Why?

Multi-Level companies ask the important question that isn't always looked at from a job perspective or from a daily perspective.  I had someone ask me in passing what is the end point.  What is the goal and why are you doing what you are doing?  Not asking why I was a nurse but why I traveled and was spending time away from the family.  

I didn't feel like chatting.  I said so I can retire in 5 years.  So I can work less and spend time with the family.  I either compress the work down by working more hours, get a raise, or I live in a way that I don't desire.  This is why I do locums in big hospitals.  I get a large number of hours and call.  I have worked with these companies before and they know how I work.  I get paid pretty well.  This way I earn more than is spent... most of the time.  

Surrogacy and family building have been a focus of ours.  This has increased the debt load and thus I'm working away from home for a period of time to cover those bills so that credit card interest doesn't really cost what apps like Credit Karma would say it'll take to pay off debt.  

I'm also working on Taxes as I spent the money that came in and little things added up.  I don't recommend getting in as deep as I did.  It's a difficult hole to claw out of.  Every interaction and purchase needs to have a why.  To what end is this thing going to be of benefit.  What will this do in the coming days, weeks, months, or years.  So, I'm asking myself, as things come up, "why"?  

It turns out a year ago I would have sat down and bought a new laptop "for school" when my excel version didn't have what I needed and the computer was somewhat slow.  Today, I bought office but not the recurring monthly billing and not a new computer to go with it.  I dind't save 2000$ but at least I didn't spend it.  

My goal is to be working 1-2 days a week by the time Elizabeth is 5 years old and living about the standard of living we are currently living.  It's a challenge... especially when that is 3.5 years away. That means developing our spending in the right ways.  That means developing our business in the right ways.  That means finding my why for each thing I do.  

People wonder about the going back to school piece.  I happen to question myself a lot at the moment as I'm doing my most disliked statistics and algebraic equations course.  I love business and simple math.  I don't like big math.  I think I should be able to use a spreadsheet and be able to do basic math skills that most calculators can do.  Beyond those things.... there are applications and computers to help compute what might be needed.  I know someday I'll tell Elizabeth she just has to do it to advance to the information she needs to learn... so I'll tell myself the same.  But, school is costly right?  In this case I have the GI Bill and it wasn't transferrable.  It was to the time of use it or lose it.  This will allow a free education and allow extra minimal income toward bills.  It's a time loss though.  Sometimes, I wonder how I can fit it in.  I study and keep thinking I'll learn something that I can use in the future.  

Why is definitely a hard question when I have to answer why I'm away from my family. Why I'm working 60+ hour weeks.  Why is because we enjoyed life for years and now it's time to be ready for Elizabeth to have her time.  I want to be there for her school events, her trips, and her development.  We want another child in our family so that is part of why I'll continue this pace until all is done and paid for.  Then it's time to settle into life and have things set on auto for a while.  Work with a little family balance.  Tip the scales to the side of enjoyment. Bikes, hikes, and family time.  

So, Why are you thinking locum work?  Why are you afraid to travel?  Why are you doing what you are?  It's definitely worth finding your Why and what is the end point of it?

Happy mother’s day

Today is mother’s day and I must say mine has always pushed me to do better.  It doesn’t matter just how much I put in as far as effort, education, level of understanding or time... Mom has always been there pushing my boundaries to improve.  

I think that is missing in today’s generations and I’m hoping I can instill these values into Elizabeth’s core as she grows.  Not to instill negative worth of perception of never quite being good enough.  That isn’t the intent at all.  I see the amount of knowledge, work, time devoted to projects, continuous education, and effort that is put into every aspect of life.  I think the realization is that there is always someone that can do something differently or better in the results column.  I find an appreciation for the neighbor that has the most gorgeous lawn where mine is lucky to be mowed and have a few less weeds than a few other neighbors.  I think each of us have areas where our practice is not as strong as other.  In this area I hope that each of us would take time to learn and grow.  

Likewise, in this community of locums, business minded professionals and those that aren’t are all coming together and we can all learn.  I think our practice, our business skills, negotiation, and our personal lives have to be continually improved upon.   This is all-encompassing and is why you read so much on my personal life.  You read about my finances and how I’m making strides to have this burden significantly reduced by optimizing business, education, and leveraging my hours of work.  You see Francisco and I consider adoption as we want to build a family and seek opportunities to enrich Elizabeth’s life.  You see my real estate and investing strategies that will one day allow for a more diversified risk and likelihood of retirement or at least significantly reduced need for specific hours= specific dollars.  You read about family, conversations, my continued education, insurance and multiple facets as we continue down the road of life.  My hope is that people gain knowledge of life as a locum but also take from the stories the opportunity to enrich other aspects of their lives from family time to vacations. 

