Turmoil with salary vs lifestyle - need advice.

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Scarlette Wings

358 Posts

Specializes in M/S, ICU, ICP.
hey everyone,

before i begin i just want to say that i'm grateful for everything i've achieved in my life thus far. my goals and aspirations have changed over the past year due to some experiences in my life. before getting my new job, i was happy with my compensation but as the responsibilities came and my goal in life to buy a house and raise a family the compensation doesn't seem sufficient.

i don't want people to think that i did nursing for the money. i still love my job and the things that i learn from it everyday, it's stressful but i can handle it. i've come to a point in my life where the making money for the future is very important. i live in nyc and for the sake of .. i guess finding some financial advice i'll disclose my salary which is 78k a year roughly.

taxes are rough, net gain yearly is approximately 52,000. with tax returns probably an extra 4-7k. do other rns on this board live pay check to pay check that is paying off a mortgage on a house and raising children? i see myself paying a mortgage of say 2000 a month which is 1 pay check. that leaves another 2k, for lets say car payments, insurance, property tax and the other living expenses, some for myself and the family to enjoy. that leaves me with probably nothing to save.

my question i guess is, what lifestyles do you guys have? back in the day my parents made it w/o an education. i guess i just live in a bad economy where the housing market is just crap. i've never actually bought a home, but from expenses that my friends that are home owners this is what i foresee. on top of that i want to further my education. i don't want to live pay check to pay check. i see myself having to make well over 100k to have the lifestyle that i want.

how do you guys feel?

seems like we all live in the same boat and only a few of the lucky ones have a yacht, but chances are if they are having to work as a nurse then the yachts on credit. lol. prices have risen faster than salary increases. or at least that is what i seem to experience.

iPink, BSN, RN

1,414 Posts

Specializes in Critical Care, Postpartum.

I live in Jersey. I have a couple of friends that work in NYC. They wouldn't live there. They have told me it's better to drive in then actually live there because their money stretches a bit further living on the outskirts. Jersey isn't cheap either, but it's much cheaper than living in the city.

I was use to living paycheck to paycheck, but I managed even with tithing and contributing to a savings account. I was making 50k with a 1k/month rent. I'm currently not working and still have that 1k/month rent. If I am able to do it, you can too. You may have to do some sacraficing while trying to figure out better living arrangements to save money.

leenak

980 Posts

Hi,

I'm not a nurse but looking at nursing as a career. My husband and I currently make quite a bit of money combined (I don't want to say exactly how much but it is more than $100k). We look at buying used cars rather than new and even then, we don't want anything fancy. We live in a pretty expensive area but our mortgage is about $2k/month. Sure, we could've afforded more than that but my general rule of thumb has been that your house shouldn't cost more than 2x your yearly income. Of course that may be unrealistic in some areas although there are always other options and buying isn't always an option.

I have quite a few friends that are frustrated and in a similar situation as yourself. If you are living on a single income, especially with kids, it is tough. Of course we also seem to be living in a very consumerist society which tells us that we need more 'stuff', whether that stuff is an expensive car, bigger house or just random crap. Overall, I think having a financial plan to save for the future (short term and long term) is one of the most important things you can do.

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