Leveraging Travel Nursing

Last week Mary and I returned from a visit to a shopping mall (this part of California is full of them).  Mary spent time trying on dresses while I wondered off to a large book store in search for something interesting.

What ended up surprising me was the lack of books in the store that were of any interest to me at all.  In the finance section, an area where I could previously find hours of interesting reading I was bored with how-to books on getting out of debt, other books detailed how the current financial crisis occurred, and of course the handful of books detailing how to save your way to retirement.

It was these last books that brought the cynic out in me.  First of all, every one of these books started with the assumption that the reader was in debt and gave their suggestions to correct this. Now I have debt, but it is debt that holds assets, not personal debt, a distinction these books rarely identify.  My debt creates leverage that works in my favor rather than the bank’s.

After addressing the debt issues these books then go on to describe various paper instruments such as 401k’s, IRA’s, and bonds, as well as stocks, and particularly mutual funds as the preferred choices for building wealth. This is where I differ with them.

After suffering a 50% yearend loss in my IRA along with most U.S. savers, I find small comfort in retirement savings.  I recently added up how much it would take for me to save monthly for a comfortable retirement over the next fifteen years.  You ready for this?  Three thousand dollars a month!  Yep, $3,000 a month to generate a decent draw for when I turn 65 years of age.

Small wonder these books are full of ideas to trim your daily budget so that you can increase your savings. Of course these authors are now suggesting new ideas such as postponing retirement to a later age, and rethinking retirement as just another change in jobs.  I pity the Wal-Mart greeter who has been so stereotyped as the old timer who failed to plan for retirement.

After the shopping trip I took my frustration to Andrew’s house.  Andrew is a wealthy neighbor that is in his mid fifties and already tried retirement only to find that he missed the excitement of making “the deal” and returned to building new businesses, his true passion.  “Perhaps”, I thought, “Andrew might have an idea of what I am missing from the book shelves”.

“Gary” says Andrew, “you have to realize there won’t be books for you.” “Most people are in debt with the wrong kind of debt and that is where the market for books is.”

Andrew was right, best seller books are the ones that sell to the most people, and most people want to know how to get out of debt.  Then, after getting out of debt, people want to learn how to save.  Stock brokers want you to save, mutual funds want you to save, and Wall Street wants you to save.  Why?  That’s how they make more money.

Andrew had me sit and visit for awhile as we shared a bottle of wine, and while he spoke I picked up on a theme that had gotten blurred to me, probably because of skimming through all those bestselling books.  That theme was to look for the leverage.

It was Archimedes who stated that “Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I can move the Earth”.  Andrew reminded me that success is often rewarded to those who best apply the principle of leverage to their ideas.  While other people look for a lucky break, or struggle to make it on their own, Andrew is always looking for the leverage.

To lift a heavy object, you have a choice: use leverage or not. You can try to lift the object directly – risking injury – or you can use a lever, such as a jack or a long plank of wood, to transfer some of the weight, and then lift the object that way.

Which approach is wiser? Will you succeed without using leverage? Maybe. But you can lift so much more with leverage, and do it so much more easily!

So what has this got to do with travel nursing?

The answer is. A lot.  Without leverage, you may work very hard, but your rewards are limited by the hours you put in. With leverage, you can break this connection and, in time, achieve very much more.  This is such an important ingredient to success, yet is surprisingly absent in career and financial planning books.

Over the next few posts I will be addressing the different aspects of leverage for the travel nurse and how to apply them to leverage your way to career, travel, and life success.

Today I will begin by comparing life with and without leverage.

The travel nurse, who doesn’t use leverage, drives their own car to an assignment by simply using a road map and using a car that they still owe payments to the bank.  The loan on the auto is upside down, meaning the loan value is greater than the car’s worth.  

They are glad to move to a company provided home as they just lost their home to repossession, though the stipend will still be taxed because they didn’t bother checking with a CPA regarding tax laws. They wanted to save money by doing their own taxes.  

Even with the increase in weekly pay from the travel assignment this travel nurse still has to work overtime to make ends meet paying consumer debt.  After a few years of being away from friends and family this same travel nurse hopes to somehow get above just treading water and maybe get ahead some day.

Another travel nurse leveraged someone else’s time to help plan their trip to the new location, or they may have leveraged their time even more by flying to the new location. On the road they can use technology leverage by using a GPS device to help them with driving directions.  

This travel nurse understands that a car is just a tool and doesn’t get strapped with excessive payments for a depreciating asset.  

This nurse understands that successful assignments are the result of building a team of professionals behind them, and even on assignment at the hospital, behind the scenes is a team ensuring that taxes, investments, and career planning has been assembled at their behest.

Interested in learning more?

I’ll be writing a series of posts on leveraging;

Time

Resources

Knowledge and education

Technology