Okay, I am huge science lover...as you can tell by my sn. I have said since I was 5 that I was going to be a teacher when I grew up. It wasn't until 8th grade that I became extremely serious and researched teaching until I couldn't research anymore....you name it, I can tell ya about it. Retirement, insurance, salary, curriculum requirements, etc.
Now, in 10th grade I knew that I would absolutely love to teach high school Biology. And have all the plans for that laid out....but along the way I've always considered nursing my alternative career.
Here is my concern: In secondary education you must get your masters degree within 5 years of teaching. And with that (in my county) your pay increases $5,000 a year. Not too shabby, seeing as how you start off making roughly $29,000 a year. Teachers, at least here, have wonderful benefits and retirement.
If I do decide that I will go into nursing the only thing that I have concerns about is retirement. You dont make much more in nursing than you would teaching, and you dont have the retirement to feel good about.
Like, with teaching, your retirement, you take the 2 highest years of salary and divide them by 2. You get that salary (60% of it for 30 years) each month for the rest of your life. Thats a wonderful thing.
With nursing youd have to take a huge chunk and put it away each month to have even a decent retirement, wouldnt you?
And yet, another factor. And I'm only 18 now so maybe I'm thinking too far ahead, but I like to be prepared, lol. When/if I get married and have children I would like to stay at home with them until they enter school. With teaching, you can leave for 1 year and still have a job when you come back...but nothing beyond that.
So, I'm not sure what to do. I'd jump at nursing if the retirement was there....because I dont think I'd ever have trouble finding a job. And, while staying at home with my kids, I could still work at night on the weekends...
So, if someone could tell me how ya'll handle retirement....and, could you please tell me what benefits nurses get? And, if ya'll dont mind me asking how much would a single person pay a month for vision/dental/health insurance? What about when you have a family, what does the price jump up to?
Sorry for this long post....just wanting to get my ducks in a row. Thanks for putting up with me