Did you take a pay-cut to be a nurse? Do you regret it?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Did you take a pay-cut to be a nurse? If so, which level nurse are you (CNA, RN, NP, etc), and do you regret taking the pay-cut to follow your calling to be in medicine?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

For me, it was a big pay raise. I'm an RN with an ASN. I was living paycheck to paycheck before I completed nursing school ...and not living well.

As a side note, CNAs are nursing assistants, but not "nurses".

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ER.

I don't understand why anyone would go to all the time and trouble to become a nurse for a pay cut. Yes, it's interesting work, but it's also a stressful pain in the backside a lot of the time.

And ditto on CNAs not being nurses. Just like, nurses aren't doctors or physical therapists!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I agree, CNAs are assistants. But they do have a place on this board, so I included them. I just wanted people to quantify where they were, if they were going to say whether they were happy or unhappy with their position and paycut.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I never looked at my career choice as a "pay cut." Certainly I could have earned more money had I chosen a different career. But I was wise enough to know that EVERY career choice has its advantages and disadvantages. I looked at my options and made a choice.

My father was a physician as were most of my parents' social circle. So I am aware of the realities of a medical career -- the pro's AND the con's. Over the years, I've had a lot of those physicians tell me that I was the "smart one" and made good choices in choosing to be a nurse with an advanced degree. I was never "called" to medicine -- or to nursing. It was a career choice I made based on a thorough consideration of the benefits and disadvantages of both careers -- considering not only money, but also actual role functions, work hours, career mobility and flexibility, etc.

Funny thing about the money ... My sister became a school teacher and married a school administrator. I became a nurse and never married. My parents are dead now, but my sister and her husband live in the same retirement community that my parents lived in (in a bigger, more luxurious unit) ... where I will one day live. They have always belonged to the same country club as my parents did, take nice vacations, etc. My standard of living is the same. Getting an MD behind your name is no guarantee of wealth. Your personal financial situation is a result of many things, not just MD vs RN.

Follow your heart. If being a physician is truly a "calling" because you want to do that kind of work and you are willing to sacrifice your personal time, go into debt, etc. as needed to do it .... then go for it. But don't do it just for the bigger paycheck. There are lots of ways to be financially comfortable as a nurse.

llg, PhD, RN-BC

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Nursing entailed a pay increase for me. I entered the profession as an LVN at age 25. Prior to becoming an LVN, I earned $15/hr at the paper products factory where I'd worked for three years. My first LVN position paid $17.75/hr in 2006.

Prior to my three years at the factory, I had a string of low-paying, dead-end jobs: McDonald's, Wienerschnitzel, Target, 99 Cent Store, United Cerebral Palsy group home, temp agency assignments, grocery store cashiering, etc.

I am now an RN with a salary in the high five-figures per annum. As someone who was born and raised in a moderate-income household that didn't always have enough money to meet basic needs, I am happy with my pay.

do you regret taking the pay-cut to follow your calling to be in medicine?
As a gentle correction, we're in nursing, not medicine. I was not 'called' to do this type of work either. I entered nursing for the income and advancement opportunities. :)
Up Vote Up Vote ×

I wasn't called to do anything. I figured out that I could make more money doing something I thought I'd enjoy and I was right. I also don't work in medicine, I work in nursing, as do all of us who are not physicians.

I used to feel stronger about how much good I was doing, how much help I was providing to those in need but I'm having to convince myself a little more every year to keep going. my paycheck is my strongest incentive, but I do still like working. most of the time.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Big raise.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ED.

30k annual pay cut initially, second, actually third career. Money ain't everything, in the grand scheme of things ain't that big of a thing. California nurse, so I'm not destitute now but I also have the cushion of a fully vested retirement as a fall back. I loved my previous career, but the intangible rewards of being a nurse are priceless at times.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU.

I switched from an entirely different career of more than 20 years, and I was very successful at it, so being an RN is a pay cut. But the old job was just that - a job, with no passion or enthusiasm for what I was doing. Becoming a nurse was a long-held dream, and getting to do it is worth cutting my salary in half!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I never looked at my career choice as a "pay cut." Certainly I could have earned more money had I chosen a different career. But I was wise enough to know that EVERY career choice has its advantages and disadvantages. I looked at my options and made a choice.

My father was a physician as were most of my parents' social circle. So I am aware of the realities of a medical career -- the pro's AND the con's. Over the years, I've had a lot of those physicians tell me that I was the "smart one" and made good choices in choosing to be a nurse with an advanced degree. I was never "called" to medicine -- or to nursing. It was a career choice I made based on a thorough consideration of the benefits and disadvantages of both careers -- considering not only money, but also actual role functions, work hours, career mobility and flexibility, etc.

Funny thing about the money ... My sister became a school teacher and married a school administrator. I became a nurse and never married. My parents are dead now, but my sister and her husband live in the same retirement community that my parents lived in (in a bigger, more luxurious unit) ... where I will one day live. They have always belonged to the same country club as my parents did, take nice vacations, etc. My standard of living is the same. Getting an MD behind your name is no guarantee of wealth. Your personal financial situation is a result of many things, not just MD vs RN.

Follow your heart. If being a physician is truly a "calling" because you want to do that kind of work and you are willing to sacrifice your personal time, go into debt, etc. as needed to do it .... then go for it. But don't do it just for the bigger paycheck. There are lots of ways to be financially comfortable as a nurse.

llg, PhD, RN-BC

I completely agree, and with a background in finance, you are correct -- there is more to life than money (of which I remind people all the time). A friend owns her own medical practice. She said if she had it to do all over again, she'd be a nurse for the increased patient interaction. My plan was always medical school because I wanted to be in medicine and didn't want a doctor over me telling me what to do. lol But I like the patient interaction of nursing. Now at 40yo finally pursuing this, my age has made my decision for me. Where I could once be whimsical about money and follow my bliss, as a single mom now, it feels selfish if my son isn't gaining in some way from my time away from him to work. There is more to life than money (I've walked away from a lot of money more than once for happiness), but now as a mom, putting my needs before my son's is something I couldn't be happy about. So there's just a lot to consider when moving from a stable and well-paying career to one making less money when you're an only parent.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I wasn't called to do anything. I figured out that I could make more money doing something I thought I'd enjoy and I was right. I also don't work in medicine, I work in nursing, as do all of us who are not physicians.

I used to feel stronger about how much good I was doing, how much help I was providing to those in need but I'm having to convince myself a little more every year to keep going. my paycheck is my strongest incentive, but I do still like working. most of the time.

I still haven't ruled out P.A. Thank you. I know, but since my plan was to be a doctor, I still refer to anything in this filed as medicine vs my current field (which I refer to as finance because to get into the details would confuse people and put them to sleep lol).

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment