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 $$$ left over every month ($2800+) after my expenses are paid. What can I/should I do with the excess money? Hurry and pay off student loans (23k)? Save up and buy a new car cash? I don't have kids and I am single if that means much.
What did you do with your disposable income when you began your Nursing career?
ETA: I am not interested in becoming a home owner at this point. I like the flexibility of being able to pick up and go when I please and owning a home would make that difficult.
Get your student loans taken care of ASAP. If you have balances on credit cards, pay them off. Take advantage of pre-tax contributions to retirement and health savings accounts, especially if your employer matches your contributions. In the grand scheme of things, that isn't a huge amount of disposable income, and unexpected things come up.
She got her BSN, but hasn't sat boards yet, so she hasn't earned an RN.
She also shouldn't have "Nurse" in her screen name, but that's a discussion for another time. After she's glanced at the TOS.
So, you haven't taken boards yet, much less passed them.
What's going to happen to your wonderful job if God forbid, you don't pass?
No license, no job. No job, no income, disposable or otherwise. No income...good thing you're still at home.
An important lesson; don't spend (or even save) money you don't have yet.
Obviously I'm just trying to get ideas on what to do with the $$$ when it gets here, which will be soon considering I will start in January. I'm hopeful and optimistic about passing boards and I am DILIGENTLY preparing myself for them. Of course I haven't started spending or saving anything yet because I don't have any money yet. A little fore-planning and brainstorming doesn't hurt.
Im a young, new graduate seeking advice & You sound very bitter and negative. Frankly, you come off as very pessimistic. It was a great thread until you came along with your debby-downer mentality. You actually do this alot AEB previous posts on other threads. Get thee behind me with your negativity. Just found out allnurses has a muting capability and I will CERTAINLY be using it on you.
When I was paying my student loans, I worked nights and overtime. Working and sleeping, sleeping and working.....!
My loan payment was 300/ month, but some months I paid 1500. You don't really have disposable income when loans are being paid. I also dumped my tax refund on the loan one year, 7000.
Not sure what your taxes are like, but I pay roughly 3100 per month in taxes and pension. OP, you won't have as much left over as you're assuming.
Dannngg! 3100 per month? Lawd hammercy. I live in TX and I was able to use a salary calculator that incorporates state taxes and other monthly deductions so that's how I got the numbers I got. How much in student loans did you have and how long did it take you to pay them back, if you don't mind me asking.
Pass your boards! Good luck, btw! Then, spend part of your first couple checks doing what you haven't been able to while you were a student. Get some nice --fill In the blank. Get it out of your system, then, do what everyone else says. Start an emergency fund, pay off any non-student debt, contribute toward retirement, save some, and take good care of yourself. And, pay your loans. It really isn't that much money. Save for when you have more expenses.
Consider also listening to or reading some financial literacy books/CDs. Dave Ramsey, Wild Money, and Your Money or Your Life have been helpful for me.
Thanks! Dave Ramsey is awesome. I love it when he rants and says stuff like "that's stupid on steroids!" Lol. I know one thing I certainly want to do as soon as I have the $$$ is buy a new laptop.. lol I got 4 years out of my hp. It's slow as Christmas now.
Wow I love this post. What a stark contrast to another person on this site stating that their starting wage puts them below poverty level. It's all in the eye of the beholder I guess. Congrats on your new endeavor as a nurse!
Thanks for your reply! & Woah... I guess I missed that jewel lol. Yeah, the money I'll be making is ALOT of money to me because it's more money than I've ever had & I don't have to waste it on a kid or a husband/boyfriend etc. I have NEVER been so happy to be single and child-free. Plus growing up poor has made me an extremely frugal person. You're right! It's all in the eye of the beholder!
Well congrats on your BSN degree! So I'm in a very similar position. I'm 24, living with my parents and have very low expenses. I take away $3400 a month after taxes and retirement fund. I had no clue what to do with that much money when I first started working as an RN. Before that I was making way less, probably less than a quarter of that.
I have a small student loan I'm making the minimum payment on. I also bought my dream car by taking out a loan and making a modest down payment on.
I've made a few smart financial decisions, but overall I haven't been very smart with my money. I would definitely recommend having a retirement fund, and emergency fund. And it's a smart idea to just pay off that dang student loan.
Overall, save a fair amount of your money, but remember to have fun. You put in a lot of hard work. I took an amazing international trip last year with my best friends. (Greece is amazing!!!) Sure, it cost a lot, but it was the opportunity of a lifetime. So travel, splurge a little, buy presents for others, enjoy the paycheck while you can.
Good luck in your nursing career. The opportunities are endless.
