Today is National Nurses Day, a day to acknowledge and celebrate the vital role that nurses play in our communities and in society, as a whole. Today also kicks off National Nurses Week, which ends on May 12th - the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.
Nurses often go under-appreciated by most people, until they find themselves, or a loved-one, in a hospital or urgent care center with a scary health condition. Then they become a lifeline (sometimes literally) that they can't do without. Nurses spend their entire work days taking care of other people's needs and many of them have grueling schedules that leaves them exhausted at the end of their shift - only to go home and deal with family responsibilities. The last thing they want to do is think about their own personal financial planning. This seems like another item on their to-do list that seems an overwhelming task.
Some recent surveys of nurses across the country reveal the challenges they face:
- 61% of nurses say they don't have time to focus on planning for their own retirement because of other priorities.
- 59% say they don't know where to begin.
- Only 6% of nurses say they feel knowledgeable about investing.
These survey results come from an excellent booklet called the "Busy Nurse's Guide to Financial Planning" published by The Nurses' Investor Education Project - a collaborative project of the Center for American Nurses and the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER). It's a great (and quite comprehensive) resource guidebook that I couldn't have written better myself. This guide can be downloaded here at this link:
Nurse's Guide to Financial Planning
As another resource, here's a great article: Minority Nurse Article: Financial Planning 101
Additionally, there are several national retailers and stores that give discounts and free items to nurses during National Nurses Week. This article lists a bunch of them: Article - discounts and freebies offered during national nurses week
Lastly, as my own "thank you" to the work that nurses do, I'd like to offer a 50% discount off of my standard hourly financial planning fee for any nurse or member of the medical profession that would like to get started on or review their current financial plan with me. Just contact me and mention this blog post.