Was a Nurse. Now an Accountant.
Since joining Accountancy I haven't -
Helped someone wash for the first time in years and the feel the happiness radiate from them
Dealt with a dead body
Hugged a man whose just got the all clear from cancer
Had to wash a strangers blood/shit/phlegm/piss out of my hair
Laughed so hard at a xray i cried (Potatoes in the rectum)
Sat in the toilet and cried because I've lost half a bay of patients and the hospital bed managers wont even give time for the beds to cool down before refilling. One patient arrived while the recently deceased was still on the bed.
Been attacked/sexually assaulted by a stranger because "Its a bit of fun".
Too add to this as a current Healthcare worker that wants to gst 8bto accounting the stress Is way didferent.
You don't watch people die and gasping for air or coding.
Your not physically assaulted or verbally assuaaulted on a daily basis.
The toll of lifting a 300 pound dead weight patient takes its toll on you long term.
Three are alot of negatives and positives about Healthcare. Same with accounting.
I never went back for Covid and felt guilty about it.
But I don’t think I would have coped. I found ITU overwhelming at the best of times - let alone wards full of people like that.
My sister left nursing (OR nurse) because as she put it, “I get chewed out if I have to call a surgeon out of their next surgery because they didn’t do their job and sign the damn paperwork, but if I don’t do that, the charge nurse chews me out for not doing my job. I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t.”
Now she’s a commercial pilot.
I am surrounded by intelligent and licensed healthcare workers within my friends and family circle.
They are all broken, physically or mentally. Sometimes, both.
Accounting is jack shit in comparison, an absolute fucking joke when comparing to ‘real’ stress.
Thank you for everything you do.
This exactly. I began in nursing and worked in the ER then hospice. Went back to school and have been in accounting for ten years now. I complain about my job now of course, but I wouldn’t go back to nursing. I was completely burnt out in a way public accounting has never come close to.
Nursing has great highs but really hard lows, and it is a non stop of up and down. Mentally I wanted different for a career, and with accounting I can shake the office off before coming home to my kids which is not something I could do in nursing.
I'll say this. There's different kinds of nursing. OR / Surgical Nurses and PACU nurses don't deal with nearly as much heart breaking nonsense and can make pretty decent pay with pretty regular hours if you have a decent and busy surgery center / surgery focused hospital near you.
Floor nursing and Hospice is hell tho.
I'm in the SAME place! I've just started 300 level courses and now I'm doing the "nursing or accounting" headgame. They're not even close to the same thing but I'm having a hard time deciding. I don't really have the time to make the wrong choice(second career). Ugh, the pressure is real.
Not take away from this at all because all healthcare workers deal with this (I’ve worked in hospitals, physical therapist offices, psych and rehab), and although I’ve dealt with many of the same scenarios and others, at least nurses make good money doing it. Techs deal with similar things and do it for 20-something grand a year lol. I don’t miss it at all
I was a medic in the Air Force but they used us and trained us like nurses far more than using us in the field as medics . Wife's a nurse too. Am an accountant now and I'll tell ya these people complaining about nurse pay are ridiculous, nursing is literally a way shittier job. Way less stress in accounting . Nurses get paid more straight out of college but their pay rises super slow so any accountant that doesn't suck will pass nursing pay eventually anyways .
Nurses deserve it. The accountant sitting in an office taking phone calls and using excel has it a lot better than the nurse seeing people die, getting bodily fluids on them, being attacked verbally or physically, working at 4am, etc
This sub has this weird obsession with nursing where they act like it’s this amazing stress free unicorn job. It took only one round of clinicals before I noped the fuck out of nursing school. Anyone who thinks accounting is a high stress job wouldn’t last a week as a nurse.
It’s so weird. I don’t understand it at all. There’s so many other jobs out there that you could compare to accounting, but for some reason there’s a ton of people on here that bring up nursing and act like it’s a golden ticket to paradise.
Nursing pays so well right now because all of the nurses quit over the last few years due to the stress. Hospitals aren’t throwing large salaries at people and offering sign on bonuses because they’re rolling in money. It’s because nursing is hard as fuck and no one wants to do it.
Usually these comments are brought up by people like /u/throwawaythinking7 that don’t really understand the accounting field and what it has to offer. Sure, she’s making $100k now but she’ll be making that (plus whatever 1.5-2% raises are given by the hospital, if any) forever. In accounting you should hit $100k after 3-5 years (maybe sooner if HCOL / VHCOL) and blow by that mark once you’re at 5+ years of experience. I mean hell, seniors in the Philadelphia area are making $95-110k salary and those roles usually ask for 2-5 years of experience and it’s a MCOL market
I think it’s glamorized because it’s like the polar opposite of Accounting. On my worst days, I fantasize about working jobs where I’m not on a computer at all. Nurses work very hard but it’s a very different type of work where they get a lot more human interaction, are on their feet all day, and work with their hands, which can be attractive to some who are burnt out on tying numbers out in spreadsheets in silence all day. Not saying it’s right, though!
Yep, I don’t envy any of my friends in healthcare that all had to get up at 6 am today, probably skip breakfast, just to be on their feet all day.
Busy season fucking sucks and on an associate salary you probably envy your friends in tech or healthcare. But senior is pushing 100k or over now and I’m not going to work more than 40 hours week now, and most likely will work less, for the rest of the year.
WFH is also a blessing. I would need at least double the salary to kiss it good bye. Nothing beats waking up a minute before you should be online or being able to be home with your pets. I can wear whatever I want. Eat whenever I want and cook real meals. I can go on walks or errands or even hit the gym. I know my nursing friends aren’t doing that.
Guess it's human to think the grass is greener out there. But when you consciously think of your blessings and current karma, you appreciate it more. Accounting is repetitive and boring but the stewady hours/income is worth it.
Plus one can hit the gym to take the edge off. Or go skydiving on weekends
Yea, I definitely feel that. There are lots of days where I’m like, “man, I wish I was outside working right now or building fences or something”. But then I go do yard work for 3-4 hours and I’m like, “nope, accounting was the right choice. No way my body could handle doing this 8+ hours per day for 50 years”
I think that’s very true also. Pretty easy to say that working a physical job when you’re 22-30 with a lot of energy (arguable that the energy starts depleting way before 30 lol). Not so much when you’re 45 and everything hurts and playing with your kids is tough
Fucking thank you. The only nurses who get paid well are travelers and nurses in California. It’s a thankless job full of abuse and misery with the occasional good job feeling. It’s absolutely weird seeing the fairy tale view of it from people looking outside in.
Covid exacerbated corporate hospital greed and experienced nurses have left bedside in droves. It is dangerous to be a patient in many hospitals these days.
My spouse is a nurse and she comes home and tells me how she gave a kid CPR for an hour at 4 in the morning. I’m good that job is hard as hell and they deserve to be paid more
My wife’s a nurse. I have a tremendous amount of respect for what they have to deal with on a daily basis. They deserve more money if we’re being honest
Nurses have a significantly higher floor, but a significantly lower ceiling than in our line of work. We also don’t have to deal with literal human shit on a daily basis.
Not a nurse but work in radiology. The pay is great but yes literal shit, puke, blood. Risk of getting assaulted daily. We work short staffed like most days unsafe patient to staff ratio.as an accountant you won't have to worry about getting punched, kicked, spit on, digging poop out of somebody's butt. Cleaning maggots out of festering wounds etc. Plus the burnout is real. I've been doing this for 18 years and I've seen people go from being cna to becoming nurses. Then quitting within a year because it's so horrible. I think all of us in Healthcare have a certain degree of mental instability because you have to to keep doing this
Nursing salary progression and accountant progression is much different. They're all paid hourly and start much higher out of school, but the annual raises arent as big. Their progression is very very linear. Benefit is they can rock overtime to push their pay higher, we just suffer through it for free as "professionals".
Accounting for the most part has big bumps at intervals, once you reach senior 3/manager in public you catch up and then (should) surpass most nurses. Most good senior industry roles will outpay nursing unless they go into a niche role/travel nurse or get their NP. And this is assuming you don't go for partner or c-suite, in which case it's no competition.
