rdaven

My companies name is Traveler Independence Inc. Not to bad of a name if you ask me.

I would definitly start looking for a new position. If your agency can not find you anything in the LA area then there are over 230 other agencies that probably can. I would og tho Delphi Forums. They have a forum caleed TNT Traveling Nurses and Therapists. There you will find a lot of great info plus there is a drop down box at the top that will take you to a recruiters forum where they post positions by hospital units. There are always a lot of great positions there and if not there is a section where you can post for agencies to contact you . Just tell them whefre you want to go and the agencies will write you back stating where they have positions open. Good luck with your travels and go to Delphi and read read read and you will learn so much.

It is hard to say without seeing the figures. If you want you can send me the numbers and I can crunch them to tell you if they are good or bad. I will need to know what city the contract is for too. Of course this all depends on you having a tax home. If you do not know then send me your home living details and I can tell you if it is a legal tax home or not.

YOu did not give all the details regarding the travel reembursments but I can do the math for you on what you did give. This is going under the assumption that the M&I and Car allowance is tax free. $25.00 X 36 Hrs $900.00 -170 Tax @ 30% $630.00 +273.00 ($39X7 days) $903.00 +162.25 ($650 Div 4wks) $1065.25 Net pay If you want to figure out what the pay would be without the tax fre just take: $1065.25 X319.58( 30% tax) $1384.82 Div 36hrs $38.47/hr So you can see that is a great rate plus your travel makes it better.

I am sorry that you have not found travel nursing profitable as well as fun. I myself have a different experience. I too am from FL. Last year I made over 3X the pay I was receiving in FL. I was able to max out my 401k max out my IRA, go to Italy for 2 wks and still have $8,000 in savings.

I agree with you. Trying to desipher all the different ways agencies quote pay can be quite exhausting. If you go to the Proffesional Association of Nurse Travelers at http://www.pantravelers.org/ you will find a paycheck calculator there. This calculator canfigure out the bottom line for any deals the agencies quote you. This way you can see what one agency offers in relationship to others all on equal grounds. It takes a little time to understand the calculator but it is a great toold to deciphering agency rate quotes.

I beleive that it is best to have your own permanent house while you travel. First reason is money$$$ If you have a TAX home then all of the housing that you receive would be tax free. The agency can also offer you tax free per diems for Meals and incedentals. If you do not have a home then all of this is taxed which comes to quite a bit of money come tax time. Plus whille maintaining a tax home one of the qualifications to a tax home is that you are not away for more than 365 days. So you have to go home at least once a year thus giving you a reason to go home and relaxe. You are supposed to work or look for work while at home of course.

What you should do is read everything on here about travel nursing and go to Delphi Forums. They have a forum called TNT Travel nurses and therapists. There you will find a all the information that you will need to get going on your travel adventure.

Per Diem literally means per day. It is a term that is used in a few ways. It can mean a shift that a nurse works through an agency that is booked dayly. It can also stand for tax free payments made by travel agencies for business deductions allowed by the IRS. When a person is away from there regular home they are allowed to deduct costs for being away while doing business. These costs are housing and what the IRS calls "Meals and Incidentals" which is a payment for food and small things like tips. If you have a permanent tax home then you can have the agency pay you these deductions instead of you deductiong them on your taxes. These payments are also called a few other things like tax advantage plans. What the agencies usually do is decrease your hourly pay, tax that and give you the rest in tax free pay.

I am sorry to tell you that if you can go home after your shift you do not qualify for tax free per diems. The only way to qualfy for tax free per diems is to be away from your permanent TAX home and have duplicating expenses. Meaning you have to work far enough away from your home that it would require you to stay in temporary housing.

i know the next question is who is the evil empire. it is a group of travel agencies that are all owned by one conglomerate. here is part of there annual report filed with the sec: we use a multi-brand recruiting strategy to enhance our ability to successfully attract healthcare professionals in the united states and internationally. our separate recruitment brands are american mobile healthcare, medical express, nursechoice in demand, nursesrx, preferred healthcare staffing, thera tech staffing, medtravelers, mti staffing, rn demand, o’grady-peyton international, merritt, hawkins & associates, and staff care, inc. of course you do not know that you are working for one in the same company because they will not tell you this up front!

From some of their posts it looks like their pay is on the better side. I know that they are part of the evil empire though.

Hello Harry, Thank you very much for the response to all the posts. I have sat back and listened to everyone and was going to post a reply to suzanne4 & Eddy but you beat me to it. And said it as good and if not better than I could. Like I said before you will never get rich being someone elses employee it is only when you take the chance and yes the risk to strike out on your own and take control of your destiny that you have a chance to acheive the dreams that you know exsist. I never said that it is an easy road, that you can sit back and have all the free time you have enjoyed before you became independent. Working for yourself takes time I do agree but it is time well spent if you succeed. It is a risk and I am sorry if suzanne4 did not succeed but it does not mean that it can't be done and I know quite a few people that are doing it, with success. So Harry I agree with your post whole heartily.

So what your saying is it is not worth making $55-$70/hr to become independent over staying a regular traveler and making $30-$45/hr? I became a corporation in order to make it easier to contract with hospitals. I know that a lot of hospitals will not utilize independent contractors but if your a corporation then there is no questions to your validity as far as employment status. The cost to incorporate was not that great and the paper work is not that much to diminish the increase in earnings. Plus the factor of you being in control of your destiny adds to the pot. There is no longer anyone else controlling where you live, what furnicher you will live with, what benifits you will get, what pay you will get for your services and so on. that in it's self is the true reason to become your own boss. Like the old saying goes you will never become rich as an employee.

I went to Valley Pres in Van Nuys. It was a little messed up but I heard they just dumped the NM and CN so it should be better now. The people were good and I actualy liked most ot the Drs. They just put a new coat of paint in the ED and it looks much better. The pay was not bad either. I hope you like Palm Beach, it is the best time of year to be there. I am in Mouse town (Orlando) now getting my bussiness up and running.