I have accepted a position at a hospital that will have me earning at least $30 an hour. That is ALOT of money for me. Considering the fact that I will be 24, splitting living expenses 50-50 with mom, and I have a vehicle that is completely paid for, I will have lots of $$$ left over every month ($2800+) after my expenses are paid. What can I/should I do with the excess money? Hurry and pay off student loans (23k)? Save up and buy a new car cash? I don't have kids and I am single if that means much.
What did you do with your disposable income when you began your Nursing career?
ETA: I am not interested in becoming a home owner at this point. I like the flexibility of being able to pick up and go when I please and owning a home would make that difficult.
But she, being very mature for her age, has NOT rolled her eyes at the advice to save for retirement.
I don't think she should give up her youth in order to live large as a retiree, but she has gotten VERY good advice as to contributing to her retirement fund, especially if her employer matches. Waiting until later will NOT get her where she probably wants to be when she decides to call it quits in nursing.
A lot of the nurses who are living hand to mouth in their older years are there PRECISELY because they didn't plan for retirement when they were young!
Not to rub it in but I retired to the beach at age 55. Haven't worked a day since (I'm now 61). It didn't happen by accident.
Hey guys! I know this thread is probably old and forgotten by everyone involved, but I just wanted to do a quick update on my financials.
I've been working for about 3.5 months now and I am loving my job and the money it's bringing in. I got some excellent advice from this thread and I took heed to most of it. I fully fund my 403b (which matches $ for $ up to 6%) and have scheduled to increase my contribution by 1% yearly til I reach 10%. I have full health benefits and that costs me about $120 a month. After Taxes and benefits are taken out I bring home about $3000-$3150/m. After my bills and other expenses are taken care of, I have about $1800-$2100 left over. This is at base pay. Once I go to night shift and get my "congrats on making it through orientation" raise in June, I'll be looking forward to netting a little more.
I will admit, my first few checks burned a hole in my pocket. lol I wasn't as serious about saving, but my attitude about my liberal spending changed as soon as my checking account statement came in the mail and I saw the ridiculous stuff I spent money on ($50 dollar pedicures, eating out everyday, a $150 dress that I'll probably never wear, $10 cocktails. Why lord?) I went shopping like a maniac. lol but I cooled my brakes REAL QUICK when I saw I went through $1500 in less than 2 weeks without putting a dime in my savings lol. SO in order to successfully "adult", I've decided to save up 6-8 months of monthly expenses and once I have that put away, I will AGGRESSIVELY attack my student loans and hold off on purchasing a vehicle since the one I have still runs (even though its kinda ugly). Sooo right now Im just focused on saving mostly and putting away for travel (just got back from a trip and I'm planning on going to St.Lucia at the end of the year).
SO! Im not clearing the $2800 bucks I thought I would (wishful thinking). Most of you were DEAD ON about that. Thank you for that dose of reality :). I've recently discovered that the secret to financial freedom is to live as simple of a life as possible & my ultimate goal is to live a life free of desires completely. I ain't there yet, but I'm kinda on my way. Haha. I just wanted to update yall real quick. Thanks for all the advice folks!
Sounds like you're on the right path OP. Thanks for the update!
When I am deciding between needs and wants, I remind myself that I will need to work longer for all those "wants". No thank you. My goal is semi retirement by age 56. At that age, I plan to only work when I choose.
Some of you may be interested in reading "Early Retirement Extreme" by Jacob Lund Fisker. He essentially retired at age 25 through saving aggressively and living frugally.
Let me say something about your car. When all is said and done, that car is paid for. All it costs you is gas and oil, insurance, and the occasional repair. You can buy a LOT of repairs for what car payments would cost you in a year.
That being said, I've only owned one brand new vehicle in my entire life. I won't make that mistake again. Now all I buy are one year old vehicles... look new, smell new, still have miles left on the warranty. Somebody else has already taken care of whatever might be wrong with it (why wouldn't they? It's under warranty.) Best of all, that same somebody absorbed all the depreciation that car suffered just by being driven off the dealer's lot. Not me.
