Hope you didn’t get fooled too bad this April. Since we saw stocks crash and I overheard multiple coworkers from housekeepers to doctors talking about it during some of my part-time shifts, let’s discuss wealth building and some investing tips for nurses!
In Order to Build Wealth, You Need to Invest Effectively.
What’s that mean? It means not making emotional moves and reacting with your investments. It means investing with simplicity and for the long term. Any nurse can be an awesome investor and get pro-beating returns on their investments!
After tariff announcements, some of my investments “lost” more in one day than many people make in wages over an entire year! At one point, just one of my investment accounts was down $100k after days of sell- offs! Did I actually lose $100k?
Markets Move, Don’t Let Emotions Move Your Investments
Investments fluctuate in value all the time, some 24/7. That’s the nature of “markets” and investing. Investing effectively means using a sound strategy to grow your wealth and increase your purchasing power in the future. In other words, you want your investment to not just increase in value, but increase in real value by beating inflation.
I’ve been a nurse for 20 years and I turned 40 last year. I know my investment strategy is sound because all of the effective investments I was making 20, 19, 18 years ago and so on have exponentially increased in real value, just as expected. Even investments made in the last 5 years have done very well.
When big moves happen in the markets, emotions and reactionary thinking can make investing “ineffective.” I didn’t sell or make any big moves in my investments this month. I didn’t try to limit my “losses” by selling before it dropped more!
Know a Real Loss
That “loss” I mentioned isn’t actually real until it’s been “realized”. Locking in losses due to emotions or panic selling is a good way to lose a lot of money for real. Often it results in the execution of the old investing mantra Buy Low, Sell High into Buy High, Sell Low. That’s not an effective strategy.
What is an effective strategy?
When you are trying to build wealth, simply invest into your 401k every two weeks automatically and into low-cost index funds. Don’t look at your account every single day, especially if you get freaked out by any losses or big moves.
I think nurses can make excellent investors. We are used to dealing with so much BS, it can lead to grit! Grit with investing means not getting emotional and letting tough situations mess up your investment strategy and having a higher threshold for BS. It’s like shrugging off a tough shift, its gets easier as you gain more grit and experience.
In April 2025, the BS was your investments losing 5% or more in a single day. Then shooting back up after a “social media” tweet and all kinds of other insanity. You can maintain a higher threshold for BS when you have a sound, simple investment strategy.
You don’t build wealth locking in losses and then waiting to reinvest until you realize the markets is going to keep moving higher or is already has. That’s buy high, sell low, lock in loss, then wait until its high to buy again. You also don’t want to “buy and hold” investments you probably shouldn’t have in the first place.
When I first started as a nurse, only part of my investment strategy was sound. I also invested in real estate and individual stocks in the early 2000s. That was not a good investment strategy for me: I saw my real estate property soar in value more than four times only to come crashing back down during the 2006-2007 housing crises. I saw my individual stocks soar in value, only to see some go to ZERO during the Great Recession. Not all investments recover, only the sound ones. My low-cost index funds are what have made me wealthy.
I managed to invest over $35k in 2024, off part-time wages. I’ll invest tens of thousands more this year too. My strategy hasn’t changed. I know I’m making smart decisions now and that means the potential for a happier and wealthier future me without having to depend on nursing income! On April 14th I went ahead and invested another $6k into IRAs netting me a bigger tax return. This was in addition to my automatic investments.
Don’t Pay Too Much Tax!
Nurses often pay way more in taxes than they should have to. I’m also saving a lot on income taxes the way I invest…now and in the future. You can check out my other blog post on how you can invest more easily when you understand taxes and how to avoid them.
Not everyone should be an investor outside ensuring they are getting their employer match, because investing has risk. If you’re wondering how the heck you can get the funds to invest or want financial literacy training, check out my free introductory Nurse CE membership with 5 contact hours.
When you’re ready to make money a tool you can effectively wield, enroll in my paid courses or access them with a paid EnrichedRN Memberships to save big and learn how to invest and grow your wealth!
I wasn’t always an effective investor, it wasn’t until years into my career I wised up about sound simple investing strategy and tax avoidance. It’s worked out very well! I already gave you the strategy, invest automatically for the long term through your 401k into low-cost index funds and keep doing it through ups and downs. While its simple and anyone can do it, in order to really appreciate it, you need to learn WHY it is so effective, that’s a little more involved. You can learn WHY and how with courses and continuing education for nurses. Then implement a sound strategy yourself…Or you can learn the hard way losing money first and hopefully eventually developing a sound strategy. Learning from other’s mistakes is way better and cheaper though!
Develop a sound, simple investing strategy and then stick with it. Even when it’s getting scary with big ups and downs. Having it in place will let you successfully get to the other side. When investments stabilize and resume their upward trend, you can really enjoy wealth building and understand the “why” firsthand.