Nurses & Retirement $$$

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I think as professionals, nurses must change jobs more frequently than any other profession. In the last five years, how many employers have you had?

I am beginning to see why nurses retire without great retirement benefits.

start a savings account early in your nursing career and faithfully contribute to it, that is the only retirement plan that we can count on!!!

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

My magnificent Social Security 2001 income was just over $14K....

WHOOOOPIE!!!!

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My father recieved a nice pension from Lucent with only 10 years vested. That included pension/life insurance, medical/dental insurance and cheaper phone plan

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

As someone said, the current wave of business and health care is lack of good retirements. If we don't plan and save on our own. We're out of luck.

You're right. I've noticed too, lack of longevity at hospitals, but I also think that's the wave in other businesses as well.

All the more important to look after ourselves. Which pitifully few people are.

But like someone said, those of us who are trying has seen our investments whittle away in the last three years.

Right now at the age of 43, I have the retirement money in my 401 to stay comfortable for two years. I've had two nursing jobs in my career.

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wE HAVE TO LOOK AFTER OURSELVES. .

WE ALSO NEED TO LOOK AT WHAT THE RETIREMENT PLAN IS INVESTED IN...IMPORTANT TO BALANCE A PORTFOLIO

MUTUAL FUNDS MAY NOT BE THE BEST WAY TO GO IF YOU HAVE TO PAY 2% MANAGEMENT FEES IN TODAYS LOW RETURN CLIMATE.

BUYING INTO AN INDEX FUND WITHOUT THE MANAGEMENT FEE MAY BE A GOOD IDEA. AFTER ALL HOW LIKELY IS A MUTUAL FUND TO RETURN 5- 6%...ONCE YOU TAKE OFF 2% MGT FEE...YOU WILL GET 3-4%...YOU COULD GET THAT IN A TERM DEPOSIT WITHOUT THE RISK RIGHT NOW

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SELF-DIRECTED RETIREMENT PLANS MAY BE A GOOD IDEA FOR SOME.

ALWAYS ASK ABOUT RETIREMENT BENEFITS....AND ASK WHEN THEY BECOME VESTED IN THE EMPLOYEE. AT MY JOB, IT TAKES 2 YEARS BEFORE THE EMPLOYER'S CONTRIBUTION IS PORTABLE(BELONGS TO YOU EVEN IF YOU LEAVE)

OTHERWISE, GREAT RETIREMENT BENEFITS ARE USELESS IF YOU

DON'T STAY LONG ENOUGH TO HAVE THE EMPLOYER'S CONTRIBUTION ACCRUE TO YOU

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Most of us who are married just always believe our hubbies will be there for us...and they have decent pensions for the both of us. Sadly, I have too many friends whose hubbies left them....and now they are alone with the prospect of retirement on a very fixed income. We care more about raising our families than protecting our futures.

I agree...it is time we start fighting for better retirement benefits. Most nurse pensions suck and it isn't right. All the years of hard work and dedication and we retire with a measly pension. Sad.

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It is a big issue, I agree. I put all my money into tuition for my daughters, and even borrowed for one particularly good prep school. I really NEED to retire right now (50 in May) but maybe I'll get my blood counts up and feel able to carry on for a few more years.

But it's not JUST nurses. It seems like I've seen a LOT of people cut loose from "nice" companies JUST before they become vested in the good retirement plans.

Love

Dennie

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i am 38 and have listened to the older nurses(i started at my hospital at age 25). 12 years vested now for the retirement they provide plus my deferred comp. if i can stand to stay where i am for another 18 YEARS i can retire at 55. i may buy two years and sometimes they buy three when you have alot of years in so i'm shooting for retirement at 50 with 30 yr investment. :eek:

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Sounds great. What does that mean in terms of retirement pay? I've had nurses tell me their entire monthly retirement check was nearly chewed up to pay for their insurance. At 50, it's 15 years or more until Medicare kicks in.

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Our union negotiates contracts that include a "Retirement Benefits" clause - which is either free healthcare until or beyond medicare, or the extra thousands of dollars per year (tax free) to purchase our own healthcare after retirement until medicare kicks in. In terms of retirement pay (pensions):

Fictional nurses Mary and George share many similarities. Both worked for 20 years, earning the same amount of pay throughout their careers. Both were covered under identical retirement programs--defined benefit pension plans that provided a benefit equal to 2% of their final pay for each year of service. They each had an annual salary of $60,000 before retirement.

But the similarities end there.

Mary had changed jobs every four years. She received no pension benefits, because all of the retirement plans under which she was covered required that she complete five years of service to become vested. On the other hand, George spent his entire career at one hospital and received a lifetime benefit equal to 40% of his final pay at retirement. That translates to a monthly income of $2,000 for life.

While this example is extreme, it illustrates how nurses can lose pension benefits when changing jobs, according to Aquil Ahmed, a Washington, DC-based senior retirement consultant for Mercer Human Resource Consulting. He suggests that nurses carefully evaluate the impact that job changes have on projected retirement incomes. To compensate for pension losses, nurses can set aside additional funds on their own, he said. Or they can try to negotiate higher salaries or bonuses to make up for any pension lost because of job changes.

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29666

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Speaking as a member of Generation X, I am 27 years old and from the first job I ever had I seriously thought about retirement packages and benefits. Of course, I got it all from my grandfather who always told me to "pay myself first". With every job I have ever had I have put money into my 401 K. After being laid off for 8 months and then having to wait a year to put money into my 401K with my current company, I am dumping in as much as I can afford to to make up for lost time.

I know though, that most of my friends in my age range don't think much about retirement. I do though, because I have seen my ggm and grandparents quickly go through savings after they have retired.

From what I have heard on the board I don't think nurses are really that far behind most other professions when it comes to retirement benies. Very few companys except for perhaps large long standing companies like General Electric, Ford, etc. offer Pension Plans and health benefits after retirement. I consider myself lucky if I can find a company that will match part of my 401K contributions and maybe offer me a little stock in the company.

It is really hard for me to make my grandparents understand that when I retire I will only have the money that I saved througout my working life via 401K, Medicaid for my health care and hopefully, but I doubt it, Social Security.

Also, I have found that people of my generation job hop every couple years and it is to be expected. From what I have seen working in HR, since most companies don't offer you any extra benefits if you stay there for say your life time, they just hop to what ever job possibility comes their way that they can make more money and will progress them further into their career.

I don't have much "loyalty" for a company because it isn't going to do me any good to stay there for an extended period of time like 10 or 15 years unless they continue to pay me more or I can move up the management chain.

Me, my husband and most of our friends will stay at a company for 1 of 3 reasons. We are progressively moving up in salary, we are progressively moving up in job responsibility and knowledge or have put in enough time to be vested in that company. Otherwise, there is little point and staying there and we will begin looking for another job.

And, I also remember when working in HR we actually wouldn't hire anyone that had stayed at the same company for 5-7 years or more because our reasoning was that is showed that they were too affraid to go out and take chances. They were too comfortable where they were at and didn't have drive to move up the food chain and progress within their career.

However, if you get a job with the government, well, that's a whole other story. My boss who is 54 always tells me, "If I had to do it over again, I would have found a job with the state." The benies are tremendous.

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