Thursday, January 25, 2007
More About Money
I don't normally state plainly what country I'm blogging from following the closure of GeekNurse, although it's fairly easy to look up which is why I don't try too hard. Hence the ambiguity of my previous post on finances.In that post I was out by quite a long way. Told you I was bad with money! I make $37 613 in US dollars before tax. I lose 25% in tax and a further 7% in student loan repayment, so by subtracting 32% we get the unhealthy net amount of $25 577 USD. This is after 8 years of clinical experience.
As you can see, it wouldn't be hard to do better on US RN wages, even taking cost of living into account. In fact, with rentals the way they are where I live, and with accommodation often provided for in travel nursing contracts, I'd probably be quite a bit better off. But I love my country, I love the way we practice intensive care here, and it's just not the right time. So I should stop complaining!
I can increase my earning slightly by 'upgrading' myself according to our hospital's mind-numbing grade system, which ranks how competent I am by asking me to produce a large body of 'evidence' and fill out a vast form. Sheer laziness on my part (and a certain amount of resentment at having to do it in the first place) has so far prevented me from complying.
If you don't mind disclosing, how about posting your own income from nursing (converted to USD) in the comments section? Here's a currency converter if you need one.
Posted by PaedsRN at 7:15 PM
Don't ask us that because in the US I am making real good money (deserve more). It would make us and you feel bad to say. Lets just say that you deserve a helluva lot more and we are very lucky to live where we do. Our hospital is unionized.
You asked for it. $68K US for a 36 hour work week with some extra shifts here and there when I feel like it. The company pays for all my competencies [ACLS coming up next month] and they also pay me for the hours spent in class to obtain them. I got my BSN in 2000. Oh, and it's not a union shop.
Expect less money if the job is a non-specialty like med-surg, expect to make less in rural communities, and expect more money on the coasts. Sorry.
My recent W-2 says I made $72K last year.
My spouse must have stuck it all under a rock someplace because I sure as heck have nothing more than a home, a 23" television set, a car and a pair of Martin-Logans to show for it.
I have exactly one pair of jeans.
Like I'm proud.
I made $92,000 last year. Sorry, you asked.
My last couple years were $76K and $79K, but those #'s don't include 15% for my 401K. I work alternate full-time (6 shifts per 2 week period). Since I live in LA I know it's more than the average, but I'm still priced out of a home here so it doesn't do much good. I work in peds so I could make more I suppose at another facility, but I LOVE my hospital and don't see myself leaving.
Hi! I'm a nurse with a blog. Can I be on your blogroll and use your extra-nifty button on my site? I won't spam your comments with my URL, but since I'm on blogger, you can just follow my profile info...I think...
Thanks!
Sorry guys, our low-tech 'forward comments to the other blog contributor' system broke down, didn't realise these remarks were here! HK must be having a busy week.
Yeah, ok, I'm jealous. We have no equivalent to the 401k either, no mandatory scheme and no health/dental plan like I understand some US employers provide.
I really do have to remind myself that I'm lucky in many ways: I get to work with one or two patients at a time, I have a great team of people to work with and a significant degree of autonomy in my practice. Just... would have to go elsewhere to ensure I have money when I retire. Probably will have to travel to earn before too long, which is a shame.
Thanks for disclosing your incomes. Keep 'em coming, I like living vicariously ;)
I became a BSN last June. I make $24.92/hr. From the middle of July on, I made $27,000 last year. I live on the West coast.
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I make $24.71/hr, coming out to about $40k per year, working 32 hrs per week (give or take, I usually pick up more hours). I could pick up even more hours and rack up bonus pay and overtime pay, but I choose to spend more time with my family. As it is, I would rather only work 16-24 hrs per week, but we need my income.
I live in the east coast.
I have a BSN and 4.5 years clinical experience and get paid $19.30/hr. It's crap pay, and I know it. I was making better money as a new grad before I moved from the south to the heartland.
I work in NJ at a fairly urban, unionized hospital with 10 years experience. All the RN's get paid based on years as an RN with extra for BSN/MSN(but not much more) and extra for national certification. RN's don't get paid more based on what area of the hospital they work in(ie ER vs med/surg)
I made $82,000 which includes a $3/hr night differential for 36 hr week.
RN's salaries are really varied depending on what part of the US you work in. I wouldn't want to leave where you live, but it's pretty lucrative. I used to work with someone from your neck of the woods.
I'm a travel nurse, currently making $45/h.
But to look at last years W2...I made just about $50,000. The difference is the per diems and nontaxables, that aren't counted as "wages". (travel expenses, housing, etc.) Basically, I've doubled my income.
As a traveler, in a week I make the amount of money I worked 2 weeks for as a staff RN, but now I don't HAVE to work call or weekends. (I could if I wanted to, but I don't wanna!) And expenses related to work are, of course, all tax deductible.