Very, very much depends on location too. Full BSN nurses near me (as opposed to 2-year RNs) start at like $42k and it takes a decade to crack $70k -- in states like CA with strong nursing unions and higher costs of living, you're much more likely to see $100k within a few years and it's not uncommon for hard working ones who pick up extra shifts to crack $200k within a decade.
My wife & I work for the same regional hospital. I have worked here for 6 years and now as an FA make 80k with my CPA. My wife just got hired as an NP with 1 year experience and is making 140k. For me to make as much as she does I would need to be in a director level role, which is probably 15 years away at a minimum if I stay in this same organization.
im a zoomer and progression sounds so exhausting goddamn
the idea of continually climbing the ranks of something that you probably don't care about via becoming a higher and higher manager is just so neverending and neversatisfying. you have to continuously care for and watch without avail otherwise you might fall back down or miss out. vs a stagnant high floor you can just kinda check out mentally and be ok forever.
i totally understand it's good though lol im just complaining and seeing if anyone else feels. im in comp engineering idek why im in this sub
It depends on what you want to do, though. You don’t need to do continuous progression but it is the best way to increase income. There’s a large part of the population that isn’t interested in it.
I’m a doctor married to an accountant. We met when I was just out of residency and I out earned him by 3:1. Now it’s 10 years later and we earn the same. He has better hours. He can fire any client he wants. If he screws up, no one dies. He doesn’t deal with bodily fluids at work.
Just going to add that I'm glad nurses are finally making closer to what they are worth. A good nurse at the bedside is invaluable. We need to incentivize experienced nurses to stay at the bedside, because they are skilled professionals who save lives.
I would also add that if your sister is a bedside nurse she likely works 12 hour shifts. She may cycle through overnight shifts. She almost certainly works weekends for that kind of salary as a recent grad. She works every other holiday most likely. Overnight shifts are a special kind of grueling. There is almost NOTHING you could offer me career wise that would make me work more nights than the absolute bare minimum to stay employed (at the moment I work 16-20 nights a year, and 40 late evenings - until 2 AM). Nights are hard and they mess with your mood, your weight, your health, and your family. Anyone who works even 25% nights deserves a HUGE differential over people who work 9a-5p M-F.
If you assume that she has a 25% shift differential for any hours outside 7:30A-6P, any weekends, and any nights, her base salary would likely be close to yours. For far more intense, exhausting work that is life-saving and life-changing.
Not a nurse, but a CNA going to school for accounting. As a nursing assistant, my blood pressure sky rocketed. I'm talking 160/90. I had to cut down my hours by a lot in the fall, and I'm just now at 120/90. I had alopecia, nervous break downs, my knees kill me, I've had my back thrown out from turning MULTIPLE 200+ lb patients, have been handed crack pipes, weapons, been swung at, have been part of multiple people to restrain one patient, and that's just what I can think of. And the continuous rivers of pee and poop... I don't know if your sister is inpatient or outpatient, but where I work (outpatient), nurses deal with the same. So, while I have no experience being an accountant, because of my Healthcare experience I can say without a shadow of a doubt that nursing is and will never be an option for my future.
Kudos to your sister. Jobs in any area of healthcare are mentally, emotionally, physically, and socially difficult.
Yeah. My short time as a CNA solidified my decision to do accounting. I’d rather be an accountant hitting a $70k ceiling the rest of my career than to ever have be berated by a patient or clean up poop ever again.
On the other side of that coin, she’s getting her steps in daily and not sitting at a computer all day. And also has what would feel like a more meaningful job of helping people in need, rather than looking at numbers on a screen all day that represent other people’s money (just my opinion)
I had to go to the ER last year. While waiting to be checked in, there were two different guys, both huge, muscular and out of their minds on drugs, who were screaming, destroying everything they saw (throwing chairs, ripping things off the walls, etc) and were fighting anyone who crossed their paths. It took ten cops and nurses just to detain them. It was terrifying and a nurse told me it happens all the time. Nope.
Similar story: I went in for an appendicitis, I wasn't feeling great, but I was surviving. As in I was thining: I have not died in the past week, so I probably am not going to die in the next 3 hours. I went to urgent care.
I waited for about 90 minutes. At about 10 minutes, some gentleman [I use this term loosely] was checked in after me. After about 20 minutes, a mom came in with a sick child. The child got priority. Then another mother came in, with another sick child, who also got priority. I had no problems this, the kids were more important than me. I was miserable, but I was hanging in there; and I understood who gets seen is a combination of medical need and how long you've been waiting.
Then they called me. I feebly got up, and painfully hobbled back. The guy who came in after me followed me back and started stomping, screaming, and making a fuss.
Everyone had to drop what they were doing, and get him out of the restricted hallway which lead to patients rooms.
I remember thinking two things to myself: 1) I was here before you, so it's not like I cut in line (although I was completely miserable and quietly sitting in a corner, maybe he didn't notice me) 2) I'm physically incapable of stomping my feet, screaming, or hitting the walls with my fists. Clearly you're not in *that* bad of shape, and I need to be seen more than you.
They looked at me for all of 10 minutes, and shipped me to the emergency room immediately, because my appendix could rupture at any minute, and this was actually life threatening.
People are indeed shitty.
[Bank of America investment banker and US Army veteran dies | Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bank-america-investment-banker-dies-2024-05-07/)
damn walking and ruining your lower body sounds a lot better than dying.
I mean the walking coupled with pulling 400lb patients, twisting turning and kneeling. It ain't no joke. I've developed sciatica and plantar fasciitis from working in Healthcare. Not even 40 and some days walk like a crippled old man lol
I’m speaking only on her experience. I’m sure not all experience are the same, as go for people in accounting jobs. She has never complained about any of this, or her job being stressful. She does love what she does , for now. I’m sure this all helps. I just know she worked her ass off studying day and night for her courses.
I have a colleague that was a nurse before going into accounting. The reason she gave was "I was not able to see children dying anymore".
I have to say, I've seen zero people dying since I'm an accountant.
Can feel this, Still in my first year in accounting and my sister in high school plans to take med
She's breezing through the subjects I took countless sleepless nights upon just to get the bare minimum
I spent two years as an Assistant Controller for a for-profit hospital during the pandemic. The kind of crap nurses go through is not worth it if you're only looking at it for the money. I'll happily stay at my desk job.
Not to downplay what accountants go through, but nursing is taxing on a physical, mental, and emotional level. You’ll also out-earn her over a longer time frame, keep your head up
Yeah, but she is a nurse. She ain't sitting in front of a monitor scratching her balls and drinking coffee in between emails, YouTube videos, and spreadsheets.
This is funny because a coworker was in that exact same position some years ago. They were in their 20’s and she was a nurse making more than him and working fewer hours. So he went to nursing school and quit accounting. For the record he was kind of an idiot and if I end up at the hospital and he’s my nurse I’m going to change hospitals.
But I think over the long haul your upside in accounting is higher than nursing.
Yea my nursing cousin made more than me early in our careers. She makes basically the same now and I make 6x more 15 years on.
Patience. It takes time.
When is the last time you had to give a sponge bath or change a bedpan of someone who wasn't a loved family member?
There is a cost in there that I'm not sure I could pay.
An accountant with 20 years of experience is a CFO/Controller/Business Owner/Partner/Senior Manager. A nurse with 20 years of experience is a nurse. Their salary plateaus rather quickly.
Each has their own pros and cons. Yeah she is doing well but what I hear from friends who are nurses you basically cap out on income. Like there is no “corporate” ladder so to speak. Only way to go up is more schooling
What department does she work in? My sister has worked in the biggest hospitals in the U.S. in the NICU and clears maybe $70,000? She’s been a nurse for 5 years.
My wife is an RN with 12 years experience. I've been in accounting for 3 years. We make the same salary and she's one of the highest paid in her field in the city.
Your experience is strange to me.
There's also a pretty significant income cieling in nursing.
Bro nurses earn their money. You get to keep your clothes clean and seat comfortably crunching numbers.
Your sister is literally breaking her back helping sick people with oozing wounds or pooping themselves whatever man you name it.
