
When brain fog steals four hours a week, that’s not “less productive”—that’s actual money gone
Here’s the research part in plain English: Stanford found women lose about 10% of their earnings during perimenopause. The Mayo Clinic found another cost: “presenteeism”—when you’re at your desk but your brain is only working at 60%. For business owners, this doesn’t get absorbed by a company. It cracks your income wide open.
The Money Connection
You can’t protect money you don’t know you’re losing.
Most advice says “budget for menopause care.” Fine. But if you’re bleeding $20,000-$35,000 a year in invisible income loss and worrying about a $200 supplement bill, you’re missing the forest for the trees.
The bigger issue: Smart, high-earning women delay treatment because they’re “too busy” or think they can push through. Meanwhile, untreated symptoms are quietly demolishing their income during the exact years they should be maxing out retirement and building wealth.
Your Three Moves (Do These Even on a Foggy Day)
Move #1: Calculate Your Menopause Tax Right Now
Pull out your phone. Open the calculator. This takes two minutes.
If you get a salary:
Your annual pay × 0.20 = Your menopause tax
What that 20% actually is:
10% = Lost money from brain fog hours + missed promotions
5% = Healthcare costs insurance doesn’t cover (hormones, labs, specialists)
5% = Retirement money you should be putting away but aren’t
Example: $100,000 salary × 0.20 = $20,000 gone every year
If you work for yourself:
Your best year (last 3 years) × 0.25 = Your menopause tax
What that 25% actually is:
10% = Lost billable hours (straight-up revenue you didn’t make)
8% = Extra taxes you pay + no sick days
4% = Healthcare you pay 100% out of pocket
3% = No employer retirement match + playing it safe on big projects
Example: $150,000 best year × 0.25 = $37,500 gone every year
This isn’t scare tactics. This is just accounting.
Move #2: Treat Your Symptoms Like Revenue Protection (Because They Are)
If your menopause tax is $20,000-$37,000 every year, then spending $2,400 a year on proper hormone treatment isn’t an “expense.” It’s protecting a 10x return on your income.
Reframe it: Treatment isn’t vanity. It’s business insurance for your brain.
Make it automatic:
Set up your HSA or FSA to auto-fund every month
Lock in a telehealth subscription now (Midi, Evernow, Alloy) so when you need refills, there’s zero thinking required
Put treatment on autopilot so foggy-brain-you doesn’t have to make decisions
Move #3: Protect Future You While You Still Can
If you’re self-employed and your income is cracking, right now is when you adjust retirement—not later when you’ve “figured everything out.”
Even dropping your retirement contribution by 5% temporarily beats abandoning it completely when cash gets tight.
Do this today:
Open a separate savings account (call it “Menopause Mitigation Fund” if you want to be fancy)
Auto-transfer your monthly treatment costs there
When you’re foggy, you’re not making withdrawal decisions—you’re just following the plan you made on a clear day
The Bottom Line
“Your menopause tax isn’t a personal failure. It’s a structural money leak with a math-based fix.”
Reply with ONE number: What’s your annual menopause tax using the formula above?
Forward this to the friend who keeps saying, “I can’t believe how much I’m leaving on the table.” She’s not imagining it. And she deserves to see the real numbers.