I then drive it until it starts getting unreliable. My car is a 2000 Taurus. I've been free of car payments on it for 12 years.... roughly $48,000 worth of payments I didn't have to make. It's been garaged its entire life and still looks new. Everything works on it. I'm not embarrassed to be seen in it as a result. I bought it with 26,000 miles on it for a little over $12,000.
I have a 2007 Ranger pick up truck as well, bought the same way for pretty much the same money. Since I paid cash for that one, I've been payment free for 7 years. Another $27,000 I didn't have to pay. Getting the idea?
Transportation is just that. Buy something that looks mainstream enough it won't look out of date for a long time and then take care of it. The money you save is significant.
Before I go, I have to say I wish I'd started out as disciplined as you seem to be. Life would be even better now than it is, and it ain't bad. I was able to retire at 56 and I live at the beach with my house completely paid off.
Let me say something about your car. When all is said and done, that car is paid for. All it costs you is gas and oil, insurance, and the occasional repair. You can buy a LOT of repairs for what car payments would cost you in a year.
That being said, I've only owned one brand new vehicle in my entire life. I won't make that mistake again. Now all I buy are one year old vehicles... look new, smell new, still have miles left on the warranty. Somebody else has already taken care of whatever might be wrong with it (why wouldn't they? It's under warranty.) Best of all, that same somebody absorbed all the depreciation that car suffered just by being driven off the dealer's lot. Not me.
I then drive it until it starts getting unreliable. My car is a 2000 Taurus. I've been free of car payments on it for 12 years.... roughly $48,000 worth of payments I didn't have to make. It's been garaged its entire life and still looks new. Everything works on it. I'm not embarrassed to be seen in it as a result. I bought it with 26,000 miles on it for a little over $12,000.
I have a 2007 Ranger pick up truck as well, bought the same way for pretty much the same money. Since I paid cash for that one, I've been payment free for 7 years. Another $27,000 I didn't have to pay. Getting the idea?
Transportation is just that. Buy something that looks mainstream enough it won't look out of date for a long time and then take care of it. The money you save is significant.
Before I go, I have to say I wish I'd started out as disciplined as you seem to be. Life would be even better now than it is, and it ain't bad. I was able to retire at 56 and I live at the beach with my house completely paid off.
Thanks for the car advice! I will keep that in mind when I am in the market for a new vehicle. What do you think of my plan for paying off my student loans? Do you think it's a good idea to do it this way?
Since interest rates being paid these days are so low, I'd reverse the order: pay off the student loan first since its interest rates are probably higher than what your savings would earn. That advice is predicated on 1) that the student loan costs you more than the interest you'd earn on savings; and 2) that you have the discipline to actually start saving when the student loan is gone. It's so easy to put it off and the road to relative wealth is compound interest. In other words, $5k saved with 40 years worth of compound interest is worth a lot more than $10k placed in an account when you start to panic about retirement. In fact, it almost doubles even with a crappy 1.5% interest rate.
All of that being said, if you doubt your ability to stick to the plan in the slightest, go with your original plan. If you're certain you can stick to it, go with mine. Either way, you are light years ahead of most of your peers, who live from paycheck to paycheck. You may not have noticed yet, but expenses always seem to rise with income. That's why so few get ahead.
Since interest rates being paid these days are so low, I'd reverse the order: pay off the student loan first since its interest rates are probably higher than what your savings would earn. That advice is predicated on 1) that the student loan costs you more than the interest you'd earn on savings; and 2) that you have the discipline to actually start saving when the student loan is gone. It's so easy to put it off and the road to relative wealth is compound interest. In other words, $5k saved with 40 years worth of compound interest is worth a lot more than $10k placed in an account when you start to panic about retirement. In fact, it almost doubles even with a crappy 1.5% interest rate.
All of that being said, if you doubt your ability to stick to the plan in the slightest, go with your original plan. If you're certain you can stick to it, go with mine. Either way, you are light years ahead of most of your peers, who live from paycheck to paycheck. You may not have noticed yet, but expenses always seem to rise with income. That's why so few get ahead.
vone28
11 Posts
Wow, that is a big assumption that you implied all from OP not changing her screen name in a timely fashion.