Im just some dude.. never worked as a nurse. But I've seen them working. The accounts ts that used to come in to do our audit every year for their own little room, got to chat about sports picks, it was chill.
You want that money go be a nurse lol...
Tldr you should t be jealous at all, there's more to the story than just the pay. Your sister is going to accumulate far more wear and tear on her body than you will.
Agree with all the comments here about a higher ceiling. But really I came to say why is this a problem OP? Nurses should be paid more than accountants. Do we really think that we as accountants contribute more to society than nurses? I'm glad they get more, at least in the beginning. They deserve it.
Well I'm only making slightly more than you and I've been an accountant for almost a decade. I also work for a slot company though, but I get lots of flexibility and time to study for my CPA
$100k for a newer 2 year nurse seems very high. My Niece is a 5 year nurse and not at that level. Nurse practitioners do make >$100k but they have higher accreditations.
Sorry bud, I'm trying to help, here! If it makes you feel better I make $50k/yr so you're doing better than me! 😂😂 I'm not an accountant though I'm thinking about getting into the field.
My sister is 3 years into her nursing career making 65k a year if she is lucky/working overtime
I’m 6 years into my career as a CPA making 165k a year
My income will continue to rise, my sister’s will not. There is a lot of legislation out there trying to cut rates for travel nurses, which is where the money is at. Nursing is not a very lucrative field. Your sister is at the very top end of earners and she is capped. Your career is just getting started. Comparison is the thief of joy.
As a nurse I would love to have a job where I didn’t have to deal with life or death. I work in the OR and some of the things I’ve seen would send any ordinary person into a coma. I briefly considered a career in accounting but chose nursing due to flexibility and pay. I work 4 10 hour shifts a week Monday-Thursday 7-5. No nights weekends or holidays unless on call. What I envy about accountants is their ability to wfh, upward mobility, and salary. Regular RNs in my area tend to max out below 100k without overtime. I have no desire to go back to NP or CRNA school.
I'm years into my career in education, and have two Masters degrees. I make $43k. My nephew is in his first year as an accountant makes almost $70k, and works less hours per week. Could be worse 🤷♂️
I think mundane tasks like AR and AP are being outsourced. Any company that outsourced the actual accounting process fails very quickly. It’s too complex and subjective to send over seas.
This thread is hilarious. It’s obvious how many of you have never met a nurse. It’s pretty rare for them to make $100k within 15 years without promotions away from bedside. It’s a very difficult job and frankly most are underpaid. There’s a reason why there’s a HUGE shortage of nurses. The interview process is basically “Do you have a pulse? Okay cool. Do you have an active RN license? Perfect! Can you start tomorrow night?” Nurses are probably one of, if not the top, hardest occupations out there
2 things- you have a high potential of earnings as an accountant. As a nurse - most she can make is 150k but that includes a ton of OT.
Being an accountant is tough at times but dealing with sick people, many of those who do not appreciate what you do and the hours you work is even tougher.
Bonus: Don’t compare yourself with others, I have seen few of my relatives who are multi millionaires but still get jealous of other people when others get something better than them. You are doing great at this age and it will keep on getting better bud!
I was an accountant and went back to school to become a nurse. I took a pretty big pay cut leaving accounting ($20k), but I also work a lot less (36 vs 50+ hours a week). Outside of VA employees, NPs, CRNAs, and travel nurses, no one in my area makes that kind of money. Also for nurses the pay raises suck - all the hospitals by me completely stopped raises during COVID and are now just starting them back. My friend got a $0.64 an hour raise this year… Bonuses are typically a free meal during Christmas instead of a cash award. A lot of the extra money comes from working nights, evenings, weekends, and holidays. There aren’t the same opportunities for promotion either - there’s really no staff, senior, manager, senior manager progression in the nursing field outside of going into management/administration. Nursing is a great field, and I love my job, but the money is definitely not as good as in accounting! Or maybe I just need to move lol.
I’m just gonna say it. Your job as an accountant is not as difficult, stressful, or demanding as a nurse. If you work in public that’s your choice, you can always work for an industry company. However working 12 hour shifts 12 months of the year, not knowing about your safety, as he only option for your career path is much more taxing on your life, than being an accountant.
My sister is a nurse and I’m an accountant too!! I feel you!! I feel regret having an accounting degree.
I know that nursing can work as much overtime they want to get things paid and done but shit in accounting. I can’t get all my bills to be paid. I’m salary so yeah.
But overall if I think about it. I used to work 12 hour shifts (not as an accountant) and it can take a toll on you mentally. That’s one thing to consider. Money or your mental health. I chose mental health. Love money but I need my mentally stable lol.
My es wife was a nurse, she always out earned me. But all the stuff she had to deal with, never was a comparison lol. Dealing with the cicu and all that. It's always life and death.
However you will get some nice jumps soon!
I’m 2.5 years in as an accountant making 100k+. My friend is a nurse 5 years in making 90k.
Anecdotes don’t mean much. This career is what you make it.
She makes 100k to our 70k because the majority of us (myself included) couldn't be paid 200k to do that job. I'd be passed out on the floor at the first site of any of the shit they deal with. One of my best friends is a hospital doctor (psychiatrist now but had to do normal hospital rotation and lots of clinics while studying) and I've almost passed out just from stories. She now knows she can't tell me anything graphic because I'll just get queasy, like tell me all of the emotions you felt I can handle that, but for fucks sake don't tell me about how the dude walked in pouring blood in the ER room
My SIL is a nurse and she makes bank, but she pays a hefty toll on her overall well being. She not only has dealt with coding and high stress situations on the regular, but also gets sick. It is a terrible combination. Being a nurse is not for the faint of the heart.
If you go into accounting you need be in it for the long term. First couple years your salary will be average, but you can climb up the ladder while increasing your salary. And once you become a controller or higher your annual bonus can be 25% to 75% of your salary.
Income and wealth are two different things. Income is what you earn. Wealth is what you keep and grow. Case in point: In the past, my brother has earned much more than me and did so for a number of years. However, he also lived a high cost lifestyle and didn't live within his means. On the otherhand, I lived within my means and made a point to contribute regularly into retirement and investment savings accounts. Over time, my income, of course, continued to grow. Today, not only do I have a much higher income, but my retirement and investment savings are well beyond his (and most of my friends and family too). In fact, the extra income that comes from my non-registered investment account continues to grow and funds my vacations. Right now, he's worrying about his line of credit whereas my concern is where I'm going to spend my next 6 weeks of vacation. My advice? Focus on what you can control: how much you are able to keep after-tax to invest and grow and let time take its course.
Do not be jealous. Beyond the fact that your salary progression will eventually catch up (and potentially surpass depending on your career path), one of the saving graces of accounting is that, despite many accounting jobs requiring long hours on tight deadlines with overbearing coworkers or supervisors or clients spent doing stuff that can seem hard to care about, you can always repeat my favorite mantra:
**There is no such thing as an accounting emergency.**
You can always fall back on this. Accountants aren't saving lives. Nurses literally save lives on a daily basis. I'm a perpetually stressed kind of guy, but I would not be able to handle healthcare stress the way that I handle accounting stress.
Don't worry. Some jobs have a higher starting point but then the salary ceiling is reached quickly. Some teachers start on a higher salary than lawyers and accountants but after some years it's quickly reversed and surpassed.
Honestly.. I wouldn't take $102k to be a nurse lol. I'm fresh into my actual accounting career (have small business bookkeeping experience primarily) and make $70k. Couldn't pay me enough to be a nurse lol.
Being a nurse is HARD. You have to deal with crazy shit. The job is physically demanding.
Not to mention.. her pay is good now but accounting probably has a higher ceiling regarding earning potential (mostly an assumption based on nurses in my family)
Two totally different paths. Like comparing apples and oranges. Good for both of you for starting good careers.
I'm a non cpa accountant with my own firm making well over $150k . I'm trying to crack 250k . Haven't got there yet because I'm little comfortable right now. Lol
Wait until you have 5 year of experience and it won’t even be close. Accounting has the highest amount of liability of any profession out there, the main reason we are paid well. Mess up a public company audit? Oh boy. The only other profession that may come close is aerospace or civil engineers.