I’m continuing my journey by the FI principles of being just 1% better each time and way I can.  I hope it comes through to all out there.   

The busy locum

Another busy week looms in the balance on this Sunday evening.  I am well on my way to paying down the bills as we spoke on in weeks passed.  My Sep IRA through e-trade was set-up and funded.  I’ve traded in the truck for a small SUV that now is less than half the payment and has a better APR with half the balance I was paying.  I’ve also paid off 20k in credit cards.  I still have a long way to go and am paying my dear old Uncle Sam dearly with every paycheck so I can get in the good graces.

Today, I worked at the hospital ... from pediatric code to sepsis and multiple cases in-between it’s been a crazy day.  I was able to get back to my hotel in time to spend some time on homework.  My math class work for the week is complete and now it’s on to business analysis with its’ primary focus being communication this week.  The MBA program is challenging my time management and my brain in ways that I haven’t managed in a while.   

This week is a 60+ hour week and call for the entire next weekend.  I keep my focus on the benefits I see in the long-term as right now I sacrifice time with the family to get us ahead. We are seeking some freedom from the absolute need to work for thought of if things went sideways “what would I do if...” scenarios.   

I’d say in just a few weeks I’ve learned a good amount on every level and look forward to the coming weeks in engaging with colleagues, growing businesses, learning in the structured university education, and then managing life around the critical elements.  

This weekend I spent time on the farm with my favorite veterinarians and did c-sections for sheep.  What an amazing opportunity and so glad I spent a little time with family.   

What an amazing life we lead.  Now it’s off to laundry.  Feel free to e-mail me anytime locumCRNAs@gmail.com

Depressed?

I had someway say that I sounded down.  I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to give a negative impression.  I’m excited 99% of the time.  I stress out now that I’m truly focusing on radical family development.  This involves the adoption or surrogate portion of our lives that will be the coming together of our family.  I am focusing on the bills and trying to get us away from paying interest to companies.  I don’t like the amount in interest I pay.  The focus is the revolving debt but I’m working on making my fixed debts lower as well.  

I enjoy the rentals and I hope to have many able-bodied years to continue the rentals as they are a source of income and throw off 20+% per annum.  There are times I get stressed and it’s usually a mix of buying and working on the houses.  Not with tenant issues.  I could care less if someone moves out and it sits for 3 months until the next moves in ... because I want to be particular in screening and ensuring good tenants will take care of things and pay rent.  I have the luxury of doing this now but in 5 years I may hire a property management group so family doesn’t need to manage but.. that’s a we’ll see thing. 

i start my mba program on Monday.  I have the post 9/11 GI bill for 3 years and am psyched!  It’s free education and housing allowance while I work full time.  I’d have to say that is amazing!  I’m going to see about the reserves and if I can do that in several months but I’m not sure about my history and the ability... but it’s in the back of my brain.  It may be a way we can work less and still get some long term benefits.  there is sooo much I don’t know or understand on the reserves.

i go back to Massachusetts today and I love the people but it’s so hard to leave Elizabeth and Francisco at home.  It’s better for them and stability or I’d just have them go up.  It’ll be something like 5 weeks.  I am pretty sure I’ll miss the first word unless the occasional hi sound counts like a word but it’s not completely intentional.  Elizabeth is so animated and talks to us despite no comprehensible speech yet. I love FaceTime, pictures and video.... I don’t feel I’m missing things and when I’m home... I’m with them as much as humanly possible.  I’m there for the melt-downs, when she just wakes up and is soooo cute and happy.  I’m here to take care of bills, office things, management of the home and supporting every person in the family in ways they need.   

So ... I’m happy, I’ve made my choices that will support my intermediate goals and mission so that we are happier and together more.   

Now I must get the last minute packing done.  We are off to the airport in no less than 2 hours.   

Downsizing or right-sizing

Finances, they are a booger.   Seriously there is no “perfect” way to do anything... if there was we would all be perfect together.  

My car loan... not killing me.  I owe 39k still on my truck.  You know I went into Carnac and they offered 46k and I walked away from that.  The dealership offered 50k which is slightly more reasonable as a trade meaning I have 11k in equity.  Somewhat negative as it’s not exactly equity.  I see dealerships and car people as not exactly liars and cheats but not exactly honest.  Makes it really hard to downsize to something safe, all weather and long lasting once paid off.  Sooo we’ll down size to a 15k loan that I’ll pay on over a shorter time frame and reduce credit card debt by the difference.  So, it’s not perfect... it’s still a new vs used car.  But it’s 2017,  7k below sticker price and has my one requirement of navigation system.   

