Archive for January, 2010

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Diseases and Your Money!

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

I thought a good exercise for us medical professionals, and the medical professional wanna-be’s (yes, you know, the ones watching NCIS, CSI, House, ER and Grey’s Anatomy) to note the correlation between diseases and your financial health.

So let’s get started:

  • Anxiety:  Nothing like being broke to increase your stress level.  Palpitations-check.  Hyperventilation-check.  Panic attack-check.  That’s what happens when you’re out of money and you still have a week left in the month. Xanax, ohhh, Xanax….
  • Depression:  You know, no matter how hard you try, you have messed up sooooo bad with your finances, it will take a miracle to recover-”Now where is that bottle of Prozac?”
  • Diabetes: Soda and dessert, can shoot your sugar sky high, while screwing with your “miscellaneous fund” planned spending account.  A little financial “insulin”, we call “discipline” is the cure!
  • Heart Disease:  Double-cheeseburgers (see photo!), with super-sized fries, clogs your arteries, and causes a M.I.- with your food budget.  How ’bout a home-made salad, or a little no-fat yogurt, bought with a coupon of course.
  • Hypertension:  Your blood pressure, can’t handle those over-due credit card bills, and over-draft fees.  Instead of a beta-blocker, try a budget-buster blocker, or a cash-channel blocker.
  • Rhinovirus: otherwise known as the “common-cold”-your immune system is toast, when you over-dose on spending.  Nothing grandma can’t cure with a little chicken-soup, and financial common sense.
  • Cancer: Cancer begins as one baaaad cell, which splits to two, then 4,16,32,64….till it overwhelms the system.  Just like paying the minimum on a credit card balance-your balance continues to rise, till it kills your finances.  Planned spending, is like radiation  therapy for out of control shopping/spending!

So, let’s use our medical knowledge, to get our financial patient back to good health.

Do you have a financial disease, looking for a cure.  Let us know here, at “The Millionaire Nurse!” Click the link for your “Emergency Money Resuscitation!”

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Posted in Nursing Profession, Uncategorized, personal finance | 1 Comment »

Goals and Plans For Millionaire Nurse Success!

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Goal setting and planning are the foundation of becoming successful with your money management.

I am headed to a retreat today, focused on my medical practice to set goals, and plan for the next 5 years.

Making long range goals, then short term action steps to support those goals, is the key to managing your money.  So, you and your spouse, need to set aside a time soon, to plan.  Schedule a time, block out a few hours, get a baby sitter.   Turn off the TV, cell phone-get rid of all distractions.   Use a pad or even a white-board and put your dreams and aspirations in black and white.  Review your financial situation, and what needs to happen with your money to support your goals.

If you want an advanced degree in nursing, plan your career around going back to school, begin to save the money for tuition or the decrease in income that will occur when you are taking classes.

Don’t just wake up one day-decide to go back to school-quit your job-borrow two gurneys full of money-and put your family in financial trouble, because you were too selfish, lazy, or stupid (use your own adjective)   to plan.

I will soon be introducing a template to help with goal setting and planning, to help families with this step.

So don’t let another day go by.  Stop what you are doing and make an appointment with yourself, and whoever else needs to be there.  Do a little thinking and brainstorming before that day comes and be prepared for negotiation.  Your plans have to mesh with your partners, if you are not single.  This can sometimes be difficult.  So be prepared to give a little.

If you can’t come to agreement on all items-save those for a later discussion, after each has had a chance to think it over.

And if you are single, all you have to do, is convince yourself-how easy is that!!!!

So, plan your own version of a retreat today.  Repeat it every year. Review your goals, and plans at least several times per year to make sure you are on track.

Good luck-and don’t bother trying to find me today-I an unavailable…..(yes- sometimes I follow my own advice!)

Let us hear your suggestions, and plans for goal setting.

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Where to Work? The Answer for Millionaire Nurses

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

What if you were just starting your career, had no ties to an area, and could go where the money is?

Where would Millionaire Nurses go?

Well, doing a little research today-I have more questions than answers.  Kiplinger has this chart on their opinions about quality of life, income trends, and cost of living-but it is not specific for nurses.

Here is another chart on nursing income ranges in the bigger cities of the country.