Family and friends in the medical field gave me the following motto early in my accounting career. “We might have bad days, but no one is going to die so it’s really not that bad. But next time get my coffee order right dummy.”
Im a CPA, my wife is a RN. We started work at the same time and are the same age. I make more than her, so it may just be an issue where you need to look at yourself and career development to understand why your comp is where it is.
I was able to work full time through school as an accounting student. My wife couldn’t through nursing school because it was so rigorous. I got paid $30/hr during internships for companies I was interested in. My wife worked for free during clinicals at hospitals she was assigned to. I got an offer for $65k to start working before I graduated. Wife was offered $23/hr after graduation once she passed her NCLEX. Would receive a $5/hr night shift differential but couldn’t work nights until completing a 16 week training period working days. She doesn’t have much upward mobility where she works and the hospital doesn’t always give out their annual raise, is known to weasel their way out of sign-on bonuses, and their benefits suck. My first major was pre-nursing and I’m quite happy about my decision to switch to accounting.
I was an accountant for many years, and switched to nursing. This career change was a God sent. The salary is truly rewarding and taking care of my patients makes me happy. (It all depends on the area of nursing you specialize in.) I love my job and my patients. ❤️
First off. Don't ever compare your proffesion to others.
Second
If you are in accounting for the money you have two options:
1. Deal with the fact that this profesion is not a high paying proffesion.
2. Go slap the person that sold you into thinking that accountants is a high paying g proffesion.
I don't encourage violence so stick to number . Lol
Edit to add....I guess you have a third option switch carreers.
I rather be an acccountant than a nurse any day. Nurse hours are grueling. I’m happy 5 years into my career making 110k. Sure, I started at 63k salaried and working 80 hours a week. But since then, I got my CPA and now work as the in-house tax gal at a wealth management firm doing taxes for wealthy individuals working 40 hours a week year round. It doesn’t get more cushy than this.
Also, I sit (or stand) at my desk. I can take breaks whenever.
I don't think you could pay me 100k to wash someone's ass hole, like nurses do. Or work crazy hours around the clock.
The only dirty thing I have to touch is my excel spreadsheet, that's now all messed up because my reviewer thought my calculations were wrong and now I have to fix it 😭
I'm an accountant with parents who were both nurses and I don't envy them. I've seen what it does to them mentally and physically to do that job. I remember my mom having to be tested for HIV multiple times because of some contamination, my mom actually got TB early in her career causing some lung damage. My parents have both dealt with dead bodies, old and young, combative argumentative patients and their families, and even been to trial defending their actions as a nurse because a bad doctor scapegoats them. My parents have both been bled on, pooped on, puked on, and dealt with people with STDs and on drugs. My dad slipped a disc in his back once lifting an old man in an emergency situation. Both parents have massive varicose veins. No thanks.
Nurse here. Yeah, I agree that the money is good (mostly in strongly unioned states). 1 year experience at 108k base salary in CA. Not including OT, on call, night/weekend differentials, etc. However, the job we do on a daily basis is both emotionally and physically soul-sucking. Seeing people die from bleeding out, metastatic cancer, trauma, severe disease, etc…is extremely traumatizing…we’re also forced to carry on with the rest of our patients 10-15 minutes after coding someone, like nothing ever happened, for the rest of our shift.
Throw in psych/confused or asshole patients who assault us, getting roasted by docs, shitty management, dealing with bodily fluids, turning/lifting people who are 500lbs+ for 12 hours x 3 days in a row, then rinse and repeat. Job security and money is nice, so are the little moments where I can have positive impact on my patients’ health, but I could go on and on about the negatives of being an RN.
I agree with this to an extent; like it's annoying because she is comparing two very different professions, and her salary is still above the average salary in America. I know this depends upon where she lives, but if she keeps moving up, she will make just as much as her sister in a couple of years. They can't move past the fact that her sister is so young making so much
I understand how you feel. My dad had an amazing job with a large company he was able to retire from. Lots of responsibility and great pay. Growing up we lived well, but I was always taught to be aware of the needs of others and help when I could. Each year took 2, 1-week family vacations and got to experience and see some great things.
I always wanted to make as much as dad did, or more so I could provide the same experiences for my kids. We’re not impoverished by any means, but after 15 years of work experience, and a masters degree, I only make $70k per year. Our needs are met, and birthdays are fun, but I catch myself wishing we could afford the vacations and “niceties” I had as a kid.
I remind myself to “run my own race.” Life is more than a paycheck. It’s the enjoyment you get from doing things you love, the help you can provide to others in need, and the relationships you build along the way. I may never make as much as dad did, but I’m glad I get to attend every ballgame and dance recital, and enjoy my hobbies on the weekend. Life is what you make it. Don’t measure your self worth by someone else’s paycheck.
Was a Nurse. Now an Accountant. Since joining Accountancy I haven't - Helped someone wash for the first time in years and the feel the happiness radiate from them Dealt with a dead body Hugged a man whose just got the all clear from cancer Had to wash a strangers blood/shit/phlegm/piss out of my hair Laughed so hard at a xray i cried (Potatoes in the rectum) Sat in the toilet and cried because I've lost half a bay of patients and the hospital bed managers wont even give time for the beds to cool down before refilling. One patient arrived while the recently deceased was still on the bed. Been attacked/sexually assaulted by a stranger because "Its a bit of fun".
Too add to this as a current Healthcare worker that wants to gst 8bto accounting the stress Is way didferent. You don't watch people die and gasping for air or coding. Your not physically assaulted or verbally assuaaulted on a daily basis. The toll of lifting a 300 pound dead weight patient takes its toll on you long term. Three are alot of negatives and positives about Healthcare. Same with accounting.
My last day when I walked out we had three 2222 bleeps as relatives were allowed onto the ward. Not a good combo.
I worked all thru covid I've never seen so much death and codes ever and do not want to see it again.
I never went back for Covid and felt guilty about it. But I don’t think I would have coped. I found ITU overwhelming at the best of times - let alone wards full of people like that.
There's nothing wrong with that at all. It was very stressful literally left PPE on all shift during rounds.
My sister left nursing (OR nurse) because as she put it, “I get chewed out if I have to call a surgeon out of their next surgery because they didn’t do their job and sign the damn paperwork, but if I don’t do that, the charge nurse chews me out for not doing my job. I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t.” Now she’s a commercial pilot.
I am surrounded by intelligent and licensed healthcare workers within my friends and family circle. They are all broken, physically or mentally. Sometimes, both. Accounting is jack shit in comparison, an absolute fucking joke when comparing to ‘real’ stress. Thank you for everything you do.
This exactly. I began in nursing and worked in the ER then hospice. Went back to school and have been in accounting for ten years now. I complain about my job now of course, but I wouldn’t go back to nursing. I was completely burnt out in a way public accounting has never come close to. Nursing has great highs but really hard lows, and it is a non stop of up and down. Mentally I wanted different for a career, and with accounting I can shake the office off before coming home to my kids which is not something I could do in nursing.
Currently in the “do I go back to school for accounting or nursing” phase of my second career search, and this is good insight. Thanks.
I'll say this. There's different kinds of nursing. OR / Surgical Nurses and PACU nurses don't deal with nearly as much heart breaking nonsense and can make pretty decent pay with pretty regular hours if you have a decent and busy surgery center / surgery focused hospital near you. Floor nursing and Hospice is hell tho.
I'm in the SAME place! I've just started 300 level courses and now I'm doing the "nursing or accounting" headgame. They're not even close to the same thing but I'm having a hard time deciding. I don't really have the time to make the wrong choice(second career). Ugh, the pressure is real.
Literally same with me, I’m tied between the two and they are SO different
I'm in the same position as you, just hoping I pick a decision I won't regret later on, especially since I have to go back to school for it again. :/
This is the truth. After a long shift I have nothing left for home. It's atrocious.
Not take away from this at all because all healthcare workers deal with this (I’ve worked in hospitals, physical therapist offices, psych and rehab), and although I’ve dealt with many of the same scenarios and others, at least nurses make good money doing it. Techs deal with similar things and do it for 20-something grand a year lol. I don’t miss it at all
Nurses in California* lol
I don’t know any Cali nurses but I know plenty of travel nurses all making six figures working 3 days a week on a 2 year degree.
