Emergiblog has posted a collection of posts by nurses in the blogoshere. So while your turkey, and pecan pie is digesting, go grab a cup of coffee, sit by the fire, and read away!
And if you are at work, and things are slow, all your charting is done, then take a few minutes to catch up with others in the nursing world.
Merry Christmas!
Dr Dean
I would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas. And for those nurses and others working today,tonight and tomorrow, I want to wish for a busy enough shift for time to pass, but no disasters.
I know what it is like to be away from the family on special days like Christmas. I remember one year, when Santa was bringing a pony to our home Christmas morning. Dealing with a live animal, is not the same as a bicycle or a doll.
Of course, I got called to work and had to do an emergency c-section. The Santa thing went well with the help of a horse lover friend who handled delivery and my wife, who was used to such things…
When I did return, and said pony was being ridden by my son, he got knocked off by a tree limb in the yard, and away the pony ran.
As we searched the neighbor-hood over the next 30 minutes, we got strange looks from people as a horse ran through their back yard. Eventually, a good friend of ours was able to catch it when it was blocked by a fence-at a divided highway.
We, of course, were happy that no one was hurt. And we all enjoyed the sight,( Don Quixote re-do) of a grown man, over 6 feet, with his legs dragging the ground, riding the pony back to our yard.
So from our home to yours, Merry Christmas. Enjoy your time with family and friends, and remember those less fortunate. Say a prayer for all those who are serving others today, whether it be nurses, docs, police, firefighters, EMT’s and of course servicemen on duty all over the world.
I spent the weekend in a resort community, celebrating 29 years of marriage to my favorite nurse. Before you say, hypocrite, we found a deal (the place was empty) and paid less for the weekend than in recent memory anywhere. We only ate out for two meals, (so why would we be out and about much, it was our anniversary?).
We made pizza with one of my wife’s homemade whole-wheat pizza crusts and sauted garlic, onions, and spinach. And a little bit of Burke Beef, caramelized in our iron skillet prior to the trip.
No, this is not the food network, but just an explanation, that you can have fun in the kitchen and save money at the same time.
The point of this post, however, is there was an outlet mall 5 minutes from where we were staying, and we needed to finish a little Christmas shopping, so off we went.
I am not a good shopper, I am a pretty good buyer, but not so good on the “shopping” thing. So cell phones are a great invention. We can go our own ways-and check in periodically – when enough is enough.
I have never been what you would call a wasteful spender, but I in years past, I could get a little crazy with spending at Christmas. Maybe it was guilt for spending time away from the kids and away from home so much, back in my baby delivering days.
But as I wandered through the different stores this year, many of which would be called “designer outlets”, I was almost sick to my stomach. It became obvious to me, that as I have written, learned, and began teaching personal finance, that I am now a different person. The idea of spending 40 bucks for a t-shirt because it was fitted and had a neat logo using letters such as U and A seemed crazy-and remember this was an outlet mall.
My wife had mentioned she needed a purse-there were two different “purse” stores. The least expensive one I saw in either place was about $150 bucks. Now my wife is worth anything in the world to me. But she would kill me if she thought I bought her a purse for that much money, that she would be slogging around to work and to the Y.
Now for those of you who feel that spending mega-bucks on designer merchandise is ok, then we have a problem. If you are debt free, have provided for your retirement, have 6 months income in savings, money for kids college, and you want to splurge on what would be considered designer clothing, and accessories, then I can live with that. Personally, I would suggest buying the basics and giving away the “designer premium” ,but I would not judge you for that decision. (I really try not to judge, that is not my job).
But for those of you struggling to get by, trying to pay your bills, trying to get caught up with your credit card debt, please, please, please, don’t get caught up in the hype that the marketers throw at you to sell over-priced goods, with logo’s. Remember that Christmas is for celebrating a special birth, and for spending time with your family and friends, not for being a Mega-Consumer.
And for those of you who are still Christmas shopping, review this post about HOW to do it the Millionaire Nurse way!
And for your basic clothing purchases -so you can walk around fully clothed- buy good stuff, that will last. I am not in favor of “being cheap” as you usually do have to pay a price for quality. But, do not, do not, spend a dime extra for a LOGO!
Not if you ever want to be, “A Millionaire Nurse“.
Today, I want to spend time on one of my recommended financial to-do list items.
See this post on the list of financial things to do before the end of the year.
The financial statement is one of the most important documents you will develop on your road to being a Millionaire Nurse.
A financial statement, for you medical types, would be similar to an intake assessment on a new patient.
It is a snapshot of your current financial health. Your financial statement is often required by banks to decide your eligibility for a loan, in addition to copies of tax returns, and other financial documents.
Well, first you need to do a little basic research. You need to make a list of the things you own, that has real value. I suggest starting from large to small.
For most homeowners, this would be the value of your home, (real value not imagined). A realistic value is obtained by seeing what homes have sold for recently in your neighborhood, and comparing your home to those.
Bank of America has a webpage that you can plug-in an address, and it will search a database for homes sold in the neighborhood. Zillow is also a real estate information site that has a database on much of the home sales in the country.
Be as accurate as possible in these estimates so that you don’t get a false sense of security regarding your financial prowess. Make sure you are comparing apples to apples.
If the only home that has sold was twice the size of yours, and 5 years newer, make adjustments. You also may have a Realtor friend who could give you a good faith guestimate of what your home may sell for in today’s market.
