Nurse Wealth 101

Ever heard of the saying “You won’t be a good nurse if you’re doing it for the money”, or “People don’t go into nursing for the money”. Do you believe this yourself?

I went into nursing with the ideal, “I will put my effort into doing some good into the world”. It still resonates within me. When I ask myself, “Why did you become a nurse?”, I can say to myself “Because I have the ability to help humanity”, and that gives me hope to change lives and do better each shift. It’s nice to get the grateful patient (or pleasantly confused hehe), so that you come away from a busy shift knowing you made a difference. The reason I believe people say “Don’t do it for the money” is that it takes a special nurse to deal with difficult situations and be grateful for what we’ve been given. Nurses are virtuous and if you are doing it for the good of humanity, that will make you a better nurse than if you were doing it to be greedy for money.

But wait.. can’t you be a good nurse AND make good money?

Two ways I look at money:

Money is a tool, nothing more nothing less. Someone once said “Money will make you more of who you are. If you are a bad person, you will do more bad. If you are a good person, you will do more good”. So wouldn’t it make sense to have the option to make more of who you are? Wouldn’t the ideal good person try to make as much as he/she can to help change the world in the best way possible?

Money equals time. Think of the life force you are giving to time spent fulfilling your work schedule. Wouldn’t that money be spent to good use? If you are investing money, you are investing into your future for some of the time you spent at work, but the money you invested compounds. Compound interest makes it so that eventually, your money grows to more than you put in all together. That eventually means less time working, and more time devoted to what moves you.

I live two simple rules: To be able to afford a lifestyle I want by acquiring assets that will help pay for my lifestyle, and to be able to do it sooner rather than later. No inflated lifestyle now. Delayed gratification. Don’t quit until you are insanely proud of yourself.