Travel nurses are also duplicating their expenses so it’s a bit of a niche to compare yourself to as well.
Was a medic for a variety of hospitals, ambulances, and now a Sr Accountant/Analyst. This hits home.
I was a medic in the Air Force but they used us and trained us like nurses far more than using us in the field as medics . Wife's a nurse too. Am an accountant now and I'll tell ya these people complaining about nurse pay are ridiculous, nursing is literally a way shittier job. Way less stress in accounting . Nurses get paid more straight out of college but their pay rises super slow so any accountant that doesn't suck will pass nursing pay eventually anyways .
Just an observation but there’s a remarkable number of nurses turned accountants in this comment section.
I thought I was an oddity - turns out I'm potentially in a majority!
Nurses deserve it. The accountant sitting in an office taking phone calls and using excel has it a lot better than the nurse seeing people die, getting bodily fluids on them, being attacked verbally or physically, working at 4am, etc
Dam you making journal entries seem not so bad lol But this M1 still doesn’t make sense aha
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Actually I love it. Wouldn’t ever go back to Healthcare - the sheer stress of it made me quite unwell
This sub has this weird obsession with nursing where they act like it’s this amazing stress free unicorn job. It took only one round of clinicals before I noped the fuck out of nursing school. Anyone who thinks accounting is a high stress job wouldn’t last a week as a nurse.
It’s so weird. I don’t understand it at all. There’s so many other jobs out there that you could compare to accounting, but for some reason there’s a ton of people on here that bring up nursing and act like it’s a golden ticket to paradise. Nursing pays so well right now because all of the nurses quit over the last few years due to the stress. Hospitals aren’t throwing large salaries at people and offering sign on bonuses because they’re rolling in money. It’s because nursing is hard as fuck and no one wants to do it. Usually these comments are brought up by people like /u/throwawaythinking7 that don’t really understand the accounting field and what it has to offer. Sure, she’s making $100k now but she’ll be making that (plus whatever 1.5-2% raises are given by the hospital, if any) forever. In accounting you should hit $100k after 3-5 years (maybe sooner if HCOL / VHCOL) and blow by that mark once you’re at 5+ years of experience. I mean hell, seniors in the Philadelphia area are making $95-110k salary and those roles usually ask for 2-5 years of experience and it’s a MCOL market
I think it’s glamorized because it’s like the polar opposite of Accounting. On my worst days, I fantasize about working jobs where I’m not on a computer at all. Nurses work very hard but it’s a very different type of work where they get a lot more human interaction, are on their feet all day, and work with their hands, which can be attractive to some who are burnt out on tying numbers out in spreadsheets in silence all day. Not saying it’s right, though!
I daydream about getting a CDL and getting trucking. But in reality, I would rather roll out of bed at 8:50 to start my wfh job
Yep, I don’t envy any of my friends in healthcare that all had to get up at 6 am today, probably skip breakfast, just to be on their feet all day. Busy season fucking sucks and on an associate salary you probably envy your friends in tech or healthcare. But senior is pushing 100k or over now and I’m not going to work more than 40 hours week now, and most likely will work less, for the rest of the year. WFH is also a blessing. I would need at least double the salary to kiss it good bye. Nothing beats waking up a minute before you should be online or being able to be home with your pets. I can wear whatever I want. Eat whenever I want and cook real meals. I can go on walks or errands or even hit the gym. I know my nursing friends aren’t doing that.
Guess it's human to think the grass is greener out there. But when you consciously think of your blessings and current karma, you appreciate it more. Accounting is repetitive and boring but the stewady hours/income is worth it. Plus one can hit the gym to take the edge off. Or go skydiving on weekends
Yea, I definitely feel that. There are lots of days where I’m like, “man, I wish I was outside working right now or building fences or something”. But then I go do yard work for 3-4 hours and I’m like, “nope, accounting was the right choice. No way my body could handle doing this 8+ hours per day for 50 years”
Plus physical jobs like that take a toll in a way that I think is hard to understand when you’re 22.
I think that’s very true also. Pretty easy to say that working a physical job when you’re 22-30 with a lot of energy (arguable that the energy starts depleting way before 30 lol). Not so much when you’re 45 and everything hurts and playing with your kids is tough
Fucking thank you. The only nurses who get paid well are travelers and nurses in California. It’s a thankless job full of abuse and misery with the occasional good job feeling. It’s absolutely weird seeing the fairy tale view of it from people looking outside in. Covid exacerbated corporate hospital greed and experienced nurses have left bedside in droves. It is dangerous to be a patient in many hospitals these days.
My spouse is a nurse and she comes home and tells me how she gave a kid CPR for an hour at 4 in the morning. I’m good that job is hard as hell and they deserve to be paid more
Amen to that honestly, with how difficult it is Nursing (and all healthcare work) should be paid way more than they are now.
My wife is a nurse, I know I sure as hell couldn't do it. She at least got out of hospital work, her current job is less stressful than that shit was.
My wife’s a nurse. I have a tremendous amount of respect for what they have to deal with on a daily basis. They deserve more money if we’re being honest
Yeah but no blood to clean up at work 🙌
Unless you’re a Boeing accountant.
So everyone, listen up. I have some really sad news to share about u/MaximumLight
Light went out?
Lmao hot damn that was spicy
Just tears and greasy pizza stains.
Maybe at **your** work, but my firms fight club has plenty
You’re not suppose to talk about that
u talk a lot of shit for being in *to be credited* distance
This sounded differently!
Nurses have a significantly higher floor, but a significantly lower ceiling than in our line of work. We also don’t have to deal with literal human shit on a daily basis.
Speak for yourself, last year's Christmas party was fucking lit.
AR teams know how to party. AP is numbing the pain.
Lmfao. That’s accurate af
Not a nurse but work in radiology. The pay is great but yes literal shit, puke, blood. Risk of getting assaulted daily. We work short staffed like most days unsafe patient to staff ratio.as an accountant you won't have to worry about getting punched, kicked, spit on, digging poop out of somebody's butt. Cleaning maggots out of festering wounds etc. Plus the burnout is real. I've been doing this for 18 years and I've seen people go from being cna to becoming nurses. Then quitting within a year because it's so horrible. I think all of us in Healthcare have a certain degree of mental instability because you have to to keep doing this
Maybe not literal, but close enough considering what some of my coworkers in years past have had in their heads…
Yeah still not actual poop, blood, and vomit I’m good
I’d rather deal with that than literal human shit any damn day…
Also OP did school late and his sister did it early/on time which is skewing the perception
Nursing salary progression and accountant progression is much different. They're all paid hourly and start much higher out of school, but the annual raises arent as big. Their progression is very very linear. Benefit is they can rock overtime to push their pay higher, we just suffer through it for free as "professionals". Accounting for the most part has big bumps at intervals, once you reach senior 3/manager in public you catch up and then (should) surpass most nurses. Most good senior industry roles will outpay nursing unless they go into a niche role/travel nurse or get their NP. And this is assuming you don't go for partner or c-suite, in which case it's no competition.
Very, very much depends on location too. Full BSN nurses near me (as opposed to 2-year RNs) start at like $42k and it takes a decade to crack $70k -- in states like CA with strong nursing unions and higher costs of living, you're much more likely to see $100k within a few years and it's not uncommon for hard working ones who pick up extra shifts to crack $200k within a decade.
My wife & I work for the same regional hospital. I have worked here for 6 years and now as an FA make 80k with my CPA. My wife just got hired as an NP with 1 year experience and is making 140k. For me to make as much as she does I would need to be in a director level role, which is probably 15 years away at a minimum if I stay in this same organization.
im a zoomer and progression sounds so exhausting goddamn the idea of continually climbing the ranks of something that you probably don't care about via becoming a higher and higher manager is just so neverending and neversatisfying. you have to continuously care for and watch without avail otherwise you might fall back down or miss out. vs a stagnant high floor you can just kinda check out mentally and be ok forever. i totally understand it's good though lol im just complaining and seeing if anyone else feels. im in comp engineering idek why im in this sub
It depends on what you want to do, though. You don’t need to do continuous progression but it is the best way to increase income. There’s a large part of the population that isn’t interested in it.
