I recently accompanied Grammy to her annual financial planning visit. Her planner is ‘a really lovely guy’ she says; ‘and he always asked me about my dogs’. My mom trusts this gentleman and his firm because someone she trusts recommended him. Unfortunately, this nice gentleman who is overly concerned with my mom’s pups, is charging my mom an exorbitant amount of money – for incredibly low returns. Since she moved all of her retirement savings to be held by his financial group in 2014, he has charged her more in fees than her money has made in his ‘hand-picked investments’. While the stock market averaged returns of over 10% annually for the past four years, her total return has been has been 1.3%. In addition to charging her 3% on the total value of her investments, he is also charging her commissions to buy and sell different assets, which also have expenses build into them.
When my mom showed me her most recent statement in preparation for this meeting I couldn’t believe how outrageous these fees were. During the meeting I asked the nice gentleman if he was a fiduciary – to which he replied that he wasn’t but that he always had my mom‘s best interest at heart. Needless to say, the meeting did not go well and I spent the rest of the afternoon helping my mom transfer her retirement funds into Vanguard. But it made me realize that even really smart people like my mom, and has a PhD and has always been careful with her money, can get snowballed.
Not all financial advisors charge unreasonable fees or give bad advice of course – but when you know a little about how to invest, it makes it a lot easier to catch the ones who don’t have your best interests at heart!
I am a Nurse Practitioner and single mom on a journey to financial independence - here to share my thoughts and hear yours!
I've been a NP for 20 years - I have worked all over the world and settled here on the East Coast where I work with immigrant families from Latin America. In all these years, through all the experiences I have had, my one constant has been a feeling of gratitude for what I have been offered : great jobs, good health and a supportive family. I am happy with what I have, and hold a view of the future as one in which I will continue to have happiness, abundance and adventures.
I am also someone who grew up in a frugal household run by a single mother. I worked my way through undergraduate and graduate school, experienced serious health issues during my three pregnancies, and faced adversity in a complicated marriage which ended in divorce. I continue to struggle with my role as a single mom, full-time nurse, caregiver for many family members - and how to balance all of that. And yet, I see Financial Independence (FI) as a way to order my life, focusing on a future in which I will have the freedom to continue my caregiving and also feel personally fulfilled. My hope is that by sharing this journey to FI, I can discuss strategies and thoughts along the way, hearing from other Nurses/ Nurse Practitioners (NPs) who have a similar vision - and how you are planning to get there!
Join me!
Disclaimer:
What this blog is : my attempt to create a community. I want this to be a place where we nurses can learn from each other, we single parents can share strategies about FI, and where all of us caregivers can find support and inspiration on our journey to FI. I will share personal FI experiences such as : nursing as an awesome career to achieve FI and be super happy in general, my investment strategies, how kids influence my journey to financial freedom, the psychology behind FI.... And would like to create a community of other Nurses/NPs to share/discuss their ideas about FI.
What this blog is not : a how-to guide for how to achieve FIRE as there are so many amazing blogs, websites, books, and podcasts already doing that. I will link to helpful resources already available in the community, but apart from sharing my personal journey, I will leave the details to the experts. This is also not a place to discuss medical conditions (except for my own psychological angst and anxiety about money!).
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Nurse Practitioner - Financially Independent 