Your Financial Future Is Closer Than You Think: Why Having The Option To Retire Early Is Crucial For CRNAs

The typical salary for a certified registered nurse anesthetist is rather hefty, and if you're now working as one, you need to take advantage of that and plan for your future. Many people assume they'll retire or access those funds in their later 60s and 70s, but you have the opportunity to make early retirement a possibility. You may love your job, but there are still several reasons why your financial future is a lot closer than you think.

Job Stress

Working as a CRNA isn't always the most stressful position, but you can find yourself working a lot, at odd hours, over long shifts, and in situations where the patient is undergoing so much trauma that the stress kind of rubs off on you. Most CRNAs love their jobs, but high-stress situations can make them consider retiring early. If investments and retirement funds are already well-established, then the decision to stay or go can rest solely on working conditions, rather than future financial effects.

Restructuring and Pay Walls

It's no secret that the nursing profession and medicine as a whole are undergoing massive changes in how billing and pay are handled. Previously, these fields followed the fee-for-service model -- the professional performs a service, and he or she gets paid for it. Now, with the consolidation that many private practices are going through (being bought by larger health networks or field-specific chains, for example), these providers have to work within a value system, where they are paid according to the value of their services rather than by the actual work they do (a simple, albeit rather clumsy, analogy would be like the difference between being paid a salary with no overtime instead of by the hour with overtime).

The changes from this as well as the difficulty in earning as much as one did before the restructuring can make many professionals think of leaving the field, retiring early, or leaving for a lower-paying but less stressful CRNA position somewhere else. Regardless of the reason, anyone leaving their current position would do well to have a lot of money already socked away for retirement.

Second Careers

People often start out in other nursing fields, or other fields altogether, and they join the ranks of CRNAs comparatively late in their careers. They're not very old, but people who become CRNAs are often those who already have a good decade or so of working elsewhere, so they are already closer to retirement. If they previously worked in a high-paying field, such as another nursing field, their retirement funds may already be well-established. But if they've come in from a lower-paying field and have just had years of school only with no income, then they've got some catching up to do. Investing CRNA pay wisely helps grow that retirement fund quickly.

Go with a good investment broker and financial planning service, such as Luxor Financial Group. No doubt you'll have your own preferences and work-related retirement accounts, but these brokers can help you find more avenues for investment, so you can make the most of your money.