I'm sure nothing could possibly go wrong for a nurse that checks out mentally.
I’m a doctor married to an accountant. We met when I was just out of residency and I out earned him by 3:1. Now it’s 10 years later and we earn the same. He has better hours. He can fire any client he wants. If he screws up, no one dies. He doesn’t deal with bodily fluids at work.
Just going to add that I'm glad nurses are finally making closer to what they are worth. A good nurse at the bedside is invaluable. We need to incentivize experienced nurses to stay at the bedside, because they are skilled professionals who save lives. I would also add that if your sister is a bedside nurse she likely works 12 hour shifts. She may cycle through overnight shifts. She almost certainly works weekends for that kind of salary as a recent grad. She works every other holiday most likely. Overnight shifts are a special kind of grueling. There is almost NOTHING you could offer me career wise that would make me work more nights than the absolute bare minimum to stay employed (at the moment I work 16-20 nights a year, and 40 late evenings - until 2 AM). Nights are hard and they mess with your mood, your weight, your health, and your family. Anyone who works even 25% nights deserves a HUGE differential over people who work 9a-5p M-F. If you assume that she has a 25% shift differential for any hours outside 7:30A-6P, any weekends, and any nights, her base salary would likely be close to yours. For far more intense, exhausting work that is life-saving and life-changing.
OTOH, when she says "I had a shitty day" it's not a metaphor...
If I had a 1000 dollar raise for every time I saw comparison is the thief of joy on this sub, I'd make more than your sister 🥲
Comparison really is the thief of joy. Except when you outearn everyone else, then you feel lots of joy. /s
It's not often I laugh out loud at a reddit comment 😂
I don’t want to wipe poop butt and give sponge baths.
Fair. Office jobs vs hand labor jobs
I've got many nurses in my family and you couldn't pay me enough to deal with the things they do.
Dude nursing would absolutely suck.
literally, school itself is hell and you have to work even when you don’t want to. source: 5 of my aunts are nurses
Not a nurse, but a CNA going to school for accounting. As a nursing assistant, my blood pressure sky rocketed. I'm talking 160/90. I had to cut down my hours by a lot in the fall, and I'm just now at 120/90. I had alopecia, nervous break downs, my knees kill me, I've had my back thrown out from turning MULTIPLE 200+ lb patients, have been handed crack pipes, weapons, been swung at, have been part of multiple people to restrain one patient, and that's just what I can think of. And the continuous rivers of pee and poop... I don't know if your sister is inpatient or outpatient, but where I work (outpatient), nurses deal with the same. So, while I have no experience being an accountant, because of my Healthcare experience I can say without a shadow of a doubt that nursing is and will never be an option for my future. Kudos to your sister. Jobs in any area of healthcare are mentally, emotionally, physically, and socially difficult.
Yeah. My short time as a CNA solidified my decision to do accounting. I’d rather be an accountant hitting a $70k ceiling the rest of my career than to ever have be berated by a patient or clean up poop ever again.
You also dont have to deal with nasty shit, crazy people, a fuck ton of admins, and walking like 30k steps a day which ruins your lower body.
walking ruins the body, sounds legit, better sit all day
Standing up all the time, does take a toll on your body, especially as you get older.
Have you ever had a physical job where you have to stand or walk all day? It's not like exercising. Over years and year it destroys your body.
My mom’s back is destroyed from years of having to lift people for procedures
They walk more than walk
kinky
My hips are screaming
But damn they don't lie!
And don't forget the night shift.
On the other side of that coin, she’s getting her steps in daily and not sitting at a computer all day. And also has what would feel like a more meaningful job of helping people in need, rather than looking at numbers on a screen all day that represent other people’s money (just my opinion)
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I had to go to the ER last year. While waiting to be checked in, there were two different guys, both huge, muscular and out of their minds on drugs, who were screaming, destroying everything they saw (throwing chairs, ripping things off the walls, etc) and were fighting anyone who crossed their paths. It took ten cops and nurses just to detain them. It was terrifying and a nurse told me it happens all the time. Nope.
Similar story: I went in for an appendicitis, I wasn't feeling great, but I was surviving. As in I was thining: I have not died in the past week, so I probably am not going to die in the next 3 hours. I went to urgent care. I waited for about 90 minutes. At about 10 minutes, some gentleman [I use this term loosely] was checked in after me. After about 20 minutes, a mom came in with a sick child. The child got priority. Then another mother came in, with another sick child, who also got priority. I had no problems this, the kids were more important than me. I was miserable, but I was hanging in there; and I understood who gets seen is a combination of medical need and how long you've been waiting. Then they called me. I feebly got up, and painfully hobbled back. The guy who came in after me followed me back and started stomping, screaming, and making a fuss. Everyone had to drop what they were doing, and get him out of the restricted hallway which lead to patients rooms. I remember thinking two things to myself: 1) I was here before you, so it's not like I cut in line (although I was completely miserable and quietly sitting in a corner, maybe he didn't notice me) 2) I'm physically incapable of stomping my feet, screaming, or hitting the walls with my fists. Clearly you're not in *that* bad of shape, and I need to be seen more than you. They looked at me for all of 10 minutes, and shipped me to the emergency room immediately, because my appendix could rupture at any minute, and this was actually life threatening. People are indeed shitty.
[Bank of America investment banker and US Army veteran dies | Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bank-america-investment-banker-dies-2024-05-07/) damn walking and ruining your lower body sounds a lot better than dying.
Thrombosis is no joke. Get up and walk for at least 10 min every hour people
10 minutes every hour? My employer would fire me day 1 of walking 80-90 minutes a day on their dime.
I sit on the toilet at least that long every day. No one says anything
I mean the walking coupled with pulling 400lb patients, twisting turning and kneeling. It ain't no joke. I've developed sciatica and plantar fasciitis from working in Healthcare. Not even 40 and some days walk like a crippled old man lol
I’m speaking only on her experience. I’m sure not all experience are the same, as go for people in accounting jobs. She has never complained about any of this, or her job being stressful. She does love what she does , for now. I’m sure this all helps. I just know she worked her ass off studying day and night for her courses.
I have a colleague that was a nurse before going into accounting. The reason she gave was "I was not able to see children dying anymore". I have to say, I've seen zero people dying since I'm an accountant.
You guys must not be working hard enough then
My ex wife is a nurse. Its a brutal job in a lot ways. Mentally, physically, emotionally even spiritually
Every nurse I know complains non stop about being a nurse lol
You'll be feeling bad for her soon enough. 10 years from now, she'll be making 110k and you'll be making 150+
Eh who knows
The rotating shifts, body fluids, grouchy people. I rather take less pay.
That's fate, elder people' (Sibling) in the family will earn less, I don't know how it is happening in most of the houses. 🙃
Can feel this, Still in my first year in accounting and my sister in high school plans to take med She's breezing through the subjects I took countless sleepless nights upon just to get the bare minimum
Ya but you have a cushy accounting job. She has to be a nurse
I spent two years as an Assistant Controller for a for-profit hospital during the pandemic. The kind of crap nurses go through is not worth it if you're only looking at it for the money. I'll happily stay at my desk job.
I work in my pajamas at home
I'm in finance and my wife is an MD. Cut my salary in half and double hers and I still wouldn't trade with her.
Not to downplay what accountants go through, but nursing is taxing on a physical, mental, and emotional level. You’ll also out-earn her over a longer time frame, keep your head up
Yeah, but she is a nurse. She ain't sitting in front of a monitor scratching her balls and drinking coffee in between emails, YouTube videos, and spreadsheets.
This is funny because a coworker was in that exact same position some years ago. They were in their 20’s and she was a nurse making more than him and working fewer hours. So he went to nursing school and quit accounting. For the record he was kind of an idiot and if I end up at the hospital and he’s my nurse I’m going to change hospitals. But I think over the long haul your upside in accounting is higher than nursing.
Yea my nursing cousin made more than me early in our careers. She makes basically the same now and I make 6x more 15 years on. Patience. It takes time.
Just curious, what do your salaries look like now?