To the OP, congratulations. I like your optimistic way of seeing your future. Yes you have yet to take your boards, but you are already putting the good energy that you will pass.
I am much older than you, and I just got my first RN job and I will barely make $25 per hour, and boy do I have expenses. No student loans, but other expenses. I have a mortgage, and boy do I need a new car; which is why I would want a part time job in the evenings and Saturday being that my new job will be M-F, to see if I can come up with getting a new and reliable car. So congratulations on landing that job. A lot of new graduates that already have their license have not been able to land a job, so the stars are looking down on you (well God is being amazing).
You have gotten sound advise. Be wise. The great thing you have is that you are young and starting out. I know you stated that you are not interested in getting a house yet, but you will someday. Save for retirement, a little comes a long way. Travel if you can, especially if you are healthy. Pay the loans.
Congrats to you. Keep focus on what you want to accomplish. Oh, also when you pass your boards come back here and mention it so that the negative, I'm going to try to crush your joy posters can see you did it.
Obviously I'm just trying to get ideas on what to do with the $$$ when it gets here, which will be soon considering I will start in January. I'm hopeful and optimistic about passing boards and I am DILIGENTLY preparing myself for them. Of course I haven't started spending or saving anything yet because I don't have any money yet. A little fore-planning and brainstorming doesn't hurt.
Im a young, new graduate seeking advice & You sound very bitter and negative. Frankly, you come off as very pessimistic. It was a great thread until you came along with your debby-downer mentality. You actually do this alot AEB previous posts on other threads. Get thee behind me with your negativity. Just found out allnurses has a muting capability and I will CERTAINLY be using it on you.
No one is trying to smooth your groove. It is awesome that you are thinking about the responsible use of funds.
I would first off, make sure that you actually have a signed offer letter and you accept it. Not many facilities hire Graduate BSN's who are not RN's to begin working prior to passing their boards. Unless it is as a tech or some other position that does NOT guarantee that when you pass said boards that you will have a new graduate RN position to go to. So as good as a deal as you were told, it means nothing unless you have signed letters in hand.
And there have been many who are so sure that they have a guaranteed job, that they are shocked and beyond bummed when because of some small print, they do not have what they intended. Or dumb stuff like "you have the capacity of making $30 per hour after 2 years, holiday differentials, night shift....." when what you hear is $30 an hour. And rightly so. You are stoked to start working, you are in a good personal place that your personal stress level will be low, and you have goals. All good things.
I would also think about that $30 an hour. That grosses you $1200 a week. And this is assuming that you will be on days for your orientation, and not subject to differentials. Take 25% of that as single claiming 0. $900 per week. AND you can decide to take 100 bucks a pay period and put it to your taxes, as without any write offs besides the standard, it would be a good thing to do. $800.00 per week.
Now, because you are no longer a student, you will have to have your own health insurance. So lets make it a nice round $80.00 per week. Union dues if you are union. So now we are basically at $700.00 per week.
PLEASE get malpractice insurance, as it is a really, really good thing to have. Your licensing costs, your continuing ed, if you have to pay part of your certifcations (ACLS, PALS, NALS, heck even BLS can be out of your pocket) your scrubs your whatevers can run you $1000.00 a year or more. So I would be mindful and put $100 a week into a savings account for this purpose.
Your monthly expenses can be divided into known and unknown. Your student loans are known. Your car insurance is known. Whatever payment you make to your mother in rent (and if you are not, would as a gesture of good will) is known. Half of the utilities are not known. Some months could be bigger or smaller than others. So I really would sit down with your mother and say "lets average, let me add some rent, and how about I give you $300 a week all inclusive?" And if you are getting crazy cable packages or some other extra, then you should pay for that. Or get a cell phone plan and include your Mom or some other thing in trade for crazy cable.
Throw 10% of your income in a 401K if your employer matches it. That also can be used as a plus if you choose to buy a home in the future. OR even better, you may want to think about a garage apartment or a tiny house/cottage on your mother's property. If you get married, your life changes and you decide to move away or whatever, it would be income coming in as a rental that you and your mother could split.
If you find that then you have disposable income, put a great deal of it towards the principal of your student loan, and the rest in your savings account. But leave yourself a realistic number for you in your checking account. If you are into lattes and nails and hair and fashion and lunches (and I certainly am) then you need to be able to have the money you want to when you want it.
And if you are break even, another way to pay down your student loan debt is those months that have an "extra" check, that goes directly to your student loan.
Princess Bubblegum
122 Posts
Get your student loans taken care of ASAP. If you have balances on credit cards, pay them off. Take advantage of pre-tax contributions to retirement and health savings accounts, especially if your employer matches your contributions. In the grand scheme of things, that isn't a huge amount of disposable income, and unexpected things come up.