Now, trying to cross reference between the two-gives the nod to Houston and Atlanta, for having the highest ranges of nursing salaries, with the lowest cost of living.

New York City, and Los Angeles had higher pay for nurses, but their cost of living ranks were off the charts.  Dallas was about average on both counts.  St Louis had very low cost of living, but also ranked low in average salary for nurses.

Now of course, there are many variables to where you want to live.  The most important of which is usually family support.  Job availability is becoming more important for a lot of families who have had one of the breadwinners laid off, or under-employed.

Nursing is a great career in that job security is much higher than with many other professions with similar schooling requirements.  And though we all think nurses are under-payed and over-worked, the pay for nurses is great compared to many other fields.

So, let us know your thoughts on your pay, quality of living where you work, and where you would go, if you had the ability to move tomorrow.  And if you have seen any links or websites with more information on this subject, make a comment, and include the link.

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More Money For Millionaire Nurses

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

You have decided to make a huge change.  You have decided to quit spending more than you earn.  You look at your spending plan.  You add up your payments, and bills, then add up the income-and damn- your extra money- to put against your debt-there is NONE!!!!!

What can “Millionaire Nurses do, to break through the log-jam and make progress?

We have discussed this a few times:

  • Sell stuff-yard sale, e-Bay, consignment-to raise money
  • Getting rid of some of your payments-use cash raised above to add to the sales price of that 4 wheeler to pay off the note-one more payment gone-Cha-Ching!!!!  (Substitute boat, big screen, Harley or whatever toy you are making payments on.)
  • Earn extra money!

EARNING  EXTRA MONEY

Earning extra money–let me go talk to the boss, for a raise-well, that does work sometime, but let’s just pretend you are still in nursing school-( I know, what a nightmare!).     What can you do?

  • Tutor your friends, especially if you are strong in a certain subject like Anatomy, or Chemistry.  Put up a sign on the bulletin board at school, advertise on Craigs’ List.  See what the going hourly rate is.  Just make sure you don’t get carried away and have it hurt your progress to your degree.
  • Car pool-pick up others, and have them pay towards gas and car maintenance.
  • Get a room-mate or rent out a room or couch- if you have one.
  • Start a blog, and monetize it-if you can write, and are creative.
  • If you are a savy-social networking expert, (spend too much time on facebook) advertise your services to old people like me to help them set up their page, teach them to post.  They will pay you, and probably feed you, mother you, and you never know, you might find a mentor.

OK, so you are working as a nurse, and no your boss says, no raises this year.  What can you do?

  • You, too, can tutor nursing students.
  • Work extra shifts, and over-time.
  • you too, can rent out one of your rooms-maybe to a nursing student-be a landlord and a mentor!!!!
  • Carpool to work-to share expenses.
  • Second job-either in nursing, or in your hobby area-catering on the weekend if you like to cook and you work weekdays.  Find a “temp” agency, and get on their list.

Now, I think you get the picture.  Get creative.  Let nothing be sacred.  Get after your debt.  Remember, as you pay down your debts, you will have more money to put against the remaining bills, so the process speeds up-unless your “spending demon” awakes from the dead!

Then, when you are finished knocking the debt off, you will remember how hard you worked, and

never go there again.

Tell us your stories or ways you have earned extra money-legal or illegal-(JUST KIDDING!!!).

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Posted in Personal Finance 101, Uncategorized, debt reduction | No Comments »

401-K:The Quality of Your Retirement May Depend On It!!!

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

It amazes me, when I ask the nurses at the hospital how they have invested their 401-K money.  What kind of funds do you have?   I usually get the shrugs, the “I don’t know-I just did what they told me to do.”

Now there has been a big debate over the last few years on how to get people to pay more attention to retirement.

We all know that the odds of social security being there for us in our old age is between slim and none.  And if it is there, then the amount of money we will receive is unlikely to be enough to live a quality retirement.

I can hear it now-”Where do you want to eat out Friday, Harold?”  “Well, we can splurge honey,  cause I just sold some plasma, and found a bunch of cans this week!” “Dairy Queen, here we come-we may even be able to share the mini-sundae to go with our burger!!!!”

Maybe it’s because I am closer to retirement age than I am 20, but time passes in a hurry, and the better plans you make now, the smoother and more freedom you will have in retirement.

