kelkelCA

Hello Everyone, I'm seeking the advice of some experience travel nurses out there who can understand the predicament of a newbie to travel nursing. I moved to Texas to get my 2.5+ years of ICU experience after nursing school, and now I am looking at travel nursing assignments in California...Anyhoo... I am very confused by the whole "this amount is taxed" and "this amount is not taxed" idea, not to mention the almost "underhanded" ways that things have been explained to me. I got to the point of getting an interview scheduled after a few phone calls with one agency only to later realize that this particular company does not appear to pay for housing at all (i.e. the options I was given were: 1) take company-arranged housing in which case they will deduct housing expenses from my pay, or 2) pay for it myself)....which to me pretty much defeats one of the only ways travel nursing makes financial sense for me. Then when I inquired about whether they paid overtime for anything over 8 hours (standard in Cali) I was given some explanation about "tax advantage" that I didn't have the tools to understand at the time. So to make a long story short, I am very confused about what is generally considered "good" or "normal" in the travel nursing arena. Am I being realistic to expect that housing should NOT come from my money (unless it is a housing stipend)? What about health insurance? Do most people get their own, or do they get the company provided insurance? (Assuming that their company provides it at all)... So many questions!!!! Advice is welcome!!