Mar 13, 2015
Find me a paramedic who feels that they are adequately financially compensated for the job that they do and I will be shocked. Pay in this field has always been an issue. We blame it for a lot of our recruitment and retention problems. People constantly cite it as a stressor that makes our lives more difficult. Maybe though, just maybe, we are putting too much emphasis on how large our paychecks are and not enough emphasis on the money that we bring in.
When I had a chance to interview Skip Kirkwood about five years ago, I asked him to tell me one piece of advice that he would give to any new paramedic or EMT. To summarize the points that he made, Skip told me that he would want people in our field to learn to manage their money better. Learn to live within your means, and you will not have to work sixty or seventy hour work weeks.
Sean Eddy and Jason Hoschouer talked about it on a podcast that I did last year, and if you have not read Sean’s series on Money Smart Medics, you are really missing out. There are lessons to be learned from all of it, and sitting and talking to Jason and Sean inspired me to make some changes in my life.
I have always been good with numbers. I speak them fluently. The problem is though I have never been quite as good with how I managed my own money. As long as I had money in the bank, I felt like I could spend it. I was one of those people who would live from paycheck to paycheck not because I had to but because I often chose to. It was a vicious cycle and one that I got sucked into. Sean and Jason were so enthusiastic with their ideas and values that I felt that I should take a couple steps to try and fix myself.
I started by charting my income. Since I work a set rotating schedule, I could predict my work hours out for the entire year. I started to chart how much overtime that I was working, and set my earning goals on a larger annual scale. Once I had a solid grip on that, I started to work on a budget to live on. I was doing all of this on my own, and while what I was doing was helpful, it did not feel like enough.
While perusing Facebook one afternoon, I saw Sean talking about a program called YNAB, which is sort for You Need A Budget. It is a program that comes with an App for your Droid or iPhone that allows a person to set a monthly budget and have a better snapshot of what they need to do to live within their means. Each individual can make the categories as generalized or specific as they like. I started my 35 day trial of the program and was hooked within two weeks.
Now, four months later, I am paying all of my bills from my first check, and I have my money planned out through summer. I know what I can afford, and I know what I need to do in order to save and fund things that are important to me like going to conferences, taking vacations, or going out to dinner with friends.
With my new financial lifestyle, I feel like I have a huge weight off my shoulders. The weirdest thing about it though is lately I have been feeling a different kind of stress. Currently, I am ahead on the majority of my bills and my savings accounts are growing. Right now, I don’t have to work overtime, which I am used to doing, and that is an uncomfortable feeling. I understand the importance of numbers and the stories that they tell, and they’re telling me that I don’t have to work so much but I’m so used to it that even though the numbers are telling me its true, my brain has not completely accepted it yet. I guess its a much better problem to have than being behind on things.
There is a real stigma that goes with living on a budget. Sean has touched on that a bit with me. Living on a budget does not mean you’re poor it means you’re smart. Its working for me, and if you do it the right way it will work for you. Live within your means, and live smart. You’ll be happier because o fit.