This is about the time I’ll be bashed by people for not going used or getting a tiny car, lower gas mileage, the base of the base of the base car. Yup, I’m still not perfect.  I looked at these cars.  I spent time contemplating and looking at the amounts the dealerships each offered on different cars and the difference between their quality.  I’ve liked several cars and love the tiny “throw-away” cars that are so small and get you from point A to B. I see Francisco liking the small car and taking our daughter in it more often ... I see an accident that could happen and the very small impact that would total the car.   I can’t buy something I fear a smallish accident would take out my family.  So, I make concessions on not needing the tank I have but I’m not looking for a soapbox derby car.  

I paid off the high interest credit card and now will have decreased my car debt by more than 50% and haven’t lost any quality of life.  I’m going to call this a win for my week off.   

I also received a quote on mowing my lawn... it’s slightly tiny postage stamp... takes less than 20 minutes... they quoted $50 every 2 weeks... I sent them away immediately.  I guess Francisco and EE will be mowing the yard in the coming weeks.  

Thats it for tonight!  Sunday it’s back to Massachusetts and getting ready for awesome!  5 weeks will be soooo long away from home but the end of it comes with a reunion of Francisco and EE seeing her abuelitos... (grandparents from Mexico). It’ll have been nearly 6 years for Francisco.  We’ll be looking for more economical options in the future.... but I’m happy all will enjoy such a beautiful time together.   

Love to all! 

Finances for everything and nothing.

I put my life out there so you can learn from me.  Learn some of the great things and some of the not so great things.  I tell you about my desire to extend my family.  Life is not a solid state and singularly focused.  A financial blog will make it that life has one singular focus of just pay off everything and pay nothing toward anything else... sell everything and know that your life is over. That is not my life.  However...

I have in the past week gone to advocate in Washington DC for our amazing profession!  I have been able to see friends from long ago and meet others that are future colleagues.  I have been able to learn about the political arena in DC and those that work behind the scenes with little to no thanks and with little to no monetary support from our colleagues.  I learned that we are fast attempting to put ourselves out of business by not being active in the community, donating to our own cause and having no interest in helping others understand our profession and differences in providers.  

I have in this time received a decent paycheck to apply to our debt.  So I wanted to update you that the highest interest rate credit card has been paid off!  Thats 22.6% interest that is not being paid!  OK, that means 1/3 of the credit cards are paid off.  I still have a significant amount to go and it'll be weeks before I can make such a significant foray against the debt again as I do have the next check helping to pay taxes, insurance, mortgage, and typical bills.  I would have normally waited on paying down the debt so drastically and saved a bit more just in case I miss something or have a large bill come.  I have a 5K savings backup just in-case and am not going down to my last dollar.  I also put away $9K into my sep IRA for last year which promptly lost 10% of it's value ... freaking stocks.  Also, This week I'm expecting a signed 11 month lease for my college rental home in Kansas.   This will bring rental income up to 2200/month positive cash flow and that will go directly into the improvements of the two newest rentals.  I don't count on the cash flow from the rentals but do make sure they will pay for themselves and the improvements in 5 years.  Granted we did have an unexpected water heater replacement at a property ... that is happening today.  I keep funds in a separate account that is ready for the cost of this expense and won't effect my credit bills or otherwise.... so nice knowing it is covered and not a huge stress.  We also re-bid on the home that needs all plumbing, HVAC, Electric etc... we went from a $14000 bid to a $5500 qualified known quantity bid on doing the bulk of the HVAC and plumbing.  $9000 savings.  I may not have extra money in my pocket but it is keeping it from becoming a sinking ship and money pit.  

This is the current financial picture for this month.  I have given myself until the end of August to get significantly ahead on the finances and save as much as possible for our financial health.  Others are very much ahead of me and to them I would have to say ... AWESOME!  Remember to be active, love family and time home, and enjoy the fruits of your labor!  

I said Finance for everything... because you have to decide what your everything is.  Mine is to not forget family time and what we need for living and someday in building our family.  Nothing, because no matter what you do ... on payday the money goes somewhere and there should be next to nothing left.  REALLY, I mean it.  Your money should go into a trust for your estate, retirement accounts that have an attached succession plan, go into childrens' savings accounts, or pay down the bills so you can set up these accounts.  

Money isn't everything.... but having some available sure helps the world go around.  My ankle is causing me some difficulty and I'm reminded of insurances and disability and all the things that go with this.  I don't think the ankle pain rises to that level but I do know that as life changes and I get older insurance for large things like disability, long-term care, and to cover assets will all be important.  We'll continue to cover things like this as we go.  I hope you like the blog and I know it's all over the place... I'm going to see if I can't get it divided out into sections should someone want to see a specific topic... I have so much to learn.

