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.
That's a pretty stupid assumption it's just a screen name, that somehow is directly related to how she'll practice as an rn? Please tell me you're being sarcastic
One is never to old to enjoy life. Most of it is about attitude.
Every decade I've lived has been my "favorite." My Dad is 79 and he enjoys the hell out of life. He saved well, and guess what he does, in addition to volunteering all over the place? He travels!
Who knew one could enjoy one's youth even while saving for later? I'd like to think of the OP as one of those happy gray haired ladies someday, taking yet ANOTHER trip to Europe or Australia or the Great Wall. It can be done, if she plays her cards right NOW. She doesn't have to choose between having fun NOW or having fun LATER. She can absolutely do both, and if she follows some of the great advice given here, she will.
Thank you! I'm so sick of people acting like 50 or some sorbet arbitrary number is this solid wall of no fun after that
Don't speak to a financial planner. Talk to fee-only financial adviser. My advise is get a house now while the rate is low. Find a good job with good benefits and stay there long term and buy that house 2-3 bedrooms if you're looking forward to have family someday. Make it a 15 year mortgage loan. Pay it off soon. Then pay your student loan. The house must be close to your employer, much better. Continue what you are doing. Save 3-6 months of income for emergency. Keep your car forever, if you live close, you don't need a new car. Max out 401K. Marry a nurse with the same attitude towards money. I did this later in the lpst 5 years, i was able to amass close to 700K of net worth even in my 40's with the help of my wife of the same mindset. This nursing career is just a tool so you can do what you want in life..maybe savings lives without getting paid.....it is easy to save 1M when you know what you're doing. 1M x 6%= to 60K, that's a nurse salary by living off in the interest. I am a nurse for 23 years, i can't grind this career for another 20. Sacrifice more now, then you'll be rewarded more while chillaxing in Hawaii. Goodluck
Thank you! I'm so sick of people acting like 50 or some sorbet arbitrary number is this solid wall of no fun after that
It just your body isn't like it was when you were 20. I would go to clubs all weekend long, drink never get hangover, do party favors designer drugs like eve/ecstacy and be good to work during the week.
Me taking long 24 hour flights to asia is killer and I suspect the older I get the harder they will be.
I say live it up when you are young and free of responsibility and kids and relationship, just party party and explore the world, many cool places and cool people to meet on this earth.
I don't know any male that live past mid 70's, and I hope I don't have to live to be past 75...
It just your body isn't like it was when you were 20. I would go to clubs all weekend long, drink never get hangover, do party favors designer drugs like eve/ecstacy and be good to work during the week.
Me taking long 24 hour flights to asia is killer and I suspect the older I get the harder they will be.
I say live it up when you are young and free of responsibility and kids and relationship, just party party and explore the world, many cool places and cool people to meet on this earth.
I don't know any male that live past mid 70's, and I hope I don't have to live to be past 75...
You don't know any males alive over the age of 75? Dude.
I'm all for travel and fun, the designer drugs, mmm, maybe not if she's going 2b a nurse!
I still think the loans need to be taken care of first. OP is young, she can knock them out and still have plenty of time for travel.
That's a pretty stupid assumption it's just a screen name, that somehow is directly related to how she'll practice as an rn? Please tell me you're being sarcastic
It's not the name.
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
Btw. I make $34/ hr and my gross pay monthly is 5,000 plus and net pay is between 3800 and 4000. I have health ins, disability ins, long term and short term ins, 401K, and all of the insurances I could ever need. So keep that in mind when it comes to gross v net pay.
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.
Something went wrong on that salary calculator. Assuming you are working 36 hours each week, $30/hour ends up being $4,320 in a 4-week month before deductions. As a single woman with no dependents, taxes for state and federal combined may be 25-40%, depending on how ridiculous your taxes are in TX. If you get insurance, there will be more deductions. If you are in your mom's policy and it is a good policy, you might decide to stick with it. If your employer's is better and the cost is good, you may decide to switch, which will be another larger deduction. Cost for that is so wildly variable, but as a single person, maybe we could guesstimate $100.
Getting a jump start on retirement now is the best possible decision you could make for yourself. Maxing it at your current salary would be about $86 per week, $346 per month. Your employer may have supplemental coverage for short term disability, long term disability, supplemental insurance (they give you money for medical events), optional additional life insurance coverage, etc. This cost will be wildly variable. For me, I pay $63 per two weeks to have supplemental life insurance, short term disability, critical illness insurance, and accident.
Let's break this down using my numbers, with the idea in mind that yours may be completely different, but here we have a starting point.
Total gross income per month: $4,320
Taxes: $1,080-$1,728
Net after taxes only: $2,592-$3,420
Health insurance estimate: $100
Retirement estimate: $346
Net after these two things, which are a MUST! $2,146-$2,974
I won't include optional coverages, because you'll likely have different amounts than me. I'm 35 with pre-existing health concerns. Not severe ones, but enough for the insurance companies to decide to profit off me more. :\
It is vitally important you immediately get in the habit of putting 10% in savings each check. My generation struggles so deeply with money because I think we one day decided not to do this when we could afford to. So many of us, me included, really suck at money, and now that we've watched the market get destroyed and people really start struggling to make ends meet, we're remembering we were supposed to do that. Don't make our mistakes!
Now, we know not all months are 4 weeks, so let's break this down. Your net monthly income is $2,146-$2,974. Divide by 4 to get your weekly amount, which brings you to $547-$744, rounded. 10% put in savings is $55-75 per week, which is $2,860-3,900 per year. May not seem like a huge amount, but if you are disciplined in this, you will be creating a wonderful cushion for emergencies, and trust me, there will be emergencies. You will also be able to decide you want to increase that amount. If you want to have over $5,000 a year saved, put $100 every week in. It's up to you.
Let's say you do decide on $100 per week. That's $400 per 4-week month. This brings your spendable take home pay down to $1,746-2,574. As you can see, if you are closer to the first amount, you have very little left over, if any, and you still need to consider your loan, gas money and cafeteria runs. If you are on the upper end, you're doing much better, with around $700 for those things and whatever else comes your way.
When I was your age, I always expected 1/3 to come out in taxes, which would make the midpoint of those two amounts (~$2,400) a closer estimate. It's not much extra over your expenses, but it is enough that you don't have to be a shut in counting your pennies. I agree with the recommendation of paying more than your monthly obligation toward loans. Get rid of those so your money is a bit looser. I also have a monthly budget template that my family uses to make sure we are living within our means if you'd like to try it out. It'll have way more on it than probably you need, but it'll still work well.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
It just your body isn't like it was when you were 20. I would go to clubs all weekend long, drink never get hangover, do party favors designer drugs like eve/ecstacy and be good to work during the week.
Me taking long 24 hour flights to asia is killer and I suspect the older I get the harder they will be.
I say live it up when you are young and free of responsibility and kids and relationship, just party party and explore the world, many cool places and cool people to meet on this earth.
I don't know any male that live past mid 70's, and I hope I don't have to live to be past 75...
Not everyone values the same things. The club/bar scene is not for me. However, I do like my luxury vacations. And, by saving and living below my means, I can save up enough to take a decently extravagant trip each year. But that vacation fund is part of my monthly budget.
Not everyone wants to spend their youth living it up to the max. Turning 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, isn't a death sentence. People can continue to enjoy things or find new things to enjoy. Partying isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Hoosier_RN, MSN
3,968 Posts
And if she ignores rules as simple as this, what other shortcuts is she going to take that may actually put someone in harms way, die of not...