Retirement benefits, lack of

amoLucia · Feb 20, 2016

You answered your question yourself - not all employers offer retirement programs.

And general lack of benefits freq requires nurses to put their earnings into 'immediate' needs like healthcare insurance payments. This is the biggest expenditure I can think of after taxes taken out.

Don't know how deep into the nsg professional work world you've been but this is one hot topic area.

Trauma Columnist · Feb 20, 2016

I worked for one healthcare system for 10 years and have a pension (itsy bitsy - read not enough for a car payment - lol) and an even smaller 401k.

I now have worked for a nephrology practice where my employer pays 100% of my retirement - they contribute almost 20% of my base salary into whatever retirement plan I want to invest in - can you say few people leave this practice?

brownbook · Feb 24, 2016

I worked for a county hospital, our salary was lower than the hospital across town, but we were in the states retirement plan. I retired with excellent benefits. The across town nurses....not so much. I guess they were supposed to save and or invest on their own?

llg, PhD, RN · Feb 25, 2016

If retirement planning/preparation is important to you, you can do a good job of it in nursing. You'll just have to pay attention to it throughout your life and consider it as part of your job selection, career path, and budgeting. Most major employers have retirement plans comparable to other employers in their community.

However ... a lot of nurses are women ... and many have interrupted their careers over the years to take care of those kids, elderly relatives, etc. No matter how good an employer's retirement is, it won't produce a lot money if you don't deposit a lot of money into it regularly. Those people who interrupt their careers (or choose to work for companies that don't have good plans) end up without big retirement funds. That is true in any industry.

A lot of people - not just nurses and not just women -- suddenly "wake up" when they turn 50 (or whatever) and realize that they haven't been saving as much money as they should have been. Most of the time, it is because of personal choices they have made along the way.

I took 7 years out of my career to go to graduate school twice and will still end up with over $1,000,000 in my retirement count when I turn 65. If you live a modest lifestyle, it's not all that hard to do.

If it is important to YOU, then plan and save in accordance with your hopes for the future -- not based on what is convenient for you now or things you want to do/buy when you are young. It's up to you.

Susie2310 · Feb 28, 2016

If retirement planning/preparation is important to you, you can do a good job of it in nursing. You'll just have to pay attention to it throughout your life and consider it as part of your job selection, career path, and budgeting. Most major employers have retirement plans comparable to other employers in their community.
However ... a lot of nurses are women ... and many have interrupted their careers over the years to take care of those kids, elderly relatives, etc. No matter how good an employer's retirement is, it won't produce a lot money if you don't deposit a lot of money into it regularly. Those people who interrupt their careers (or choose to work for companies that don't have good plans) end up without big retirement funds. That is true in any industry.
A lot of people - not just nurses and not just women -- suddenly "wake up" when they turn 50 (or whatever) and realize that they haven't been saving as much money as they should have been. Most of the time, it is because of personal choices they have made along the way.
I took 7 years out of my career to go to graduate school twice and will still end up with over $1,000,000 in my retirement count when I turn 65. If you live a modest lifestyle, it's not all that hard to do.
If it is important to YOU, then plan and save in accordance with your hopes for the future -- not based on what is convenient for you now or things you want to do/buy when you are young. It's up to you.

What you have written is true, up to a point. But you have addressed only one aspect of why people may fail to save adequately/well for retirement. The problem goes beyond insufficient planning/individual effort and is not as black and white or as simple as you make it sound. A number of reasons beyond an individual's control when one is young, i.e., a supportive, stable family that values education, access to and sufficient funds/time to pursue higher education, can severely hamper one's ability to be able to be a competitive candidate for employment at larger organizations that offer the best retirement plans, and to be able to plan for retirement, even if one would be inclined to do so. Early difficulties in life are often perpetuated in peoples adult lives, and one often has no choice but to begin to save for retirement much later, if at all. Many people have to start later in life to try to patch together some funds for retirement, and not just because of poor choices/other choices.

Please correct me if I am remembering wrongly, but I recall that you have posted previously that your father was a physician, and that you were able to obtain a BSN after high school without accruing any debt. It sounds as though you had a very supportive beginning to your life/career and were more fortunate than many people. No doubt you have worked very hard, and have been very focused, and have made smart, wise choices in regard to your retirement; but not everyone is able to hit the ground running for reasons beyond their control that require many years playing "catch up."

Daly City RN · Mar 17, 2016

I worked for a large medical center owned by a county in California. The RN's salary when I started in the early 1980's was not great but over the years RNs started earning well over 100K per year in base salary.

We had pretty generous retirement plan for RNs, with medical-dental-vision insurance after retirement, therefore I retired when I was in my early 50's after working for almost 30 years in a stress-filled floor nursing job. When I learned that my monthly pension would cover our basic expenses I quickly took the opportunity to retire and collect my monthly pension to save my sanity, and perhaps live longer.

I currently work part time, still as an RN, but not in a hospital setting. The salary I earn from this part time job and my spouse's salary goes to our savings and to help support our three grandchildren and for life's little luxuries like eating out, vacationing overseas once a year and going out of town once or twice a month.

Ok, ok, other nurses I know have told me they are a little envious, but.... you would have to work decades in an extremely busy and highly stressful county-owned hospital where the majority of the patients have polysubstance abuse problems, the homeless etc. to get this pension. It is not a lot, but every dollar I receive in monthly pension were earned through blood, sweat and tears. Ok, there was literally no blood spilled of course, but I got kicked, spat on and verbally abused by patients who were under the influence of alcohol, drugs or with unstable mental status.

If you are the type of nurse who can 'survive' in such a job, then look for that job. The pay is quite generous nowadays, but be ready to have many sleepless nights. Why? Most nurses still feel stressed even not at work. I've worked part time in a large HMO hospital and that was like taking a vacation compared to the nursing job at our very busy county hospital.

I'm saying that in all seriousness.

Mommavik, ADN · Jun 6, 2016

What you have written is true, up to a point. But you have addressed only one aspect of why people may fail to save adequately/well for retirement. The problem goes beyond insufficient planning/individual effort and is not as black and white or as simple as you make it sound. A number of reasons beyond an individual's control when one is young, i.e., a supportive, stable family that values education, access to and sufficient funds/time to pursue higher education, can severely hamper one's ability to be able to be a competitive candidate for employment at larger organizations that offer the best retirement plans, and to be able to plan for retirement, even if one would be inclined to do so. Early difficulties in life are often perpetuated in peoples adult lives, and one often has no choice but to begin to save for retirement much later, if at all. Many people have to start later in life to try to patch together some funds for retirement, and not just because of poor choices/other choices.
Please correct me if I am remembering wrongly, but I recall that you have posted previously that your father was a physician, and that you were able to obtain a BSN after high school without accruing any debt. It sounds as though you had a very supportive beginning to your life/career and were more fortunate than many people. No doubt you have worked very hard, and have been very focused, and have made smart, wise choices in regard to your retirement; but not everyone is able to hit the ground running for reasons beyond their control that require many years playing "catch up."

I became disabled at 53, not old enough to draw my retirement for 12 more years; my 401K was used for living expenses at a big loss after my savings were gone;am now living off SS disability