Lets face it, the economy is bad. I barely got into my studio apartment on my measely hourly wage retail job --- and life basically sucks. I got laid off twice as a teacher and never found a living wage job since. So much for retirement.
At age 50 I am barely making ends meet. I am college educated and can do better in life.
I saved some money so I could pay cash to get LPN license and make $18-20 after graduation in one year.
I am choosing nursing because of the money and stability. I used to be a CNA a long time ago and it was an ok†job. It paid the bills. I can do nursing, even though its not my passion.
I have applied and sent out tons of resumes in sales, teaching, management positions, HR – you name it. The clock keeps ticking with loss of income and at my age its harder to land a job.
Anyone go into nursing for the money? Be honest. You would be surprised what people do when they need a living wage.
Well,yes the money is ok,but here is an area that nurses lose out BIG TIME: Benefits.
Also,those advertisements for nurses are more then likely places with horrible working conditions.
Some places have good benefits. I accrue around 208 hours of PTO per year assuming I don't work any overtime, which gives me almost six weeks off per year with pay. I usually end up earning much more than that with overtime. The top end of the PTO earners, the ones who have been with the company forever, get almost 300 hours per year with just full time work.
I think my health insurance is decent - I only pay $40/month, and that includes nice things like $200 flat for CT scans, MRIs, etc., and my deductible is only $850. Not to mention they give up to $900 in credits every year for health incentives - and that's higher than my deductible, so pretty much everything is free. Getting a physical, for example, is free and earns me $150 in incentives, so I get paid $150 to get a physical every year.
Not to mention my company matches my 401k contributions up to 6%. Unfortunately, I have to work here for three years to keep their money. Two years to go!
I wanted to be either a Nurse, a Social Worker, or a Teacher. Nursing paid the best with the least amount of school (associates degree here) so I went with nursing. Lucky for me, it turns out I get to do all 3 of those jobs as a nurse.
calivianya, BSN, RN
2,418 Posts
Some places have good benefits. I accrue around 208 hours of PTO per year assuming I don't work any overtime, which gives me almost six weeks off per year with pay. I usually end up earning much more than that with overtime. The top end of the PTO earners, the ones who have been with the company forever, get almost 300 hours per year with just full time work.
I think my health insurance is decent - I only pay $40/month, and that includes nice things like $200 flat for CT scans, MRIs, etc., and my deductible is only $850. Not to mention they give up to $900 in credits every year for health incentives - and that's higher than my deductible, so pretty much everything is free. Getting a physical, for example, is free and earns me $150 in incentives, so I get paid $150 to get a physical every year.
Not to mention my company matches my 401k contributions up to 6%. Unfortunately, I have to work here for three years to keep their money. Two years to go!
I don't think nursing has bad benefits at all.