I travel all over, see and do things I've always wanted to...Life is great!
I make about 24.00 an hour before shift differentials with a BSN and 6 years of experience. Comes out to around 42,000 yearly I think. I will be making approximately 75,000 (I hope!) as a new NP when I get the job that I'm looking for in about 8 more weeks. Can't wait to get those stinking student loans paid off! They are going to kill me.
The latest (Feb. 26, 2007) Advance for Nurses/Chicago& Metro has an article on salaries. The average salary in Illinois was $59,050 USD. Specialty certification seems to boost salary by about $5,000 extra a year--not a whole lot when you consider the time it takes. Urban nurses make more than suburban nurses or rural nurses--as if we didn't guess that! It does pay, however, to get your BSN right away. Your lifetime earning are definitely more and you'll make about $7,000 more than an associate degree. Multiple that difference by 30 or 40 years....
$85,000 - part time!!!!!!!
I work for a CNA represented Kaiser Hospital in Northern California. I've been an RN for 3 years going on four, work 32 hours work week and earned $80K last year without working any overtime. My medical & dental insurance is fully paid for without a dime out of my pocket. I am a very happy Registered Nurse.
49000 ful time....uk
My two-year anniversary of graduation from nursing school is coming up soon (I have an associates degree), and according to my W2s I'm making $69,000 USD as a unionized ER staff nurse. (that includes my shift differential, some overtime, and getting paid time and a half for working holidays like Xmas and New Years.) I work 13 shifts a month, get five weeks vacation and 12 paid holidays a year--but only four sick days. I get a 3% raise every year, plus another raise for each year of experience. Not bad! And when I finish my BSN and get my ED specialization I'll get another raise.
Interesting to see the HUGE differences in pay. I work in Northern Ca and my full time job is $42/hr x32hr/wk = apx 70k/yr and my per diem job is $55/hr :)
Hard to leave Cali with these wages!
With 12 years experience and an ASN, I made $50K as a med/surg nurse in a 55 bed hospital in rural North Carolina. That's for roughly a 40 hour week (36 hours plus running late) and includes shift and weekend differentials.
NC is one of the few remaining states where unions are illegal.
Strangely enough as an assistant manager in cardiac medical in a 1000 bed hospital also in NC, but in a more urban area, I made $54K. This also was for roughly 40 hours a week.
It's kind of amazing the vast discrepancies in salaries in the US. NC is great, but not for making money. Also, here there's very little salary difference (about 18 cents/hour) on the floor between BSN and ASN; just that these days you're seeing more that management jobs are only opening up for BSN nurses (although it's still possible with experience to get in). I think this is different in other places, though. Anyway, it's been the reason I refuse to go back to school; I'm not spending $10K+ on school only to make another 18 cents per hour. At that rate it would take me an extra twenty years' work to make up the difference.
Wait til my husband hears about this....
I work in Arkansas USA, I make 17.55/hr which is about 36,000 a year/40 hour work week/52 weeks a year. I'm single, and have no dependents, so I'll probably do about is well is you on taxes here!
I just found your blog and I like it. I'm currently working as a traveling nurse in California. For my last contract I was taking home 8k a month (that includes my expense dollars which are tax free for housing etc)for 48 hours a week. This contract I'm making a bit less as I'm working less hours but still taking home 6500 working 36 hours every other week and 48 hours every other week. It varies though from contract to contract. I'm getting a lot of good experience and getting to see a lot of different places. Overall I'm enjoying it.
Hi, I love your blog! If you could add me to your links, that'd be awesome. :-)
I make $75K a year for 3 dayshift 12's a week plus 4 hours for administrative duties. I'm in the south so that isn't TOO bad... but I'd love to be making some of those California wages!
A simple way for hospitals to say money and raise nurses salaries is to use refurbished medical equipment. I'm surprised more hospitals don't think about it.
In my firm I do a lot of consults on risk to some vary large medical practices. I believe that a developing trend one is going to see in the future is that so many practices do not want to hire licensed nurses (be that LPN and/or RN’s) but rather hire two or 3 MA’s for the same cost. The problem I am seeing is that the MA’s are often working way outside their scope of practice and completing clinical and assessment tasks which are mandated by law to be completed by an RN, or a LPN under RN supervision (…a MA certainly can not teach the pt in regards to the disease process, that’s why we all spent so many hours in class and on the floors years ago, so you can educate pts on DM, HIV, HTN, and hundreds of other pathologies) The public assumes that the MA’s are in-fact ‘licensed nurses’ since they wear scrubs and have a stethoscope. To save a few bucks now, the practices are risking literary millions in viable financial threats in the future and most importantly they are victimizing the ill via negligence. Just my humble opinion.
John G Brenner RN., MS.
www.johngbrenner.com