how old were you when you realized you weren't going to make real money as a nurse

Nurses General Nursing

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Laid off pilot use to make 12K a month, sitting in nursing school. That's when

Specializes in Family Practice, Urgent Care, Cardiac Ca.

Wow...some real haters here! I get paid enough to do what I do, and while I have worked hard for it, this is what I was made for! I had a choice between DO school and NP school, and I chose nursing. CHOSE, people! I cringe when I think of what med school and residency would have done to me: It would have washed my inspiration out. sounds like for some that may have already happened...

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Specializes in Adolescent Psych, PICU.

I should have added to the OP I am truly sorry you got laid off from a very well paying job. That could not have been easy. I know that even though I don't make great money, I do make good money (in my opinion) and me and my family would be devastated to lose my income.

In order to make really good money in nursing you have to plan ahead.....look at Nurse Anesthesia programs, some NP's I know personally are making $100+ a year (I live in the south so that's great money here). To maximize your money as RN I know a lot of people who work 3/12's plus prn somewhere else, contract work ($50/hr+), float pool generally pays more. There are options to make decent money.

I do agree that nurses are not paid what we are worth but I did know the pay before even applying to nursing school.....anyone can call or email the nurse requiter at any hospital and they will tell you vwhat they start new grad RNs out with, its not any mystery.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

"get real noobs... this is what it is. There is never enough money to do what we do... period. That's what it took, and I never looked back. noobs "

LOL!! Spit my coffee on that one:lol2:

No doubt we have all that "not enough money in the world" moment(s) in nursing. And how much you wanna bet that poop is involved in 99% of them?!:D

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I don't believe nurses make monopoly money... especially when you consider what hundreds of thousands of people are bringing in on unemployment.

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Real money to me may be different for others.

Used to be anything over $10/hour then $40,000/year now I just want enough to live comfortably which is now, anything over $60,000/year.

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Specializes in NICU.

My mother is a nurse, my father a retired cop. They raised 4 children just fine off from their salaries. I never went into nursing with any illusions that I would make $150,000 (without becoming a CRNA, that is....which frankly as a career doesn't interest me all that much as of right now). My mother manages to pull in between 85,000-90,000 after all is said and done each year. She has always made more than my father. That's not too shabby for an associates degree.

My perspective may be different too. I have a large extended family. We are very close and growing up lived in close proximity to each other. My nurse mother and police officer father had really good jobs compared to most of my other family members. I have aunts and uncles that didn't graduate from high school, let alone college. I have family living on a reservation that until recently didn't have reliable indoor plumbing. Even with my siblings, only 2 of us went to college, myself and my brother. My brother can't find a job. He's been unemployed for over 2 years now. Luckily his wife has a well paying job. My other siblings are employed, but have no job skills and will never make over the equivilant of $10 and hour in todays money. They think that my husband and I are really well off, and that is with only his salary since I am still unemployed.

My husband is in the corporate world. When I start working, I'll make about the same as him. However, I do realize that he has major growth potential at his company, whereas there is a certain number I will top out at. I'm fine with that. We've been able to feed, house, and clothe a family of 3 off from his salary, so I'm looking forward to doubling our income and having extra spending/saving money. I fully plan on going back for my NP, and NP's, depending on the specialty, can pull in over 100K here.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.

A very good question!

I finally realised, even doing agency work on weekends, what a load of horses**t that people told me how great nursing pay is.

The government in my country, just to make life harder for nurses, decided to put me in a high tax bracket. Most of my pay goes in tax (and I do work weekends for the supposed money). So, after years & years of study, giving up friendships, personal relationships, family relationships, other hobbies, etc and throwing myself into nursing (cos everyone said it will be SO worth it), I now realise at 43 that it was all a crock. No, maybe I am dumb, but you don't get very far working hard.

I wish I had followed my dream and gone to art school, and learned about history & antiques - but everyone said you don't make money from that (this was 20+ years ago). How wrong they are now - art, antiques, etc is a booming and thriving business.

I do enjoy nursing most people, but I am looking to get out and work at home. I will still finish my post graduate studies (as I've paid for the unit I am finishing), but I would tell anyone younger you will not make much more money than a checkout girl working on the weekends. My niece usually works 3 days, sometimes 4 (she has kids), and she clears as much as I do - no study, no meetings, little responsibility - and she gets a couple of grand off the government for the days she stays at home with her kids.

I think I was the stupid one delaying having kids, then couldn't have them and instead devoted myself to study, cos in the end, no-one - certainly not the patients - could give a damn how qualified I am.

They think we are all rich!

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Specializes in ICU, ER.

With some OT, I make $80,000 a year, with excellent benefits. That's not decent money?

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Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.

hey bill4745

is that figure before or after tax? and what benefits do you get?

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Specializes in NICU Transport/NICU.
Laid off pilot use to make 12K a month, sitting in nursing school. That's when

Like I've said in the past; at some point, you will have to change a brief for someone who is taking ferrous sulfate, and it is at that point, that you will know if you are supposed to be a nurse or not. Nursing school will do a fine job weeding out those who shouldn't be here. The best are the people who go into nursing school just to be a nurse anesthetist, yet can't even pronounce it. I love that!

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Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.

Life is always 10% what happens and 90% perspective.

As others have said, "real money" is a matter of perspective. Me, I used to bust my chops doing landscaping/snow removal and couldn't even afford a car. Now, I stay warm during the winters, have a more defined schedule (believe it or not) and make enough to live in an apt. I never would have even been allowed to look at from a distance before. Add the fact I own a car I like (not I had to settle for), get paid vacation time and can afford to do a lot of things that stayed on my wish list for years and, yeah, I'd say I make real money.

Now here is my problem pilot nurse. You compare your earnings as a pilot to what your earnings will be as a nurse and seem upset by the nurse's salary. But you have to ask yourself one thing. Why are you sitting in a school studying nursing if piloting is so great? Something (and you already explained it) put you in that class. As you said, the airlines industry is not reliable anymore. So, the comparison is an illusion anyway. You are comparing the ideal pilots position (one that is stable), a position that does not exist apparently cause...........well, you are studying nursing..........to the reality of nursing. You're never going to be happy if you compare reality to fantasy all the time like that. You're going to end up one of those nurses who change jobs every year and constantly tell your new co-workers how great it was at your last job.

Actually, I take that back, you won't be one of them. Those nurses are unemployed now. Unemployed or stuck in their current position cause no one will touch them, they can't find their next victim. If you keep going forward with your current attitudes, you'll find yourself humbled and wishing you could have some of the "real money" nurses make cause you'll be unemployed too.

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You can make good money in nursing if you work 3'12 in a hospital plus doing home health care or agency work.You just have to work for it but I know nurses who make close to 100,000.In addition you should never choose your second career based solely on its income.

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