lucy1976

I totally agree Agnus, i sure hope that the poster doesn't get discouraged by all this naysayers...

I agree with Mike, Also i think the problem, really is people trying to keep up with your neighbours, so many people literally throw money away by leasing fancy cars, or having huge payments, yet you can save so much by buying a used car and paying for it outright, ..( but no!.. what will the neigbours think!)..sad.. Yet people are okay spending sleepless nights worrying about bills!! Look at the mortgage crisis that we have now, that's threatening to damage the whole economy, Yes the banks did get greedy, but consumers are also to blame for taking up mortgages that they definately could not afford just because they wanted to keep up with other people, even though sometimes it makes more financial sense to rent!

Hi always Learning! First of all Big congrats on your very forward thinking!!! I love Goal setters like you. Second.... DO NOT.. Listen to any naysayers at all, if that's your goal, you will achieve it. Set your mind to it, and you will do it!! You'll be surprised at what happens when you set goals and dream big.. Have you watched "The secret"? If you haven't, please do. Also read a book called " Write it down, make it happen." It's amazing how things manifest themselves once we set our minds. One thing you'll find is that once you set your mind to something and believe that it will happen, it really will, maybe not exactly through the same way you planned, but somehow you get there... My husband and I had an almost ambitious goal, I graduated Nursing school at 29, We planned to Retire by 45, and have accumulated 2.5 million by then, which we would then re-invest and live on the interest, we were conservative and assumed 10% return, and monthy, $ 6,000, with an initial deposit of $ 10,000. Our MAIN GOAL was to stop working while STILL YOUNG enough to enjoy life.. Since we have always lived on his income, the plan was to save all i make and invest it. The first step offcourse was to pay off debt and to make sure we cut on uneccesary things. we really and truly believed that our dream of early retirement would come true. Very often we would review our goals and see how we are doing.. Like i mentioned earlier, once you set your goal, things just start happening that move you towards your goal..... Intially we thought only my income alone would get us to our goal, but lo and behold, i later discovered the Stock market, and on some stocks and options we have had as much as 600% return in a year, i did lots of reserach and only invested in the booming sectors, Solar, agriculture, metals and dry bulk shippers. Stocks like First Solar, Monsanto, etc. We also decided to invest in rental properties and we are now 6 months away from completing a 13 unit apartment complex abroad, which initially we thought would only bring about $4000-5000 a month, but we later found out that we really had underestimated the amount and rents will be higher since the area is a very high demand neighbourhood, and now our estimate is $ 7,000/month! and most of the units are already pre-booked! We later plan to own about 4-5 such properties, and as you can see, $ 2.5million is now only a few years away! And yes, we do have a construction loan to pay off, but the rental income will pay that off an about 2 years, and in the mean time my income will be working of the second project, which we've already bought the land for..So basically, even though we don't get to $2.5m in cash, by age 45 we will have a stream of income from the properties, and i will not have to work, unless i want to... So my dear friend, that is the power of a dream... One piece of advice i would have for you though is sometimes, it's not always a good idea to tell people all your goals and dreams, especially the ones that seem very out of reach, coz you will get more people to discourage you, and that eventually does chip away at your zeal and the naivity that is sometimes needed to achieve "impossible" dreams. Another thing is that, you might be better off working PRN at a busy hospital, and making $ 35-40/hr base, with differentials of like 6/hr for weekends, and 4-5/hr for nights, and then work most weekends, some hospitals pay as much as $ 9/hr extra for weekends. Last year i made an average for $ 70000-7500/month doing this, and i usually worked around 50 hrs. whn you're PRN instead of agency, they don't have as many restrictions on your OT, coz you're still a staff member, it's just that you don't get benefits. The hospital i worked in did not have a problem with us opting out of benefits and getting the PRN rate, also OT was not an issue. What you need to do though is to get ICU experience, so you can work on most units, then you'll never be short of hours. Also, it helps to have TELE/medsurg too, like after 6 months, you can start orienting to a tele floor so you can learn to manage 4-6 patients. The other advantage of being PRN is that you get paid to go to classes etc, while if you're agency you're not.... One more thing,...once you have your ICU experience and feel comfortable, move on to "easier" units like PACU, Daysurgery etc, coz of downtime in these units, it's so much easier to so 5-6 12hr shifts, most people telling you that it's impossible to work that many hours probably work in "hard ' floors, and that's really a choice that they made.... Anyway, that's all from me. Best wishes in all your ventures!!