50% of CRNAs Are Going to Retire Over The Next 10 Years! The Hierarchy of Retirement Needs

Jeremy L. Stanley, CFP®, AIF® | March 23, 2018 (reposted with permission)  

Even though money is fungible, we often categorize our money into different buckets, be it by types of spending or time frame. We also tend to mentally prioritize our income and assets, focusing first on covering our current income needs, then to our existing assets, and lastly to our savings for future needs.

This may help explain why bucketing strategies have long been popular.

The Bucketing Strategy

In this strategy, a retiree household assigns one-third of its savings to equities, one-third of its savings to fixed-income investments, and another third of its savings to cash. Each of these “buckets” has a different function.

While everyone’s buckets will be different because every person’s risk tolerance and needs are different, the bucket approach generally features a bucket for cash and income, a bucket for assets or conservative investments, and a bucket for future income and growth investments.

Why the Bucket Strategy Can Help

Bucket strategies like this may help because they coincide with how our minds like to place our assets into different categorize. Most often, we tend to bucket our wealth into three buckets: current income, current assets, and future income. 

This can be helpful because, even if your money is fungible, you’re still likely to react differently if you feel your wealth decreasing in one of the buckets. For example, if you start to feel your wealth is shrinking, the first and most obvious step may be to cut back on current expenses. Or, one may feel dissatisfied with their wealth if they don’t have a reasonable amount of assets on hand, regardless of the size of their income.

Whether we realize it or not, this bucketing approach implicitly prioritizes current income followed by current assets and, lastly, future income. Generally speaking, people struggle to feel satisfied with longer-term buckets if the more immediate ones aren’t satisfied.

For anyone who took Psychology 101 in class, this may remind you of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Maslow believed people have a motivational hierarchy of needs that must be satisfied in a particular order, starting with physiological and safety needs followed lastly by self-fulfillment needs. 

In a way, the retiree has a similar hierarchy of retirement needs that he or she strives to fulfill in a specific sequence.

Fulfilling the Hierarchy of Retirement Needs

It may be helpful for retirees and pre-retirees to consider how they can tackle each level in this hierarchy. If we look at the figure above, we see that the first need to address is current income. 

It’s difficult to feel confident in your future retirement if you aren’t satisfied with your current income, which includes your spending cash flow, your paycheck, and any passive income. This means that before you can focus on your future retirement income, you need to have a handle on your current income and spending. 

Next, once people believe they have a handle on their current income, many want to feel satisfied with their assets, from their savings account to money market accounts. For many people, this may include their emergency reserve to cover any unexpected expenses they can’t comfortably cover with their paycheck.

It seems that only once people have a handle on their current and short-term expenses can they start to focus on and feel confident in their future income and retirement lifestyle.

What Does This Mean For You?

While everyone’s needs and level of comfort vary, this hierarchy of retirement needs may be a helpful guide as you think about your future retirement. 

When looking at these buckets, which concerns you the most? What is the first step towards greater confidence in your future? At CRNA Financial Planning®, we specialize in helping CRNAs plan for and navigate their retirement. Whichever bucket or hierarchy level is currently concerning you, we encourage you to contact us to see how we may be able to help. Call our office at 855.304.3748 or email inquiry@crnafinancialplanning.com. Or, schedule a free 15-minute introductory phone call now.

About Jeremy Stanley

Jeremy Stanley is the founder of CRNA Financial Planning® as well as CRNA Tax Associates®. He has been providing advice and guidance for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) for over two decades. As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, Jeremy has met rigorous certification and professional standards set by the CFP®Board. He is committed to adhering to the principles of integrity, objectivity, competence, fairness, confidentiality, professionalism and diligence when dealing with clients. 

Jeremy is also the author of The Wealthy CRNA and A CRNA’s Life After Anesthesia. The Wealthy CRNA features insights into becoming a financially successful CRNA and how to start planning for your financial future, and has been prior approved for up to 4 Class A CE credits by the AANA. A CRNA’s Life After Anesthesia serves as your financial roadmap for a smooth emergence into retirement. It reviews recent changes in the CRNA industry along with the new rules of retirement and the final steps of legacy planning. This book has been prior approved by the AANA for up to 2 Class A CE credits. 

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly.

Start getting involved

Today, I’m supposed to see one of my congressmen at MYA.  While I appreciate the attempt to make it easier for a non-political person such as myself to see our representatives I think it’s less likely to see dramatic changes when I’m going with the idea of three bullet points.  Not one has specific actions.  Not one has to do with the key function that opens the door to the full practice and autonomy that full billing rights does.   