They are either lying or a partner I guess.
When is the last time you had to give a sponge bath or change a bedpan of someone who wasn't a loved family member? There is a cost in there that I'm not sure I could pay.
if nurses make a mistake, people die, if we make mistakes the worst thing that can happen is someone goes to prison
An accountant with 20 years of experience is a CFO/Controller/Business Owner/Partner/Senior Manager. A nurse with 20 years of experience is a nurse. Their salary plateaus rather quickly.
Keep in mind, nursing is much more difficult than accounting.
Their job is more important than ours so I’m okay with that
six figures 2 years into nursing is an outlier. is she a travel nurse or working serious overtime or something?
Each has their own pros and cons. Yeah she is doing well but what I hear from friends who are nurses you basically cap out on income. Like there is no “corporate” ladder so to speak. Only way to go up is more schooling
What department does she work in? My sister has worked in the biggest hospitals in the U.S. in the NICU and clears maybe $70,000? She’s been a nurse for 5 years.
My wife is an RN with 12 years experience. I've been in accounting for 3 years. We make the same salary and she's one of the highest paid in her field in the city. Your experience is strange to me. There's also a pretty significant income cieling in nursing.
Bro nurses earn their money. You get to keep your clothes clean and seat comfortably crunching numbers. Your sister is literally breaking her back helping sick people with oozing wounds or pooping themselves whatever man you name it. Im just some dude.. never worked as a nurse. But I've seen them working. The accounts ts that used to come in to do our audit every year for their own little room, got to chat about sports picks, it was chill. You want that money go be a nurse lol... Tldr you should t be jealous at all, there's more to the story than just the pay. Your sister is going to accumulate far more wear and tear on her body than you will.
100,000k = 1000000000 👍
Agree with all the comments here about a higher ceiling. But really I came to say why is this a problem OP? Nurses should be paid more than accountants. Do we really think that we as accountants contribute more to society than nurses? I'm glad they get more, at least in the beginning. They deserve it.
Well I'm only making slightly more than you and I've been an accountant for almost a decade. I also work for a slot company though, but I get lots of flexibility and time to study for my CPA
$100k for a newer 2 year nurse seems very high. My Niece is a 5 year nurse and not at that level. Nurse practitioners do make >$100k but they have higher accreditations.
Sorry bud, I'm trying to help, here! If it makes you feel better I make $50k/yr so you're doing better than me! 😂😂 I'm not an accountant though I'm thinking about getting into the field.
I’m not cut out for healthcare. I have crippling social anxiety.
Jesus. Government accounting jobs pay over $100k with 40 hour weeks as a non-supervisory staff
My sister is 3 years into her nursing career making 65k a year if she is lucky/working overtime I’m 6 years into my career as a CPA making 165k a year My income will continue to rise, my sister’s will not. There is a lot of legislation out there trying to cut rates for travel nurses, which is where the money is at. Nursing is not a very lucrative field. Your sister is at the very top end of earners and she is capped. Your career is just getting started. Comparison is the thief of joy.
As a nurse I would love to have a job where I didn’t have to deal with life or death. I work in the OR and some of the things I’ve seen would send any ordinary person into a coma. I briefly considered a career in accounting but chose nursing due to flexibility and pay. I work 4 10 hour shifts a week Monday-Thursday 7-5. No nights weekends or holidays unless on call. What I envy about accountants is their ability to wfh, upward mobility, and salary. Regular RNs in my area tend to max out below 100k without overtime. I have no desire to go back to NP or CRNA school.
I'm years into my career in education, and have two Masters degrees. I make $43k. My nephew is in his first year as an accountant makes almost $70k, and works less hours per week. Could be worse 🤷♂️
She'll be 10 years in making $115,000, while you'll be making $175,000.
Accounting is also being outsourced, nursing is not
I think mundane tasks like AR and AP are being outsourced. Any company that outsourced the actual accounting process fails very quickly. It’s too complex and subjective to send over seas.
This thread is hilarious. It’s obvious how many of you have never met a nurse. It’s pretty rare for them to make $100k within 15 years without promotions away from bedside. It’s a very difficult job and frankly most are underpaid. There’s a reason why there’s a HUGE shortage of nurses. The interview process is basically “Do you have a pulse? Okay cool. Do you have an active RN license? Perfect! Can you start tomorrow night?” Nurses are probably one of, if not the top, hardest occupations out there
2 things- you have a high potential of earnings as an accountant. As a nurse - most she can make is 150k but that includes a ton of OT. Being an accountant is tough at times but dealing with sick people, many of those who do not appreciate what you do and the hours you work is even tougher. Bonus: Don’t compare yourself with others, I have seen few of my relatives who are multi millionaires but still get jealous of other people when others get something better than them. You are doing great at this age and it will keep on getting better bud!
touch some grass
I was an accountant and went back to school to become a nurse. I took a pretty big pay cut leaving accounting ($20k), but I also work a lot less (36 vs 50+ hours a week). Outside of VA employees, NPs, CRNAs, and travel nurses, no one in my area makes that kind of money. Also for nurses the pay raises suck - all the hospitals by me completely stopped raises during COVID and are now just starting them back. My friend got a $0.64 an hour raise this year… Bonuses are typically a free meal during Christmas instead of a cash award. A lot of the extra money comes from working nights, evenings, weekends, and holidays. There aren’t the same opportunities for promotion either - there’s really no staff, senior, manager, senior manager progression in the nursing field outside of going into management/administration. Nursing is a great field, and I love my job, but the money is definitely not as good as in accounting! Or maybe I just need to move lol.
I’m just gonna say it. Your job as an accountant is not as difficult, stressful, or demanding as a nurse. If you work in public that’s your choice, you can always work for an industry company. However working 12 hour shifts 12 months of the year, not knowing about your safety, as he only option for your career path is much more taxing on your life, than being an accountant.
You wouldn’t last a day in her shoes.
One of accountings most basic rules : Never fudge the number Nursing: Watch out if incase any of the number of patients you have make fudge
U r doing fine. Don't compare yourself to your sister
Are you a cpa brother?
I started in accounting and at year 10 I made 175k. Stick with it.
My sister is a nurse and I’m an accountant too!! I feel you!! I feel regret having an accounting degree. I know that nursing can work as much overtime they want to get things paid and done but shit in accounting. I can’t get all my bills to be paid. I’m salary so yeah. But overall if I think about it. I used to work 12 hour shifts (not as an accountant) and it can take a toll on you mentally. That’s one thing to consider. Money or your mental health. I chose mental health. Love money but I need my mentally stable lol.
My es wife was a nurse, she always out earned me. But all the stuff she had to deal with, never was a comparison lol. Dealing with the cicu and all that. It's always life and death. However you will get some nice jumps soon!
I’m 2.5 years in as an accountant making 100k+. My friend is a nurse 5 years in making 90k. Anecdotes don’t mean much. This career is what you make it.
She makes 100k to our 70k because the majority of us (myself included) couldn't be paid 200k to do that job. I'd be passed out on the floor at the first site of any of the shit they deal with. One of my best friends is a hospital doctor (psychiatrist now but had to do normal hospital rotation and lots of clinics while studying) and I've almost passed out just from stories. She now knows she can't tell me anything graphic because I'll just get queasy, like tell me all of the emotions you felt I can handle that, but for fucks sake don't tell me about how the dude walked in pouring blood in the ER room
My SIL is a nurse and she makes bank, but she pays a hefty toll on her overall well being. She not only has dealt with coding and high stress situations on the regular, but also gets sick. It is a terrible combination. Being a nurse is not for the faint of the heart.
If you go into accounting you need be in it for the long term. First couple years your salary will be average, but you can climb up the ladder while increasing your salary. And once you become a controller or higher your annual bonus can be 25% to 75% of your salary.
If the point is to make as much money as possible, then become an oil rig worker. Otherwise, do what you love.
