Pay off debt with travel nursing?

Specialties Travel

Published

Hi everyone,

I'm considering doing travel nursing beginning next year and I wanted to hear from those that are actively traveling or have done so in the past. I'm 26, no children, single and not currently involved/dating. It's just me and my dog so I have nothing to hold me back or hinder me from doing as much traveling as possible.

I'm about to get personal but I also am $70K in debt from student loans. I went to a private university and was enrolled longer than planned. I also owe $19K on my car. I eventually would like to own a home and be debt free quicker than working a regular staff nurse position full time. I don't want to go back to school yet due to my debt I already have. I work now with a nurse who has traveled and she has said numerous times she was able to buy her home outright, paid off all her debt and send her daughter to college.

I am wondering if there's really that much money in it? That's not my only motivation but a big part of it. I also want to travel more and see different parts of the country before I do ever get married or have children. My family members are supportive and will allow me to stay with them in between assignments if necessary.

If anyone has any experience or has been able to pay off large sums of money first hand from travel nursing I'd love to hear back. I would rather not be owing Sallie Mae for the next 25 years.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses

Hello AshleeH,

I can understand why you would want to be paying off your debt. Can I ask how long you have been a nurse and what your specialty is?

I am a pretty experienced travel nurse and you do have some factors working for you. When i was single, I could really max out on my living stipends and just get a room somewhere, so what. As far as housing, I have found that Los Angeles really is not "big dog" friendly. Anything over 30 pounds and you start to have trouble finding places that are willing to rent here. There is a complex near LAX that will rent to owners with big dogs, but it is right next to the airport.

I asked what your specialty is because NICU, CCU, CVICU, PACU, and OR nurses seem to make the most money traveling. However, you must maintain ties to your permanent tax home in order to qualify for non taxed stipends and per diems. You cannot become an itinerant traveler and abandon ties to your tax home.

Fastaff pays pretty well and does offer loyalty bonuses but their pay is taxed. There are a few nice assignments with Supplemental Healthcare as well.

Hope this helps! :)

I have a good friend who is also a travel nurse. He had 30K of credit card debt and another 10K of medical debt. The stars aligned with a great job and overtime and he paid it off in 6 months.

The average travel nurse makes 80 to 100K. That is all your compensation including what you will have to pay for housing. What is reasonable by being frugal and being careful with housing (willingness to houseshare will help) is saving 30K a year. That is without overtime.

Travel is a great way to save cash or pay off debts especially if you are healthy and can forgo staff benefits. And of course, it is really fun.

Don't worry too much about money your first assignment or two. Focus on finding great recruiters you communicate well with and trust to find suitable first assignments. You should avoid really high paying assignments at first until you get your feet wet and have a couple successful assignments on your resume.

It is worth spending some time learning what a tax home is before diving into travel. Having a tax home is worth about 10K a year in the bank for the average traveler, less the cost of maintaining that tax home. Optimizing costs there too will net you more money, again I recommend a house share. Read more about tax homes on PanTravelers and TravelTax.

Thanks for the advice. My specialty is newborn nursery and postpartum. I've been a nurse for 2 years. I'm trying to transfer to NICU. I have been allowed to do so I'm just waiting for a position to pop up at my facility so I can transfer units.

Means my dog is only 5lb so no worries on her weight :-)

and what do you mean by maintaining ties? Still receiving mail at the address or that it is actually occupied by me in between assignments?

Tax homes is a big topic. Yes, you need to maintain a residence you can return to.

I have never heard of tax home before. I guess i'll do some research on it. I plan to move to Florida for fall 2015 for travel nursing but currently resides in NJ. Should I use NJ as my tax home or can i use my mom's address in Florida?

I think you need to do some reading and perhaps talk to a travel tax specialist. It is unlikely that you can change to "using" your mother's address at the exact same time you begin traveling. You need to reside somewhere, have real costs like anyone else with a home, and establish that as your historical place of residence. An address of convenience isn't going to get you through an audit.

I have 50K in debt too between my car and student loans. I plan to do travel nursing at the end of this year to get rid of my debt.

+ Add a Comment