I say this quite possibly out of naivety.  My idea is that if we can bill independently at 100% for all of our services then the right to work autonomously would be a natural progression.  

I see the ASA involved in so many layers of government and see our CRNAs in so few places.  Honestly,  the MYA was much more expensive than I expected and less well attended than I expected.  

I went to the Region 2 update and was impressed to hear about our reactivity to each of the bills in each state.  I heard of 1-5 bills presenting legislation in each state that would better AA, ASA or decrease CRNA practice.  IN EACH STATE!!! I didn’t hear that we presented bills, we sat on these committees and task force set-up by.   I heard the AANA did a first ever state leadership retreat to Vegas though.  Several were happy about this.   

I see that the Cultural Assessment is in full swing and I know people cried for this but the membership slid down a few more points this year.  I guess I don’t understand the cultural piece as this is a business and professional organization that should be fighting for CRNAs based not on culture, ideals, or in an unbiased opinion.  I think the political piece is a large part of what should be our organization but we don’t even raise 3 providers income among 50,000 CRNAs in any given year to work with.   

I offered to put a link on the locumCRNA.com page that would say to support the PAC and was told that it was illegal to do so.  I learned something new.   

I don’t know what is in our future but am quite aware that we need to do better as a professional organization and we all need to be more involved than we are.  Billing rights and autonomy of practice will be paramount principles for independent practice and advancing our profession.  As a locum that enjoys nearly all practice environments I think that this focus and becoming more involved in each states organization can only help us.  But, involvement means action, knowledge, and fricking membership for those that aren’t even a member of our professional organization.   

You have seen my financial information and I’m still a member of our AANA, donate to the PAC monthly, and despite my poor political affiliations I am here trying to learn and grow just to maintain or improve our profession in the future.  I am starting to get some of the knowledge beyond just being a provider, or clinical educator in the OR. 

Please take some time to go to the state meetings or national meetings and start getting involved in what we need to do for ourselves.  Consider a contribution to either the AANA which is tax deductible or to the PAC which is not.  Both advance us as a professional organization just in different ways.   

Just my 2 cents.  

Mid Year Assembly

I am admittedly non political by nature.  It’s very different for me here at the mid-year assembly and I sometimes feel an almost uninvited vibe being here.  Maybe it’s not uninvited but almost disingenuous vibe.  That feeling of people meeting people to say they know them but no uniform familiarity.  I have to say I came here on a whim and not as a planned event to where I would meet with certain people or advance specific agendas.  I am excited that I have seen some people that I knew from years ago.   

I’ve seen some of the very active and vocal people in the profession and learned from the sessions despite my critiques.  I think we all have our roles and I’m still wondering where mine will be in the coming years.  Totally worth trying new things though.   

I feel like I’m trying to grow but I’m still at the kids table.   I look forward to my meetings over the next few days and will totally share with you some pictures of our trip in DC.  It’s a great time to be out and about and I know Francisco and Elizabeth are getting plenty of pictures while here :).

Work a little more

I seem to be one that says... “OK, I’ll just work a little more...”. I think it’s fine to say that once in a while for a one time expense but I have learned that saying that on long term expenses... stinks.  I honestly think I’ve thought about this and am much more attuned to.  It always seems there is something that happens just about the time that you make a little extra.  The dog has a vet visit, a crown is needed at the dentist, or a plumber is needed.  So, FI movement says pay off things rapidly and get 6 months or more in savings etc... I get it, I have to work on this and I know it’s do-able!  This is the first weeks of my 6 month run on this.  I get a paycheck next week and that already has it’s assignment.  But I’m assigning 3/4 of it and leaving 1/4 in the bank account for safety.  I know most emergencies can go on a credit card but I have a tendency to fear over-drawing an account ... it happened once 20 years ago!  Mom would tell me to get a checkbook register and write it all down.  Many people recommend writing down every single expense but I have yet to do this while on the road.  

This week I’m home and I want to go through and make sure I’m not stuck in subscriptions or reoccurring payments for apps or things I don’t need or worse just don’t use.   

I’m so exciting to be sitting in the airport and heading home for the week.  Many people tell me it’s about being home and taking the time to be present.  I totally agree and know that in the coming 6 months I’ll be going against that somewhat but those 6 months will make possible time to be home with the family more often and more in tune with all.  I’m feeling so excited to just be working toward a little freedom from payments ... not to mention the anticipation of the road of financial independence.  I hope all know I appreciate the comments... despite my reluctance to get rid of everything in a fire sale ;).  Have an amazing weekend and I’ll write more while at Mid-year Assembly!