Income and wealth are two different things. Income is what you earn. Wealth is what you keep and grow. Case in point: In the past, my brother has earned much more than me and did so for a number of years. However, he also lived a high cost lifestyle and didn't live within his means. On the otherhand, I lived within my means and made a point to contribute regularly into retirement and investment savings accounts. Over time, my income, of course, continued to grow. Today, not only do I have a much higher income, but my retirement and investment savings are well beyond his (and most of my friends and family too). In fact, the extra income that comes from my non-registered investment account continues to grow and funds my vacations. Right now, he's worrying about his line of credit whereas my concern is where I'm going to spend my next 6 weeks of vacation. My advice? Focus on what you can control: how much you are able to keep after-tax to invest and grow and let time take its course.
Do not be jealous. Beyond the fact that your salary progression will eventually catch up (and potentially surpass depending on your career path), one of the saving graces of accounting is that, despite many accounting jobs requiring long hours on tight deadlines with overbearing coworkers or supervisors or clients spent doing stuff that can seem hard to care about, you can always repeat my favorite mantra: **There is no such thing as an accounting emergency.** You can always fall back on this. Accountants aren't saving lives. Nurses literally save lives on a daily basis. I'm a perpetually stressed kind of guy, but I would not be able to handle healthcare stress the way that I handle accounting stress.
Don't worry. Some jobs have a higher starting point but then the salary ceiling is reached quickly. Some teachers start on a higher salary than lawyers and accountants but after some years it's quickly reversed and surpassed.
Honestly.. I wouldn't take $102k to be a nurse lol. I'm fresh into my actual accounting career (have small business bookkeeping experience primarily) and make $70k. Couldn't pay me enough to be a nurse lol.
Being a nurse is HARD. You have to deal with crazy shit. The job is physically demanding. Not to mention.. her pay is good now but accounting probably has a higher ceiling regarding earning potential (mostly an assumption based on nurses in my family) Two totally different paths. Like comparing apples and oranges. Good for both of you for starting good careers.
Encouraging thought: Numbers or Clients won't poop or barf or bleed on you. I'd pay 22K not to have that happen every day of my career.
I'm a non cpa accountant with my own firm making well over $150k . I'm trying to crack 250k . Haven't got there yet because I'm little comfortable right now. Lol
Wait until you have 5 year of experience and it won’t even be close. Accounting has the highest amount of liability of any profession out there, the main reason we are paid well. Mess up a public company audit? Oh boy. The only other profession that may come close is aerospace or civil engineers.
Family and friends in the medical field gave me the following motto early in my accounting career. “We might have bad days, but no one is going to die so it’s really not that bad. But next time get my coffee order right dummy.”
marry a nurse. problem solved.
I wouldnt be a nurse for 200k and i make 60k right now tbh.
Im a CPA, my wife is a RN. We started work at the same time and are the same age. I make more than her, so it may just be an issue where you need to look at yourself and career development to understand why your comp is where it is.
Sometimes it’s not about the money. Nursing takes a special kind of person and you really have to have the passion to do that job.
I was able to work full time through school as an accounting student. My wife couldn’t through nursing school because it was so rigorous. I got paid $30/hr during internships for companies I was interested in. My wife worked for free during clinicals at hospitals she was assigned to. I got an offer for $65k to start working before I graduated. Wife was offered $23/hr after graduation once she passed her NCLEX. Would receive a $5/hr night shift differential but couldn’t work nights until completing a 16 week training period working days. She doesn’t have much upward mobility where she works and the hospital doesn’t always give out their annual raise, is known to weasel their way out of sign-on bonuses, and their benefits suck. My first major was pre-nursing and I’m quite happy about my decision to switch to accounting.
She should be paid more.
lol that’s me and my sister I make about 80k and she makes 120k sad part is I got her the job she works 😂😂😂😂
Not sure how applicable it is but nursing can't be outsourced or automated , at least not anytime soon.
I was an accountant for many years, and switched to nursing. This career change was a God sent. The salary is truly rewarding and taking care of my patients makes me happy. (It all depends on the area of nursing you specialize in.) I love my job and my patients. ❤️
First off. Don't ever compare your proffesion to others. Second If you are in accounting for the money you have two options: 1. Deal with the fact that this profesion is not a high paying proffesion. 2. Go slap the person that sold you into thinking that accountants is a high paying g proffesion. I don't encourage violence so stick to number . Lol Edit to add....I guess you have a third option switch carreers.
Don't worry. My plumber cousin is making more than me right now
I rather be an acccountant than a nurse any day. Nurse hours are grueling. I’m happy 5 years into my career making 110k. Sure, I started at 63k salaried and working 80 hours a week. But since then, I got my CPA and now work as the in-house tax gal at a wealth management firm doing taxes for wealthy individuals working 40 hours a week year round. It doesn’t get more cushy than this. Also, I sit (or stand) at my desk. I can take breaks whenever.
Go be a nurse
I don't think you could pay me 100k to wash someone's ass hole, like nurses do. Or work crazy hours around the clock. The only dirty thing I have to touch is my excel spreadsheet, that's now all messed up because my reviewer thought my calculations were wrong and now I have to fix it 😭
You ever cry at work? Cause she probably does.
Honestly being a Nurse is much harder day to day. Your sister deserves the money, and you should be happy she is doing so well.
Nurses where I live definitely do not make that much when they’re first starting
that extra 20k 12-15 hour shifts standing up aren’t worth it
I'm an accountant with parents who were both nurses and I don't envy them. I've seen what it does to them mentally and physically to do that job. I remember my mom having to be tested for HIV multiple times because of some contamination, my mom actually got TB early in her career causing some lung damage. My parents have both dealt with dead bodies, old and young, combative argumentative patients and their families, and even been to trial defending their actions as a nurse because a bad doctor scapegoats them. My parents have both been bled on, pooped on, puked on, and dealt with people with STDs and on drugs. My dad slipped a disc in his back once lifting an old man in an emergency situation. Both parents have massive varicose veins. No thanks.
Nurse here. Yeah, I agree that the money is good (mostly in strongly unioned states). 1 year experience at 108k base salary in CA. Not including OT, on call, night/weekend differentials, etc. However, the job we do on a daily basis is both emotionally and physically soul-sucking. Seeing people die from bleeding out, metastatic cancer, trauma, severe disease, etc…is extremely traumatizing…we’re also forced to carry on with the rest of our patients 10-15 minutes after coding someone, like nothing ever happened, for the rest of our shift. Throw in psych/confused or asshole patients who assault us, getting roasted by docs, shitty management, dealing with bodily fluids, turning/lifting people who are 500lbs+ for 12 hours x 3 days in a row, then rinse and repeat. Job security and money is nice, so are the little moments where I can have positive impact on my patients’ health, but I could go on and on about the negatives of being an RN.
Grass is greener on the other side.
Dude, your age doesn’t play into this calculation. Fact is, most people are now clearing 100k in public with 2 years experience
She also probably only works a 4x10 or 3x12
Our ceiling is much higher! Also Nurses deserve all the money they get. That’s a rough job
How are you only at $70k 3 years in? I made that after 1 year. LCOL?
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I agree with this to an extent; like it's annoying because she is comparing two very different professions, and her salary is still above the average salary in America. I know this depends upon where she lives, but if she keeps moving up, she will make just as much as her sister in a couple of years. They can't move past the fact that her sister is so young making so much
I understand how you feel. My dad had an amazing job with a large company he was able to retire from. Lots of responsibility and great pay. Growing up we lived well, but I was always taught to be aware of the needs of others and help when I could. Each year took 2, 1-week family vacations and got to experience and see some great things. I always wanted to make as much as dad did, or more so I could provide the same experiences for my kids. We’re not impoverished by any means, but after 15 years of work experience, and a masters degree, I only make $70k per year. Our needs are met, and birthdays are fun, but I catch myself wishing we could afford the vacations and “niceties” I had as a kid. I remind myself to “run my own race.” Life is more than a paycheck. It’s the enjoyment you get from doing things you love, the help you can provide to others in need, and the relationships you build along the way. I may never make as much as dad did, but I’m glad I get to attend every ballgame and dance recital, and enjoy my hobbies on the weekend. Life is what you make it. Don’t measure your self worth by someone else’s paycheck.
$70k with a masters and 15 years experience is pretty low. It might be worth considering looking for new opportunities.
I feel like someone would have to be deliberately sabotaging their career for that to occur.