So today, as promised last week, I want to define a few terms to help with making decisions on where to put your 401-K money.

Now, when you are hired, or once a year, a benefits administrator will meet with you to explain what your 401-k options are, and to make changes in your choices if you have any.  Before you go the next time, I want you to be more informed, so will continue this series over then next few months.

So today, I want to talk about Index Funds.  As I mentioned last week, index funds hold stocks that make up an Index.  Common indexes are the S&P 500, the Russell 2,000, 3,000 and the Wilshire 5,000.  Is this a Stock Car race???

No the numbers are how many stocks make up the index.  The S&P 500 index holds 500 stocks, the Russell 2,000 contains 2,000 stocks….

Now, if the index holds 5,000 stocks, then it is holding all of the stocks of any consequence traded on a major stock exchange-like the NASDAQ or the New York Stock Exchange.  Now to make it even more complicated, the amount of each company stock, such as Coca Cola, is dependent on the “market capitalization” of each stock-that is the number of shares of that company that trade on the exchange, multiplied by the price of the stock.

So if a company has a market cap of 500million, and another has a market cap of 250 million, then the first company will have twice as many shares in the index.

Now to add another wrinkle, the mutual fund companies, can decide that they want to limit some companies from being in their “index fund”.  So their index fund may not be a true index fund-holding all the stocks-they may just hold stocks from that index that meet certain earnings criteria.  They do this to keep from buying what they consider “dogs” or poorly run companies.

Now, this is enough info on index funds for today.  In another post, I will explain in a little more depth, how to choose which index fund for your retirement account.

This stuff has to be dealt out in small doses, or it can become overwhelming in a hurry.  But like any of your classes in nursing school, you have to start somewhere.  And the more you read and study, the more sense this will make to you.

Now, if you need to know more in a hurry, this article on index funds is a good overview, but again, until you begin to understand the special language of investing, it may be difficult to comprehend on the first go-round….

So let the learning begin!!!!

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Posted in Personal Finance 101, Retirement savings | No Comments »

Millionaire Nurses-W-I-D-E Your Way to Wealth!

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Now you are thinking-”What in the world is Dr Dean talking about?”  WIDE your way to wealth, what does that mean.

What is one of the number one recommendations when trying to lose weight??? Writing down what you eat.

You can then figure out your calorie intake, and it also reminds you of all the times  you eat during the day-while busy with other activities.  It is like we think the calories don’t count, because we don’t realize we are eating, !!!

Everyone should, in their planned spending, have money for miscellaneous items, or needs that pop up day to day.  If not, you will never succeed with controlling  your spending. ‘ Cause I don’t care how intense you are about managing your money, you can’t predict the future.  But many of us, plan a reasonable amount, but then exceed it every month.

So try this technique  if you are having trouble keeping up with your miscellaneous planned spending.

Try Write-It -Down- all you spend money on for a two week period. Then-Evaluate (W-I-D-E).

This will accomplish two things:

  1. It will make you more aware of the spending that goes on daily, without conscious thought-the soda, or snack you bought because you were tired of working and needed a break.  The gadget, or top you walked by, that caught your eye, and you had to have it.
  2. You will help define your spending pattern, which will help you to prevent it.  If you always stop for a beer on Wednesday, because you deserve a break.  You have just had that egotistical doc, look down his long nose, over his readers, blaming you for a mistake HE made, and you just can’t take it anymore….  You can come up with another “reward” system, that doesn’t involve spending.

Analyzing your miscellaneous spending will help you control it.

So go forth and WIDE your way to wealth.

And don’t forget, to sign up for my free e-book, chock full of tips on saving you money today.  It will also be followed by an email mini-course on money management with tips on credit cards, banking, and other ways to save you money. So go here now and sign up-before you forget…

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Economics 101 for Millionaire Nurses!

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Economics, just the word scares a lot of folks.  They start thinking of pointy headed nerds, with pocket protectors, and slide rules- using big words to tell people how bad things are out in the real world-like we didn’t already know…..

I found this definition of economics online:  “The social science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services and with the theory and management of economies or economic systems.”

Just the definition puts most people asleep.  What I found a little surprising, was that economics is a social science.  When I think of social science- I usually think psychologists, social workers, and anthropology.

I thought economics was “mathematical”.  Most social scientists that I know, would run from a calculator-so I learned something today….