Thanks so much for your advice, i'll definately keep all that in mind!

Thanks for your response!, unfortunately for me though they called me back and said that they need a minimum of 3 years. I only have 1.5 years in nursing. Good luck with your application process.!

Hi Jake, Actually, on the project i have a really awesome deal, coz my dad does the same thing and he's now 55 so he's retiring and will be managing our projects full time. ( my sister is building too) He's also managing the construction etc, all i have to do is to send the money. Obviously he's doing it to help us establish ourselves financially, so for now we don't have to pay him anything, but once the apartments are done and occupied, we'll probably have to pay him something, we're trying to see if we should use a property management company, or if my dad can be the property manager and take the 10% from total rents.....Which is what the management companies charge.. By the way my home country is Kenya.The project is in one of the suburbs of Nairobi, the capital city. Lucy

Thanks Dairy Girl, It's good to get an opinion from an actual Travel nurse, since i've never done it before. Maybe i did over estimate how much travel nurses make...

JuicyJAke Thanks very much for your thoughts. Yeah, that is my main concern, that if i leave my current job, i may not find another one like it..... About my project, i'm building a 15unit Flats/apartments, in my home country, i've already bought the land and spent an additional $ 40000 for the foundation and First floor, the rest of the money is to finish the project. i can't finance with a bank here coz the project needs to be within the US for me to be approved. I could finance with a bank in my home country, but the interest rate is like 16%, I think that will just eat up most of my potential profit! The project is in a high rental demand area and i expect to make about $ 4800 a month once all the units are occupied, so that's why i'm very willing to sacrifice a lot for now, to finish the project ASAP. Lucy

It's only short term though, 9 months max, and the point i'm trying to make is that at my current job, i'm already working that many hours, but it's worse because M-F i work 8 hour shifts, so for OT i have to work Saturday and/or Sunday for 12hrs at a Tele unit, so i was thinking of i got another job, Travel contract maybe, i could work 12 hour shifts, this way if i did work 60 hrs a week, i'd still have 2 full days off, which i don't right now when my main job is 8 hour shifts... Basically, that's the only thing i don't like about my job, the 8 hour shifts. Otherwise i love it, and i wonder if i should risk leaving it just to be able to work 12 hour shifts??

I recently saw an ad for an RN telephone job with a company called Health Dialog, i was wondering if anyone has heard or worked for them..If so, what is your opinion of this company??

Thanks for the info Kyvec, I'll Let you know when i get ready to apply. What is the latest shift they have? coz i like to work later in the day..

Any opinion......Anyone??

Anyone else have an opinion?

Well, right now i'm already working 60-74 hrs a week, that's why i figured with the travel rates and the huge tax breaks that travelers get, it could add up to close to $10,000 a month.

Hi all, I really need an opinion from people who've done travel nursing.... This is my current situation.. I have a 9a-5pm PACU job a small brand new Heart hospital, There are only 2 PACU nurses, and the only patients we recover are AV grafts, Fem Pops, and some EP Ablations, TEE's and Cardioversion patients. The hearts and thoracotomies go straight to the CVICU. On our busiest day we have 4 -5 patients. I mean, it's a really sweet job, especailly the fact that it's just two nurses and so less people to butt heads with. The whole hospital is very clean and the management is very nurse friendly, i mean even on the Tele floor the maximum patient load is 4 patients,even at night, most of the time they have 3 patients. ( I do pick up extra shifts in tele during the weekends). My question is, i have a project that i'm working on that will cost me abut $90,000 over the next 12 months, i've been seriously considering travel nursing so i can make $ 8000-10,000/ month including overtime ( I was considering California, or local contracts) I could do tele or Pacu if available. Right now i make a net of $3500.month for 40hrs per week, with ot on weekends i can net $ 5397 for an extra 12hr weekend shift, or $ 7274.00 if i work both saturday and Sunday, i can do without straining too much coz my week days are soo easy. I was thinking travel nursing would be a good idea coz i can make more with less days of work coz i could work 12 hr shifts. I don't have kids, so even though 9-5 is a great shift, for me, financially, it doesn't seem very good financially, coz i can't work much OT. Please give me your opinions, feel free to email me too. Thanks! Lucy