{"id":5003,"date":"2022-03-30T23:48:18","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T23:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/?p=4918"},"modified":"2024-09-10T19:42:52","modified_gmt":"2024-09-10T19:42:52","slug":"better-financial-future-as-a-nurse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/money-taxes\/better-financial-future-as-a-nurse\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Prepare for a Better Financial Future as a Nurse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Does it ever feel like you slept through the lesson about personal finance in nursing school? Exactly when did they cover the difference between a Roth IRA and a 401(k)?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you feel like you&#8217;re in the dark when it comes to managing finances as a nurse, you\u2019re not alone. Nurses are experts at managing health, but when it comes to personal finances, it can be hard to know where to start.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We spoke to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/wealthcarepros\/\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daniel Tran<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a registered nurse and financial coach who has made it his mission to help nurses with money. He shares some key tips on what you can begin doing today to prepare for a better future for yourself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>We talked about:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What to do when you get your paycheck<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Which types of accounts you should have<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to begin planning for retirement<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to think about investing <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Pay Yourself First<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tran says that the biggest mistake he sees nurses making is the order in which they spend money. On payday, your paycheck is most likely deposited into a checking account. From there, many nurses divide funds into other accounts to pay bills and spend whatever\u2019s left on the fun stuff.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead of divvying up your money that way, Tran recommends paying yourself first. You can do this by setting up automated savings and investment accounts that pull a fixed amount from your checking account as soon as you get paid. This will allow you to set aside money <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">before <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">you even see it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf your money goals are a priority, it should be reflected in the way you manage it,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Which Types of Accounts Should You Open?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While you\u2019re considering how to divide up your funds, Tran recommends starting with a checking account. He also suggests opening a <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">high-yield savings account<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which can earn you more money than a standard savings account.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This type of account allows you to separate funds for specific savings goals. For example, if you are saving to buy a home, you can set up an account to place money into specific \u201cbuckets\u201d to help you meet your goals. To do this, Tran recommends using a service like <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ally.com\/bank\/online-savings-account\/?CP=ppc-google-bkws-bank-ally-exact-desktop&amp;source=Paid-Search-Web&amp;d=c&amp;ad=572973794539&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiA4KaRBhBdEiwAZi1zzqnT-id3GKG3ik9NPwfA2E2HYQsSRYNHVWPLwGTkDgxBAYBrEcRxixoC1P8QAvD_BwE&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ally <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.withyotta.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yotta.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Start Planning for Retirement Now<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-8630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/Retirement-iStock-Resized-scaled-e1725995730775.jpg\" alt=\"Prepare for retirement after nursing career\" width=\"800\" height=\"420\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many healthcare employers offer their staff standard retirement accounts such as a 401(k) or 403(b). Tran suggests enrolling in a retirement account if you can and finding out how much your employer will match. Nurses should elect to contribute just enough from each paycheck to receive the full employer match.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can have other retirement accounts outside of your employer program, too. Tran suggests also opening a <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Roth IRA<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and maxing it out, which means contributing up to $6,000 per year. There are benefits to either type of account, and a financial advisor can help choose which is the best fit for you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Focus on One Financial Goal at a Time\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whether you\u2019re saving for a house or looking ahead at retirement, remember to choose one goal as a priority. Tran says when you try to make too many financial changes at once, it\u2019s easy to lose focus and get off track.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s extremely difficult to save for an emergency fund, pay off credit card debt and student loans, invest, and save for a house all at the same time,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tran often sees nurses take on too many projects and lose motivation. To avoid this, he says to choose one or two goals to focus on and be laser-focused on achieving them. \u201cOver the course of the next few years, you\u2019ll be amazed at the many milestones you\u2019ve accomplished. Meanwhile, those that have continued to multi-task still won\u2019t have made much ground,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Allow Your Money to Work for You\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6198\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/01\/High-Paying-Jobs-Resized-scaled-e1723478252321.jpg\" alt=\"Top paying med-surg nursing jobs \/ piggy bank with money\" width=\"800\" height=\"420\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it comes to <\/span>investing<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a good place to start is with a retirement account. This is because they carry <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/career-resources\/understanding-travel-nursing-tax-rules\/\">tax benefits<\/a> that may not come with other investment accounts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You may also consider investing in stocks or cryptocurrency. When making this type of investment, Tran says to do plenty of research to understand what you\u2019re buying into. He warns against impulse buying stocks because a friend or coworker says it\u2019s a good idea \u2014 you want to be confident that the money you\u2019ve invested will increase in value over time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have an investment account, make sure it is set up so that <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">dividends<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are reinvested back into the account. This means that as a shareholder, you won\u2019t miss out on earnings that your stocks have made for you. Tran says investing is a good to way earn <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">compound interest<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on your money\u2014which is another way of saying, &#8220;your money is making money for you!&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Take the Next Step to a Better Financial Future\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s never too early to begin planning for your future. While it can be challenging to learn financial concepts or even know where to start, resources are available to help you get started. Here are a few of Tran\u2019s recommendations:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read books about finance<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Complete online courses\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Work with a financial coach<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or mentor\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remember to make <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/inspiration\/tips-to-help-nurses-make-goals-worth-keeping\/\">realistic goals<\/a> for yourself and work toward them one at a time! Investing in your financial education will help you prepare for a better financial future as a nurse.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a style=\"background-color: #124e3b; color: #fdfeff; font-size: 20px; border-radius: 10px; padding: 15px; min-height: 30px; min-width: 120px;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/browse-jobs\/landing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Browse Jobs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Money matters. Use yours wisely with these tips especially for nurses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":8632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[326],"tags":[362,123,303,125,75,90],"class_list":["post-5003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-money-taxes","tag-lpn-lvn","tag-nursing","tag-permanent","tag-registered-nurse","tag-rn","tag-travel"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/Financial-Future-Post2.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}