The Working Poor-Nurses

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I just saw this video/article today.. I am sure most of you have seen this. What are your thoughts?? 

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Married Registered Nurse hits emotional and financial low. Do nurses make enough to keep up with inflation or are we making financially poor choices?

https://www.tiktok.com/@theuncuttt/video/7308473238068219182

Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.
TeaCea said:

I just saw this video/article today.. I am sure most of you have seen this. What are your thoughts?? 

https://www.tiktok.com/@theuncuttt/video/7308473238068219182.

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I don't believe anything I see on Tik Tok.  We have no idea what financial decisions this nurse has made, how much she works, where she lives, etc.  When I was young I went through a period of poverty while I worked on getting my RN and then grad school.  My first decision was no kids because I had no family back-up help in any form and lived in. an area where child care was non existent.  That was a good decision for me.  I watched one nurse meet people on the road to exchange his kids to a baby sitter.  I saw nurses go through divorces and have to pay husband support.  No thank you:)  I hate to see young people create their own stressors because they should be enjoying their youth while it lasts.  If one is healthy and can work hard, live smart and save for that rainy day or retirement.

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So Our situation. I made some bad financial choices over the year. Wife wasn't much of a saver with finances. Lived in a high cost of living state. We took the gamble and moved out of state. Lost almost $60,000 in course of three to four years. Lived paycheck to paycheck. School was less expensive and higher chance of being admitted due to being a point based admission process.

Long story short making just about $200-$400 more as I made as a tech back home. My Wife is making what she made back when working part time ina. 4 week period as an LPN in our previous state we lived in working full time now as an RN in this state.

Can't buy a house. We rent a 3 bedroom. Saves us $500 and the extra cost that go with home buying a month. From when I look be about $2,000 to buy a house. $800 to $1,000 a month for groceries for 4 adults. 1 child, 2 dogs, and 1 cat household.

Long story short make it work. Is still bit dicey for us.

My Wife and my current employer bumped our wages up by 4% If wages in the state increased by another 4% to 6%. Was eligible for RN differential as an LPN. Also, eligible for RN tuition reimbursement as an LPN. Would be a huge help.

Do feel bad for others. Know my struggles can't compare to other's. Have experienced out there living check by check while your family includes a child.

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DavidFR said:

Threads like this make me feel very lucky. 

I hear stories of my native UK where apparently some nurses are using food banks and I just think "Holy **** how did we get to this?"

I live in France where the nursing the salary is decent. Not enormous but decent. Macron gave us two enormous pay rises as a result of Covid which helped alot, and made our specific hardships during that period feel recognized. The one thing I don't have is a car, not out of not being able to afford one but I just don't feel I need one (I live in the greater Paris area where public transport is excellent 24 hours a day, and being someone who likes a drink I would never mix that with driving on an evening out.) Otherwise I have a comfortable two bedroom apartment and we (my husband retired early on health grounds) never worry about the food bills or putting the heating on. We have a good social life enjoying things like theatre, cinema and eating out. We enjoy holidays and have managed to buy a small holiday studio in the south. We don't live extravagantly but I would say we are comfortable. I can't complain. I do grab extra shifts but that's for luxuries and savings, not out of necessity.

This is what gets me. On paper we moved to a poorer country with higher taxes, lower GDP, worse economic markers etc. And yet our lived experience is that when we lived in the UK (admittedly in brutally expensive London), we never had any money and we were both working full time in senior positions (for those who knew the old UK grading system, I was an H grade and he was an F grade). Now we live just outside Paris (we did used to live in Paris itself) on one full time, not that senior wage, and a pension and we seem to live far better than we did in the UK.  This is where I think economic models are flawed. The US is the world's largest economy and yet some professional, educated nurses can't get by? Why does poverty exist in the world's richest economy? 

I think it's disgraceful that in any country nurses can't get by. We're educated, we're professional, the job we do is amazing. Are we not militant enough? Is it no shock that countries with better conditions for nurses (France, Australia) have strong unions? Just a thought.        

 

Would be great if US transitioned away from private health insurance, allowed Unions that superceded any state laws that discourage Unions, had national safe staffing ratios, switched to value based care, at the mininum tuition free undergraduate education for first time students at public institutions, states adapted other states scopes with LPNs & Medics utilized them more in acute care settings, lessen income taxes at the bottom, added more tax credits & prebates, added more consunption taxes, universal healthcare, and had a flat generic medication cost.

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
MarkMyWords said:

Not only nurses, also many teachers and part-time professionals in different walks of life can barely get by.

I was a teacher before I was a nurse, I made 2x the salary as a 2 year degreed nurse than I did as a master degreed teacher. can't compare the 2 anymore. I have now been an RN for 11 years and I make decent money. I have surpassed what my husband makes. We are doing better than getting by and that is with 2 kids that have special needs (19 & 22 and won't be leaving home any time soon, if at all) 

Someone talked about consumerism. I have to think that is part of it. My only indulgence is my dogs. I don't travel much, don't care about expensive clothes/shoes/purses, etc. We have lived in the same house for 18 years and have not-expensive cars. Granted, I am older, have done many of the things in life before I got married/had kids (married at 35, 2 kids by 40, RN at 48). 

I kind of can't imagine being 22-25 as a new nurse and doing this for 30 years. 

My biggest concern is student loans and I am almost 4 years in out of 10. the thought of paying loans with my retirement money is more than I can bear. 

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

My nursing salary is very generous and we would be able to easily survive on it alone. However, I went back to school at 48 and while working full time got an advanced degree. My RN salary was a great second income but we would have had to cut back on many things if it was our only income. RNs nowadays, from what I see are extremely over-worked and underpaid. 

And yes, the state of military pay is deplorable. Signed a USN vet

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WTH !? Make poor $$ choices ? 

We are on strike here because we want better work condition for patients and for us. The gouvernement only wants "flexibility" from health workers. So he can play with us like in a game of chest. 

Come work with me one night and tell me after that that I'm " overpaid" or that I make bad financial decisions. Everything cost more and more. Our salary don't adjust to the inflation each year.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
Ariane Demers said:

WTH !? Make poor $$ choices ? 

We are on strike here because we want better work condition for patients and for us. The gouvernement only wants "flexibility" from health workers. So he can play with us like in a game of chest. 

Come work with me one night and tell me after that that I'm " overpaid" or that I make bad financial decisions. Everything cost more and more. Our salary don't adjust to the inflation each year.

I don't think anyone here has said nurses are overpaid! But on the National average per Salary.com the average nursing salary in the US is 86K with the nations poverty line at 40K. So we do do better that most. I do see many making what I would call poor fiancial choices (New cars and extravagant vacations) while they have Student loans still to pay off. Inflation has hit us hard. My husband and I both make 6 figures me with an ADN clear 117K last year  my husband almost twice that. He works for a federal agency and as the saying goes I could tell you what he does but then I'd have to kill you.

Even at these wages we are considered high middle income earners for California. We save a lot and have a years worth of house payments in the bank as our rainy day fund. 

But seriously, Nurses are the hardest working people I know and we are often worked to the point of exaustion. If I didn't have my garden I would just come home and vegetate on the couch. My hat is off to all nurses no matter where you work.

Hppy

 

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