Can you live a luxury lifestyle as a nurse?

Nurses General Nursing

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My question is towards nurses that have been in the field for couple of years. I was wondering can you life a nice luxury lifestyle as a nurse? My definition of luxury would perhaps revolve around the ability to own a large 5 bedroom house, the ability to drive a luxury vehicle like BMW or Mercedes Benz, and the ability to take vacations every year perhaps to a different country. Is this too much to ask for as nurse or this beyond the dreams of most nurses and would single nurses be able to achieve this over married with kids nurses?

Specializes in Operating Room.

Sure you can finance that lifestyle on a nurse's salary but you are probably going to be in massive debt for the rest of your life trying to maintain that image. Because if I can guess, not only would you want a luxury home, a luxury car, luxury vacations, but also a designer wardrobe, expensive jewelry, $500 haircuts, and the list goes on.

I don't know if anyone here watches the Real Housewives of New Jersey, but Teresa & her husband make $79,000/year but live in a $1.8 mil mansion, drops $2,000 in 10 minutes on designer duds, has luxury cars with over 1k/month payments. They have filed for bankruptcy. Anyone can live on credit and appear wealthy these days and it is truly frightening the burden they leave the rest of us taxpayers when they realize they are over their head in debt.

I have read an interest tidbit about real millionaires (someone with investments of $1 million or more, not including equity in one’s home, motor vehicles, furniture, etc.) -- they often drive TOYOTAS, buy SEIKO watches, do not own second or vacation homes, buy $13 bottles of wine. This is a report from Thomas Stanley in his book "Stop Acting Rich... And Start Living Like a Real Millionaire" if anyone wants to read an eye-opener.

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Specializes in adult ICU.
I don't know if anyone here watches the Real Housewives of New Jersey, but Teresa & her husband make $79,000/year but live in a $1.8 mil mansion, drops $2,000 in 10 minutes on designer duds, has luxury cars with over 1k/month payments. They have filed for bankruptcy. Anyone can live on credit and appear wealthy these days

I've watched every episode. Apparently that $79K combined income includes Teresa's payment from Bravo for doing the show as well, which is about $30K, if what I am reading is true. I also read somewhere on the web that their parents (not sure if they are talking about Joe's or Teresa's) help finance their lifestyle and that is above the $79K.

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Specializes in Gerontological Nursing, Acute Rehab.

It's funny to read this....just a few days ago my husband and I were talking about a job he had for a while in an Internal Auditing Department. When he would tell his co-workers (CPA's, MBA's etc) that his wife was a nurse, their reply to him was short and sweet:

"No money in THAT."

So, nursing is decent money, but GOOD money....not unless you pull a lot of OT, and then you can't enjoy everything that you bought because you'll be too busy working to pay for it. I have 5 kids, a decent house (3 BR old farmhouse), one car with over 100,000 miles on it (but no payment) and we don't have cable or internet at home. We can also live on one salary so our kids are home with a parent. I guess it just comes down to what your priorities are.

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That's one of the reasons why the economy is this way now! Many people having all the bling blings, the fancy cars, and palatial houses-----that truly they cannot afford.....many people pretending to be rich. With an RN's salary, you can live a nice, comfortable life. But not a Trump lifestyle! And yes, I think that you can have a 5-bedroom house and nice cars-----the question is, can you pay for them in full and how many years do you need to work to pay it all up?

I guess the question should have been.....as an RN, can you live a luxurious lifestyle, actually afford it, and be able to pay it in full in a short period of time!:icon_roll

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Marrying an MD is not a bad idea at all....they look so cute in that white coat. I guess I have a weakness for Drs....lol.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

I'm single, have been in nursing for 5 years, and have no kids. I drive a 6 year old Ford, own a 3-bedroom townhouse, and I take vacations once or twice a year. In a few months, I have a 2 week vacation in Hawaii. In spring, I'm heading to Europe. I also have no car payment, no credit card debt, and only a mortgage and student loans that I have to pay. I'm willing to sacrifice the nice car and huge house (my house is already more than I need) in order to travel. That's the priority for me.

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Specializes in LTC, Acute care.

Right now, all the luxury I want is to be able to pay my bills and still have something left in my bank account. One thing I have learned though is to be content and thankful with whatever I have, and to be sensible when I spend.

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Its all about managing your money. As someone mentioned you don't have to marry or be an MD to make money. I have people in my family who make more money than MD and they don't even have a college diploma; they were just wise with their money and invested it effectively. Also its about being 'smart' with your money. For example the OP mentions about owning luxury vehicles. Yes you could by those vehicles you just have to be smart about it. For example instead of buying the $80,000 brand new BMW get a used BMW for half that price. You just have to shop around. Same goes with that house and the vacation; check last minute deals for different destinations such as the carribean they are always cheap.

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I don't have time to read all the responses, so this may have already been addressed... but why would an RN even want to live a luxurious lifestyle? Nursing is a vocation, born from empathy and - let's face it - hard work. Don't get me wrong, bills get paid... and as such, monetary compensation is important. However, even the notion of a luxurious lifestyle pales into insignificance when one is faced with the realities of the real life scenarios that our patients encounter.

If luxury is one's main concern, then I suggest Hollywood...

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Shoooot. Nothing about nursing equates to luxury, baby-girl. I am blessed to have what I do and I wouldn't trade my life for anyone elses but I decided to be a nurse to give myself over to other people, not to be pampered.

If you really wanna live the "luxe" life, marry you a baller! :)

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the true luxury is being healthier than those we care for.

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.

The first half of goal-setting is figuring out what is important. If you've done that part, and determined very specifically the number of bedrooms, etc., then you proceed to the second part ...

How much money does that take, and how am I going to get there?

Just a comment: life is long, if you're lucky, and happiness comes from different sources at different times.

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