Losing money being a nurse

[moonshadeau]

Raise notices just come out today. I realized that for every year I am a nurse, I am actually going backwards on the pay scale making less money than the year before. For example:

(Base hourly wage + Raise)- (insurance rates + premium increases) - cost of living increases = 8% less than what I was making last year.

Is this happening everywhere else or do I need to find a new job?

[DarthMom]

A fellow nurse I work with (single mother) lives in the projects because it is all she can afford.

The only reason I don't is because of my husband.

The sad thing is we make the same ($600-800/week clear) and this is not enough to support a family on (unless you consider eating beans and ramen noodles middle class)

wow. where do you live? We have been living on my hubbies pay, 650 a week, for years. 2 kids, 3 bedroom home, one car loan, one paid off car.....for years. avg home in our area is 225k. and we have bad credit, so no loans available when we need money, so have to do a pay day advance, and we have a high interest rate on our home. but we get by. we go to sea world every once in a while (17 a month for the annual passes on credit, you dont notice that gone!) family movie time almost every night thanks to netflix, and family time on wknds. we are always broke, but the kids dont know it!

she has to be budgeting badly, i can't imagine our cities being that drastic of a different cost of living. she in the "projects" and us in a 3 bedroom home?? though I am not trying to be judgemental, just shocked at the difference.

People buy too many damn things they don't need. We only do new clothes and toys on christmas and birthdays. No need for em at any other time.

We are selling our home so I can go to school and pay off our debt (no bankruptcy for us!). I hope we can finally afford to buy a few nice things occasionally, and do family vacations. And dangit, I miss getting my nails done!! Nothing wrong with a few luxuries, but too many people indeed go overboard. We will be looking for land, and building a dome home. Economical price wise, and energy wise. And I can afford to have my girlie fun :balloons:

in regard to the op, and in "ditto" of mom, my hubby is a software developer for a large company, he is wayyyy below the bottom of the avg pay for what he does. The whole ocmpany just got a big pay cut, not him though, his pay was already too low :chuckle or should that not be funny? lol

so it isn't just nursing, it really is everywhere.

[SarasotaRN2b]

Yeah, but the company contribution surely helps. And some hospitals in my area have better retirement plans than the 401K: defined benefit pensions where you're guaranteed X amount of income upon retirement, usually based on your highest income years, with cost of living increases built into the payments.

So ... I was just wondering if anyone has compared that kind of benefit loss against any salary increase you might gain by switching jobs.

The sad thing is though, you really can't rely on pension plans being there when you are ready to retire. How many times do we hear that people who have worked 25, 30 years and found out the pension plan doesn't exist any more.

I personally am more in favor of the ROTH IRAs. You'll put in taxed income but once you retire, you won't have to pay taxes on it. There is a little more personal control.

Kris

[Sheri257]

The sad thing is though, you really can't rely on pension plans being there when you are ready to retire. How many times do we hear that people who have worked 25, 30 years and found out the pension plan doesn't exist any more.

This is true, but I also think it depends on the organization. You have to do a lot of research beyond the promised pension benefits ... such as ... what is the status of pension funding.

There are some employers who are taking care of business, so to speak. Kaiser, for example, made a $500 million payment a couple of years ago to fully fund their pension plan. Presumably they wouldn't have made that big of a payment if they didn't plan on paying their pension obligations.

Riverside County in California (which also operates a lot hospitals) is now doing a bond issue to fund the $450 million shortfall their pension plan. But the University of California, for example, hasn't done anything to fund their plan for years.

If organizations are taking preventative measures now, hopefully that's a good sign that the pensions will be there in later years. But if they're not ... then I'd say there's a good chance the pension won't be there.

:typing

[fergus51]

According to a study they're talking about on CNN, Americans are the worst savers. Over 22% of us have no money for savings at the end of the month.

[actioncat]

Yes, I miss that too. I would hope that it would put politicians sexual scandals in perspective compared to what can really go bad in the country.

This article isn't the study I referred to earlier. It's by my favorite economist, Paul Krugman.

http://www.pkarchive.org/economy/ForRicher.html

He talks about what is happening to the middle class. It's long, but I find it quite interesting. I know a PhD (professor at a large university) economist who thinks that we are headed for an absolute crash in the US eventually. So much wealth is increasingly concentrated at the very top. It has not been this way in the US since the 1920's, before the Great Depression. Add to that the Federal deficit and things just don't look that great, financially in the future.

I do believe financially speaking, that RNs will fare better than many in the future economy though. Not that it will be great necessarily, but if there is a recession or 'crash' other careers will just implode, like service, sales, retail, small business owners, etc.

agree, agree, agree (and I like Paul Krugman too)

Nurses are probably faring better than many in the middle class, but the middle class as a whole is not doing so great. Wealth is being concentrated at the top and this is not good for the economy.

[beannie]

Very very good thread. I have learned a lot already through this discussion, and have taken a step back to look at my spending patterns. My brother is very "green" as an architect and has preached to me for years. We can make a difference in this world if we all do our part.

But I would like to talk more about nursing wages. I do believe we are underpaid. One poster stated that nursing is the most respected profession. I don't believe "the most respected" fits the description of nurses. I believe it is nursing is the most trusted profession. We are not the most respected, this is seen by the way administration views nurses, namely as replaceable, and the way the media denotes nurses. In many news stories shown on ABC, FOX, etc. stories about nursing shortages, ability for advanced practice nurses to prescibe, and about the roles of nurses in hospitals are covered with little respect towards the nursing profession.

Intereviews are held with doctors, not nurses. Nurses are shown in the background hand holding and following orders, but this is not reality and a very limiting perception. but this is the media perception and this is the viewers perception. Stemming from lack of education, lack of representation. I would like to see conditions improved, better patient ratios, safer practice, less stress on the job, more job satisfaction. I think that part of the picture involves higher pay. Until the pay is increased, there is no vested interest by administration to listen to nursing staff.

There is money in the hospital system, enough to increase nursing pay. The healthcare system is a big money maker, I know there are lots of arguments against this but I believe the money is out there. They are cost saving and cutting in the wrong places, spending in the wrong places. I think we can make a difference by looking at ways to save money within our facility. Nurses can have a big impact in cost saving. I think also that nurses need to be heard more often as experts within the healthcare field.

Sorry, long post and a bit jumbled. But there are many different avenues of which nurses can be heard. We advocate for our patients and should advocate for our profession with passion as well. In doing so, we will be protecting our patients. It is hard to be so political when all I want to be able to care for my patients, but the field is changing and becoming more endangered as cost cutting increases.