One of my ways that I give back to society (one of the most important tenet’s of “Millionaire Nurses” -giving back) is serving on our city council-yes, I am a politician!!!!  You might think I do it for the money, but the 300 bucks a month that I get paid, doesn’t go far when I miss at least 10-15 business days a year from my medical practice.  ( I need to learn more about  “economics” myself.)

Now I am not telling you this to pat myself on the back. I consider it a privilege to serve my community- that has provided a great living for my family  for the last twenty-five years.  I also have learned a lot, by going to seminars, and educational opportunities to help become a better councilperson.

Today, I had the opportunity to hear a round-table discussion about the current economic downturn, to help cities manage their budgets. To assist us in providing the services citizens expect from city government, with the severe downturn in revenue from the drop in sales tax revenue, and other fee’s that normally support local government.

The featured speaker, was Dr Jeffery  Dorfman, Professor of Economics at the University of Georgia.

I am happy to tell you, he was neither pointy-headed, nor boring, and certainly didn’t sound like a nerd.  He gave a great presentation on the current economic situation facing our country, and by extension our state and city governments.

My “take home” points from his presentation were:

  • The recession is now over, but until consumer confidence returns, it may not be obvious to you or I.
  • When you are out of work-it doesn’t really matter whether we are in a recession-the household affected is in their own version of a “depression”!
  • This recession, while severe, is comparable to recessions in the sixties and early 80′s, though it will probably take longer to recover, than those past recessions for various reasons.
  • City and State politicians should plan their spending based on conservative estimates of revenue, using the good times to put money in  reserves, so when times are bad, they have a cushion.  This, to prevent having to curtail services, fire people,  or raise taxes-when it is the most harmful for the citizens, who are already struggling.

Now how does that relate to “Millionaire Nurses”?  Obviously, a lot, or I wouldn’t be writing this long post!

This is exactly what I am trying to stress to my readers.  The huge benefits you and your family will have , when you put aside money in the good times-(also known as the “Super-duper emergency fund”).  Limiting your spending to less than you earn, and limiting your borrowing so that you can continue to prosper when times are bad.  Millionaire Nurses are not struggling because of  living beyond their means.

So thanks, Dr Dorfman for an enlightening presentation-the Georgia “Dawgs” are lucky to have you.

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Posted in debt reduction, personal finance | 3 Comments »

Going Into Debt-Do Millionaire Nurses Do It????

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

Debt is a way of life in the good ol US of A.   We really don’t even think about borrowing money for a car, putting the kids braces on a credit card, or even that most productive of home appliances, your big screen-6o months of easy payments-no interest!

Till you are a day late with a payment on payment 59.  Then the interest on the whole 60 months becomes due.

Won’t that day feel like the day the last patient  threw up all over you, after drinking a fifth of cheap wine….

Flexo, at Consumerism Commentary has written a great post on 5 debts to avoid. These include:

  1. Pay-day loans-because of high interest.
  2. Loans on your expected tax refunds-again because of the high interest rate, These loans are also used to entice people to buy things that wouldn’t ordinary buy-”it won’t cost you anything but your tax refund!!!!”
  3. Gambling debts-it is one thing to gamble your money away-another to gamble away money you don’t even have.
  4. Rent to own debt-this one gets people, cause they don’t think of it as debt-so they pay what amounts to a high price for an item, that basically is equal to a huge interest rate.
  5. Debt on  an item that is going down in value-cars, mobile homes are the two most common items here-although any appliance debt, four-wheeler, boat, …….could qualify.

Now, he goes on to say that student loan debt, and house mortgage debt, and even car debt in occasional limited circumstance is justified.  Now, because the “right” of home ownership is so deeply ingrained in our country, that the thought of putting off  home ownership – until we can pay cash-would seem crazy to most.  So, my feeling is mortgage debt is ok, as long as it meets reasonable  criteria-see this post.

The problem with student loan debt, is that it is so easy to get these days, people borrow money for living expenses, not just tuition-that might mean expensive apartments, bar tabs, car payments, etc.  You wake up the day after graduation, so excited to get that first job, at 40,000 bucks a year-whooo-hoooo.   Then you realize you borrowed 125,000 dollars for that degree, and if you are lucky you might pay if off with your first social security check-forty years down the road.  And no, most student loan debt is not bankruptable-it is yours forever.

