Nursing Salary...

Tibbymc · Sep 10, 2005

hello, im from the philippines and currently a nursing student. Im just wondering if nursing is a high paying job in abroad. thats the talk of the town. most of top notch doctors here are taking up nursing just to work abroad and earn dollars cuz here in our country, we are facing a lot of problems and the salary of a nurse here is only $150-$250 a month. eversince i was a child, a dreamed of being a doctor like my father but now things are different here. My father told me that newly grads doctors arent earning that much. to tell you the truth, their salary is not satisfying.
to get to the point... so all of you guys are saying that some of the people there believe that they'll earn a lot of money if they become a nurse? or they just made that up? im confused

I guess what we mean is that in the U.S nurses dont make as much money as they're worth. Someone mentioned before that garbagemen make more than many nurses at $35/hr. After hearing what nurses in the Philippines make no one can complain that much. But yes, nurses over here make decent money and have wonderful job security.

coffeedog · Sep 10, 2005

Is there any one can tell me which states have less tax and lower housing expense?Thanks a lot!!

tencat · Sep 10, 2005

Well, in my area in CA, RN's make about $29-45 so I don't know how good/bad that compares to other areas. Let me know! Thanks...

Yowza. But the cost of living in CA is enormous, so is that really a huge amount? I wonder....

I've heard that starting salaries in Albuquerque, NM are in the low 20's an hour plus differentials for working shifts like nights and weekends. In rural NM it's less. I figure I stand to make less than I did when I was teaching (at least at first) but the salary will end up later being A LOT better than teaching, so that's good. But, I really don't care because so far I'm having a BLAST in nursing school and feel passionate about this career. If you hate the job, then (as someone already said) no amount of money will make up for that.

r_janice · Sep 10, 2005

Is there any one can tell me which states have less tax and lower housing expense?Thanks a lot!!

From my understanding Delaware is tax free......but I still think theres a catch to it. If the state is tax free they got to have some "hidden fees" or something like that! :wink2:

jsteine1 · Sep 10, 2005

I'll second that.... We make decent salaries. The majority of us are not rich by any means, but it beats what I made during nursing school-NADA....LOL... I hated it in school when nurses told me I was going to be just as broke after graduation. I may not be rich but I'm damn sure not living off the McDonald's dollar menu anymore...

No one who has done their homework goes into Nursing for the money. Its just not there. But here's the key: There are not too many professions I can think of where an individual can move almost anywhere in this country and have several jobs in different settings available to them. I just got a wonderful managerial position in Home Health and Hospice. I am an RN, but Because I had not been actively practicing for so many years, but had instead worked as an executive for health care companies, I was out of work for 8 months. I made four to five times what an RN makes while working in management for the last 30 years, but if you average in the risks and potentially long periods of unemployment and the stress that it entails, due to company consolidations,downsizing, right sizing, stupid sizing reimbursement changes resulting in line of business reductions, it all comes out about the same over the life of a career. I had to get this OLD to figure this out!!

MarySunshine · Sep 10, 2005

I'm a new grad making $18.65/hr. I like my job pretty well, but it's very difficult and stressful and frankly, I used to make almost as much as a waitress. I guess everything is relative. And being poor is NOT PLEASANT, so I can see why getting out of school is very much looked forward to. But nursing ain't a get rich quick scheme! :)

Alpha13 · Sep 10, 2005

$130,000 for a traveling RN sounds insane. Are any other travelers making even close to that figure?

Momto3andNurse2B · Sep 10, 2005

Is there any one can tell me which states have less tax and lower housing expense?Thanks a lot!!

No state income tax in Florida, but make sure you research the specific area. Real estate in some areas is ridiculous, and way out of line with salaries.

flowerpower · Sep 11, 2005

Wow, I'm surprised this became such an interesting topic! I guess there's such a big difference in a nurse's salary based on where one lives. I have some nurses who live in my neighborhood and they are pretty much "bling bling" bc they seem to be able to afford to go on vacations, Hummers, convertibles, basically nice cars, bikes, boats & nice houses. My friend's aunt is an RN, and she just bought a 1.6 million dollar house!

sunnyjohn · Sep 11, 2005

Wow, I'm surprised this became such an interesting topic! I guess there's such a big difference in a nurse's salary based on where one lives. I have some nurses who live in my neighborhood and they are pretty much "bling bling" bc they seem to be able to afford to go on vacations, Hummers, convertibles, basically nice cars, bikes, boats & nice houses. My friend's aunt is an RN, and she just bought a 1.6 million dollar house!

There is no state income tax in Texas. Austin is a pretty decent city to live in.

Flowerpower, If you manage your money well, you can have a few nice things. Vacations and a nice car are not out of reach if you budget and make a good financial plan.

Those folks in your description above either have a spouse making mad bucks, are a CRNA, NP or traveller pulling down over $100k a year, a nurse working lots of overtime, or have rich relatives.

Either that or they are doing what most Americans do, LIVE WAY OVER THEIR MEANS!

curlyfries · Sep 11, 2005

I am curious how many of you folks have large student loans like more than 20K? Is it worth taking out large student loans to pay for your nursing education? Does your employer offer to help pay a portion of your student loans or have you looked into the nursing loan forgiveness program?

Thanks for sharing!

Moi

jalvino1 · Sep 11, 2005

Wow, I'm surprised this became such an interesting topic! I guess there's such a big difference in a nurse's salary based on where one lives. I have some nurses who live in my neighborhood and they are pretty much "bling bling" bc they seem to be able to afford to go on vacations, Hummers, convertibles, basically nice cars, bikes, boats & nice houses. My friend's aunt is an RN, and she just bought a 1.6 million dollar house!

"bling bling" doesn't say anything about how much a person makes. Everytime somebody buys a boat or go on vacation they are sacraficing something else. For example. My mom is a nurse, I have one sister and we grew up in a 3 bedroom townhouse, we each have a car, we do not wear designer clothes, we rarely go on vacation,. But because we do not own more than necessary, my mom was able to put both me and my sister through a reputable university, with a reputable nursing program. And most importantly she is not in debt.

On the other hand, I also know a family that lives in a 1.5 million dollar house, with an Audi and BMW. They go to europe for a month every summer, a cruise for a week every christmas, they own enough clothes to clothe a small country, eat out at fancy restaurants many nights... and they are in debt up to their ears. Their daughters are still paying for their student loans, their oldest daughter had a very small wedding because her parents couldn't help pay for it. They spend their money as it comes.

Priorities. "Bling Bling" is a lot of peoples priorities, and I'm not judging bc they earned that money, they can spend it however they want. But my mom grew up very poor. And she says she never wants me or my sister to have to struggle the way she did growing up. Now she makes just as much as that nurse with the "bling bling" lifestyle... it's just that her daughters are a bigger priority to her than a fancy car.