Do you look like a rich nurse or are you actually a rich nurse? I often see an awful lot of fancy cars in the parking lot at work…which makes it seem like there’s a lot of rich people on staff, but…
Looks can be deceiving. Have you ever walked into a patient’s room, said hello, checked their name band and were shocked to see their age? Sometimes it’s a 50-year-old who looks like they’re 70. But sometimes it’s an 80 or 90 something year old who looks like they are in their 60s! Who would you rather be?
I don’t think many nurses will be confused for a sixty-year-old when they are ninety! Especially if they spent decades in the field and worked extra!
Wealth or Debt Status?
Vehicles are often interpreted as symbols of people’s wealth and their level of success, but they don’t reveal much about it. Just like the way our outer appearance can differ from our actual age. Especially when treatments, make-up, genetics, or “living a hard life” are considered.
Before almost every shift at work, I arrive in a 2007 Honda Accord. Yup, the founder of The Enriched Nurse commutes in an old base model Accord. Not a fancy sports car or luxury SUV or Tesla. Sometimes I ride my bike or take my wife’s Vespa. But most of the time it’s my old, but reliable car. I appear to be a broke nurse driving a 17-year-old car, not a rich nurse.
The car has almost 200k miles on it. Several thousand of those miles took my wife and I on a grand tour of National Parks from California to Washinton, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona then back through California to Oregon.
Enjoy Better Nurse Work-Life Balance
We spent three months having an incredible adventure and took several months off between jobs in 2010. This was coming off the Great Recession. People thought we were crazy for quitting our jobs without any new ones lined up. When we settled down again, we easily found work and were financially solid. What a great benefit of being a nurse!
We paid that car off shortly after resuming work and it’s cost us almost nothing since. No car payments for almost 14 years!
Here’s the thing, I prefer to drive to work as little as possible. I’ve been part-time almost my whole career. While it’s not my only vehicle, I keep my transportation costs pretty low. Imagine not having any car payments!
If you want to put away some serious money and have investments, freedom and autonomy (be an actual rich nurse) you have to have the money to do it. A big car payment or worse multiple car payments and other transportation expensive often eat up a lot of a nurse’s income. You work hard for that money and those added expenses don’t let you work less or have more cash flow, unless you’re very highly paid.
A Sound Lifestyle for better Nurse Personal Finance
So many nurses work full-time and extra shifts yet still don’t have any extra money. It’s ate up by all their expenses. They might be high paid or at least paid well, but they don’t have much money left over for real wealth building. When I see them pull up in a fancy or even standard, but brand-new vehicle I think it’s no wonder so many nurses live paycheck to paycheck. They can only dream of investing to become work-optional any time soon.
I look like a broke, paycheck to paycheck nurse driving an old car. I don’t look like I could quit and take a year or so off without a care. My sound financial lifestyle means I live below my means and don’t look like a rich nurse. Which is my best tip for nurses! Spend less than you make, especially on major expenses like transportation.
I would take driving older paid off vehicles any day to avoid driving to work full-time and extra! I tend to live below my means, but still live well. This lets me work less, enjoy enriching life experiences, and the ability to save/invest.
I bet many of those fancy cars in the parking lot at work, spend a lot of time parked there. Many highly paid employees are working paycheck to paycheck, making debt payments, and driving their fancy cars to work more than they probably want to.
Nurse Personal Finance is Easier With Reduced Major Expenses
Transportation is often one of the largest expenses in a household’s budget. One of the biggest financial mistakes I often see nurse’s making is financing expensive vehicles too often, on too many vehicles!
It allows a necessary expense to eat up an outsized portion of your income, keeping you broke. Instead of focusing on the things you love doing like hobbies and time with friends or family, you wind up driving to work more. You delay retirement. You take on more debt. You stress about money. You enjoy unhealthy busyness instead of a quality nurse work-life balance.
Driving my old car let’s me build wealth, engage in hobbies, travel, pursue interests, and enjoy more with family and friends. Those things add more value to my life. More nurses could improve their work-life balance, if they drove more modest vehicles. Which is part of a sound financial lifestyle!
Nurses could enjoy more time away from work if they understood just how much things like transportation really cost them. How much value does a fancy car really add to your life?
More Tips For Nurses to Reduce Expenses:
-Assess how much your car is costing you as a percentage of your income (for perspective)
-Don’t buy new cars.
-If you can’t afford your current one ditch it for a used cheaper one.
-Hold onto a car you need as long as you can for max value.
-Re-shop auto insurance to help reduce overall cost
-Upgrade only when it’s necessary or won’t impact your ability to be financially free.
When people hear I’m nurse, they often assume I work a ton. Not 24 hours a week with 2 months off in vacation time per year. I usually only work two 12s or three 8s in a week.
That’s the beauty of enrichment and a high level of financial well-being. The ability to work less and prioritize REAL Self-Care. Looks can be deceiving.