That leaves car debt, and I have written so many times about car debt lately, that I am not even going to go there.

So, for those of you who say,”What am I going to do now.  I have been borrowing money to make ends meet for years!”

Well, you are at the right place.  That’s the whole point of  “The Millionaire Nurse”.  To teach you how to make goals, plan your spending, and make the correct decisons that will allow you to prosper for the long haul, rather than just feeling good today!

So think twice about going further into debt.  If I can  make you think twice about borrowing money, before you execute, then I have done my job.  The rest is up to you-Good Luck!

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Change of Shift-Great Place for Nursing Reads!

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Change of Shift, the latest compilation of blog posts from the Nursing World is up at Emergiblog.

Check it out this weekend.  Winter is a great time to curl up with your laptop and check out what is going on with nursing-all over the world.

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Cars: A Love/Hate Relationship for Millionaire Nurses! Or What to do When You Can't Make the Payments!

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Cars-an American passion-but what can you do when your dream becomes a nightmare, cause you can’t make the payments?

Cars-a rite of passage for sweet 16′s-I know, in some places it is now 17 for the driving age, but not here in the South-especially in farming country.  Kids here are driving tractors by age 8, and the pick-ups in the fields by 10.

So it’s not a surprise that car debt is also almost a religion.  Paid for car-who does that????

I am reminded of an old MAD Magazine cartoon-”You remember MAD Magazine don’t you??”  For you twenty-somethings-it was a smart-alec illustrated magazine for tweens-was around a long time-”Spy vs Spy!” was my favorite.  Actually, it is still around-check it out…

Anyway-I digress while waxing nostalgic-The cartoon had a picture of an elephant in the back-yard of suburban America, with the caption-”The only reason there is not an elephant in the yard of every American, is no one has offered one for 60 interest free monthly payments!”

Well, I thought it was funny…..

In these challenging financial times, many people find they have more car than they can afford.  What can you do when your car is upside down and you are struggling to make your payment?

  • Well, you can have a yard sale, put you and the kids to work in extra jobs, eBay, consignment and raise the difference to get clear title.  Then sell that ugly lump of coal (they are not as cool looking when you are behind on your payments….)
  • You can go to a credit union or local bank, especially if they are holding the note-and ask them to release the title, so you can sell the car-make sure you get the full Kelley Blue Book, retail value.  You would sign a note for the difference-and pay it off as quickly as possible.
  • You can let the note-holder take back the car.  They will then sell it at a small part of its value, and then will try to collect the difference from you.  (Yes, the proverbial Take-Back Man).  Your credit score will take it in the……..

What do you do for transportation?   Raise enough money to buy an old vehicle, that is in adequate mechanical shape to get you to work.  You may have heard of “Two Buck Chuck”the wine, this might be “Thousand Buck Truck”, the Whine…..

Anyway-then save like crazy, to upgrade your ride, as  your financial condition improves.  Tell your friends you are just being like Warren Buffet-who is said to drive an old pick-up around Omaha….

What if you leased your car and you can’t afford the lease payment-well then you are just screwed…..

Well, not really-you basically have the same options.  Get out of the lease by paying the lump sum pay-off, which is likely  substantial.  Try to find someone to assume the lease payments-if your lease-holder will allow.  Or, just turn it in-again, there is abig credit hit for this-plus they too, will come after you for the payoff when they sell it.  See this article on Edmunds.com for their suggestions.

So now you are saying-”If I had the money, I wouldn’t be in this shape, so what good does this info. do me???”  Well, that is a valid point-which is why I wrote this post.

If you don’t have car debt-don’t go there.  If you do, try to pay it off as quickly as possible.  Paying yourself a car payment every month for a lifetime, will make you a true “Millionaire Nurse!“-unless you are a near senior citizen like me….Every debt you have is a potential risk-no one can see the downside when your  “new car fever”  strikes, so watch out for it.

Reading this blog is like the flu vaccine-an ounce of prevention…. and all that.

So, be careful out there, as the guy in “Hill Street Blues” used to say.  Car payments are evil!

So, let us know, if you love or hate your car or car payment-let us hear your car stories.  Let us hear the name of your car……

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