I feel like I am stuck in between a rock and a hard place and I am not really sure what to do.
I am a 28 year old male, a retail manager and I make about 80K a year. I am really big on Finance and the FIRE (Financial Independence retire early) Movement and I would describe myself as a super saver. I am on track that by the time I am 40 I will be financially secure and theoretically wouldn't have to work again. I have no intentions to stop working once I hit 40 but it's a goal of mine to have the option.
So here is the thing... I love the money I am making and I am comfortable in my position but I'm not happy in my job because I don't bring Value to the world in my position and I am not making a difference in anyone's life.
I have strongly considered going into Nursing for years, when I was younger I wanted to be a CRNA but also Emergency Room Nursing interests me a lot as well. I think I could find happiness, purpose and meaning in either of those different roles.
So I guess what I am asking is if you were in my shoes what would you do? Should I wait until I am 40 (12 years) to start nursing? or Should I start the Nursing journey now and start off with a pursuit of the ADN?
If you find yourself getting annoyed a lot with customers, it will only be worse in the hospital.
This. A WHOLE LOT worse.
Take your worst kind of customer, multiply by 10 and imagine you're in there with him or her every 10 to 20 min for 12 hours straight. You cannot exclude yourself from the contact with that being. You cannot make a single mistake, however small. You must remain impeccably professional at any moment. You have next to zero rights and zero voice in situation. And you have anywhere from 1 to 6 other customers at the same time and about 2 to 10 people at any given second demanding your attention all at once.
And you're making 1/2 to 3/4 of $$$ you're getting now. That's how it will look like.
Honestly if I could turn back time, I wouldn't choose nursing. I'd rather pursue an office job.. Nursing offers variety and job security, but dealing with patients and their families is so draining.
I personally would not recommend it. I think there are better ways of helping people and bringing value to what you do. Someone mentioned financial counseling. You could find lots of things to do that wouldn’t be as spiritually, physically and mentally devastating as nursing is. I’ve been a RN for 35 years and really wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Good luck to you.
I am in a similar position. I am currently attending a BSN program at 27 Y/O. I’ve spent a majority of my career in the military and medical field. I’ve followed Dave Ramsey’s financial planning and currently have no debt except my mortgage. The Air Force has given me much financial freedom (saving everything and investing early/smartly). I have enjoyed my time and have earned high 70’s-80’s on deployments. I considered nursing for the “purpose“ factor and not the financial aspect because, let’s face it more money doesn’t mean you will save more, unless your really disciplined and focused it won’t bring long term happiness.
I’ve earned three degrees from my time in the Air Force and working on my fourth. These are fully funded as I have no student debt. I have considered advanced nursing however, my entrepreneur ventures are looking more towards owning a side business as a BSN. I think right now money is your safety net however, with the changes in economy, I believe you should look for a career that can weather the storms i.e peaks and valleys. My “purpose“ at the moment is to retire with the military (14 more years) and be able to have the freedom to work on my own terms and be independent. I believe that as a nurse you can have many options as to how you would like to work and when.
If you’re truly passionate about what you do, I believe you will have the ‘purpose’ and freedom you seek. Especially for such a small timeframe to earn your RN degree. Don’t be discouraged by age, just know it is harder (physically) to start later in life. I wish you the best and only you can make the best decision for your goals.
Hunter, I have worked with many awesome second career nurses. I hear you want to give back. Have you thought about starting out doing some EMT to be sure this is the field you want to go towards. I teach nursing students and some find out in their first semester that this is not the place for them and others unfortunately take longer. Shadowing, or joining your local EMT's, shorter course to be able to start working in the high adrenaline field of health care.
It's worth thinking about, but don't fall prey to the "savior-behavior" attributed to some people who idealize nursing. You could do just as much good teaching financial literacy to people desperately in need of it.
I second this idea! You could also eventually volunteer at the Ronald McDonald house or at an elementary school! There is something called "moral injury" in health care. More often than not, I see us doing unnecessary "things" to patients when the best we could have done for them is nothing.
I just took a similar path to pursue nursing. Gave up retail management making 80K plus, but I knew retail was no longer for me, and I needed to get out. I was with a fortune 50 company and couldn't imagine any other position I would even consider moving to in the company. When opportunities came up to advance, I didn't want them.
I always wanted to be in the medical field, so I made the decision last year to really go after it around 40. The think is, I already had most of the prereqs done. I had to repeat A&P 1 and 2 due to the ages of the courses.
If you have that desire to grow with your organization and it's "all about money", then maybe stay where you are.
The only advice anyone can give you here is financial advice. The rest you have to answer on your own.
The worst part of retail management is not the customers...It's managing employees.
I don’t know about the part where the employees are worse than the customers. I’ve had guns pulled on me, people try to physically assault me, customers poop in the middle of the floor, and threaten to follow me to my car at night. The difference is I could call the police on the terrible customers, I can’t get away from the patients. I did have an assistant manager throw keys at my head one time when I had to fire them.
Defibn', RN, EMT-P
224 Posts
I didn't even think about that. I can only imagine!