Do the same with the next most valuable thing you own-usually a car, although an RV would also qualify.
Determine the value of your cars, at Kelley Blue Book.
Home furnishings, savings, both retirement and check book/regular bank balances all need to be listed.
Remember, if something happened to you and your heirs sold your stuff-the likelihood your comfortable recliner selling for more than a few bucks is slim.
On the other hand, if part of the reason you are in financial trouble, is you just bought a 52 inch plasma with all the bells and whistle’s, then adding that to the list is very important. Check Craig’s list for similar items.
So basically list your stuff, the balance in your retirement account, savings, IRA’s on your financial statement. All these items, in accounting terms, are your asset’s.
Once you finish listing your assets, then it is time to list your liabilities. No, this is not like liability when it comes to medical malpractice or whether you are liable to yell at your charge nurse tomorrow, when she decides you need to work Christmas…..
This term, liabilities, is what you owe on the list of things described above.
Get it all out on the table. You will feel better-well, maybe you won’t feel better, but let’s be honest here….
So, when you have finished adding the value of all your assets, and then subtract from the total value of assets your liabilities, then you have the magic number!
Ta-daaaaaa-YOUR NET WORTH.
No this is not a judgment on you as a person! (although bankers would disagree.)
It is an indication of where you stand financially.
For example, if you have a negative net worth, say of minus $150,000 but you are just out of school, bought a house, have student loans, and a car note, and just starting that new job on the night shift, in the ER, maybe that is ok. You know where you are, now make a plan on what to do to change it.
However, if your net worth, is that same minus $150,000 and you are a year away from retirement, you are screwed!!!!
Or at least in a world of hurt about enjoying that retirement.
One other value of determining your net worth, is using the number to follow your progress (or not) from year to year. It is a great feeling, after working hard on improving your financial situation, to see your net worth grow!
So, before the end of the year, do the work described above to find your net worth. It may jump start you into taking care of,- and paying more attention to- your personal finances.
That is where “The Millionaire Nurse” comes in-go sign up for my FREE e-book on “Emergency Money Resuscitation”
I also will be announcing the arrival and how to order my new book “The Millionaire Nurse” soon as well.
I have blogged for 3 months now, about” The Millionaire Nurse”. It’s been great fun to communicate with nurses and others all over the world.
When I read other personal finance bloggers, many of whom have been around for 4,5, or 6 years or more, I am impressed, and awed by their persistence, creativity, and passion to continue to teach people about the intricacies and challenges of personal finance.
A few of the gray beards out there, for you who are new to the genre, include: ” The Mighty Bargain Hunter” “The Simple Dollar”, “Free Money Finance”.” Wise Bread“, and “Get Rich Slowly” to name just a few that I enjoy.
Once you have read these blogs for any length of time, you get a feel for the site and the blogger. Except in the case of Wise Bread, which has turned into a Mega-Blog, with forums, guest posts, and multiple bloggers- (Not a bad thing- the site is packed with great posts, and information, but you just don’t get the personal feel.)
I have also gotten to know (read) a few of the new kids on the block. They would include The Frugal Lawyer, Living With Common Cents, and Two Dog Casa to name just a few. Go to the “users” page at Cash Commons for several more great blogging choices.
But Dr. Dean, so many personal finance bloggers, so little time, what do I do????
Well one way to handle it, is to download a feed reader into your computer or smart-phone. Then that orange square icon in the upper right corner will deliver new posts from whoever you sign up, don’t forget me, The Millionaire Nurse Blog , directly to you without your surfing the web.
You can also use one of the aggregators listed, except they only have the older bigger bloggers so far, rookies like me take a while to show up on their radar screen.
And to those bloggers who have preceded me, I want to thank you. Thanks for your hard work and for setting the standard for us new guys- trying to find our voice and break into the genre.
And for my nursing readers, new to the world of Personal Finance Blogging, check out the sites linked above. Use one of the aggregators listed on the right side of this column to find other bloggers that “speak” to you-that will help you find the answers to your own financial difficulties.
And of course, don’t forget to book mark this site-although the name, The Millionaire Nurse is hard to forget for most nurses, (that being the idea, of course!)
January 1 is fast approaching. The charge nurse is busy fighting over who works Christmas eve/day and New Years eve/day. Nursing students are finishing exams. I have seen exciting post’s on Facebook about graduating!!!! Yeaaaa-but now the clock starts ticking on student loans, doesn’t it???
Sorry, like that new admission you always get, 10 minutes before change of shift, sometimes bad things happen to good people, but we gonna be real here.
So in honor of Dave Letterman, (or should it be dishonor) here are the top ten things you need to do before the first of January:
For a great accountability exercise, print this out and check things off, similar to the post made at 2 Dog Casa, with my previous post on Twelve Ways Not to be a Millionaire Nurse.
So take some time, when you finish your shopping, gift giving, partying, and eating, to look after your important financial affairs before the end of the year. If you cannot get them all done, look at your calendar, and write deadlines for each one today, that means today, before the day is over….
PS:
Housekeeping:
For my free E-book, “Emergency Money Resuscitation” click here or on the right middle, yes I said free.
For email notification of new posts-see bottom right.
For your feed reading pleasure-see the top right.
Please comment if you have questions or suggestions-thanks.
