Getting a loan or borrowing money is an excellent idea at first. But what happens when you find yourself with missed payments? It’s not fun knowing that you owe some people or companies money. And paying or paying off debts is not always easy.
Being a professional nurse allows you to earn lucratively. But sometimes, even nurses have debts to pay. How can you free yourself from all of this? is there a way to live a debt-free life?
We understand that sometimes, we cannot avoid having debts, but if you know to spend your money wisely and be debt-free, wouldn’t that be amazing?
In this episode, we introduce you to our guest Allie Grotteland. Allie is a PICU nurse, owner, and founder of the Debt-free Nurse LLC. She helps nurses pay off debt and save money without sacrificing things they love. We discuss the importance of paying off debt, staying debt-free, and saving for the future.
The questions below are some we tackled on the show
How did you first become self-aware of investing?
How do you first start teaching people about money?
What is the mindset you should have about saving and investing?
What is your best advice to start paying off debt?
What is your best advice to start saving your life?
How do you create financial goals?
How do you stop impulse spending?
One of your goals is to retire a millionaire; what systems do you have to bring that to reality?
Difference between Roth IRA vs. 401K?
Tell us about your experience with nurse bullying.
Want to be debt-free of your nursing school loans? Here’s how 👇👇👇
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro 00:08 Guest intro 00:43 Nursing to Investing a business 04:47 The mindset you need to pay off debt 05:55 The most efficient way to pay off loans 08:24 How to look into your financial status 10:22 Holding off on purchases 12:12 How to stop someone from impulse shopping 14:34 The 48-Hour Rule 15:58 How to choose the best retirement plan 23:14 Invest your extra money 23:42 Amount of money to save 26:05 Put Emergency Funds first 29:40 Courses 32:36 Apps to track spending 33:17 Nurse bullying 39:55 It’s okay to change your mind 42:29 Is there bullying in PICU? 43:18 How did you switch units? 48:22 How to assess if the unit or area is for you 50:29 Say something if you’re being bullied at work 52:33 End of show
About 85% of people will receive $1400 stimulus checks. It’s the third stimulus checks given since COVID 19 started. If you’ve filled your 2020 taxes the check will be based on those, if not it will go off 2019 taxes [1].
Qualifying group
What the law says
Individuals
An AGI of less than $80,000 to qualify for any payment amount
Head of household
An AGI of less than $120,000 to qualify for any payment amount
Couple filing jointly
An AGI of less than $160,000 to qualify for any payment amount
Dependents of all ages
$1,400 apiece, no cap — but only if guardians make under the above limits
Families with mixed US citizenship
Provided they meet other qualifications
US citizens living abroad
Yes, same as the first two checks
Citizens of US territories
Yes, same as the first two checks, with payments handled by each territory
SSDI and other tax nonfilers
Yes, but may require an extra step to claim (more below)
Incarcerated people
Yes, included this time
People who owe child support
Checks can be garnished to cover past due payments (more below)
Disqualified groups
Not covered by law
Non-US citizens
“Resident aliens” aren’t included
Noncitizens who pay taxes
Depends on “mixed-status” rules (more below)
If you’ve had a child in 2021 they won’t be counted towards the stimulus, as of now.
What is hidden in the Covid relief bill for Bill?
Bill and Malinda Gates foundation is reported to receive 3.5 billion.
Expanded unemployment benefits until Sept. 6 at $300/week
About 57 million people filed for unemployment = 17 billion dollars
If 150 million people get 1400 then that equals 210 billion dollars
350 billion to state and local governments
130 billion into schools K-12
40 billion for colleges and universities
28.6 billion to businesses
7.25 billion for the paycheck protection program
50 billion to expand covid testing
15 billion for covid distribution
1 billion to boos vaccine confidence
10 billion for medical supplies and devices.
Increased tax breaks for families with children
30 billion for low-income households for rent
10 billion for homeowners struggling with mortgages
Student loan forgiveness
Adds up to about 1 trillion.
Vaccine
The vaccine is technically a type of gene therapy. The definition of a vaccine ”is a substance used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against one or several diseases, prepared from the causative agent of a disease, its products, or a synthetic substitute, treated to act as an antigen without inducing the disease.”
The definition of gene therapy is “the application of genetic engineering to the transplantation of genes into human cells in order to cure a disease caused by a genetic defect, as a missing enzyme.”
RNA is a string of chemical units representing, similarly to letters of the alphabet, the genetic code that all living cells use as instructions for producing their component proteins.
The newly licensed COVID-19 vaccines contain myriad identical RNA strands all coding for a critical section of the coronavirus’s spike protein. This protein is easy for the immune system to attack because it sits on the virus’s outer surface. It’s also indispensable to the virus, as it’s absolutely required for entry into our cells; so the virus doesn’t have the option of altering its spike protein, via mutation, to escape immune detection.
The vaccine’s RNA strands are hidden inside of nanoscale fat globules, which keeps our immune systems from flipping out.
The primary target for an RNA vaccine, as for traditional vaccines, is dendritic cells. Which absorb the nano fat globules.
Once inside, the RNA strands make their way to protein-producing power tools called ribosomes.
The ribosomes decipher the strands’ coded instructions and churn out new SARS-CoV-2 spike-protein bits
This triggers an effect similar to traditional vaccines, in which dendritic cells displaying their antigenic trophies on their surfaces race to the lymph nodes to tip off the immune cells hanging out there.
There’s a reason why you need to try harder. As complex individuals, our minds are continually swirling with ideas about the future, change, and success in life. Our potential is vast, yet we end up getting stuck doing the same repetitive actions day in and day out without realizing that the years are passing us by and our flame is slowly fading. The golden years waste away into reflections of what might have been.
If you don’t build your own dream, someone else will hire you to build theirs.
This is a great quote by Tony Gaskins that fits with the topic of going full out. If you want to accomplish your dreams or goals, you have to navigate toward them at all times. Minimize distractions. More time spent on the task at hand leads to progress. The last thing you want is to find out you’re too late because you’ve put it off. If you don’t accomplish your dreams, you’ll just be a part of someone else’s.
Why is going harder beneficial and important
You don’t have as much to lose as you think
Rational people always weigh the risks and benefits. Unfortunately, how often have the benefits exceeded the risks, yet nothing was accomplished? To have a chance at attaining your goals and dreams, you have to put in the effort and start. Then you go full out the whole ride there. What’s the worst-case scenario? You just go back to where you started and try again.
Anything less than 100% is unacceptable
If you don’t go full out, then expect mediocre results or none at all. You should be the definition of greatness. Don’t half-commit to yourself. If you don’t go full out, how can you expect others to give you 100%? Push yourself, and take the success you want. Take an example from SpaceX: individuals imagine the moon, but they’re aiming for Mars.
Set your goals high
How can you expect to exit your comfort zone if you continually set goals you know you can achieve? Setting goals that are 100 percent accomplishable are not goals – they are called tasks. Make the end goal hard and set the bar extremely high so that when you do win, it’s worthwhile. When you lose, guess what? You might not have reached your objective, but I assure you-you’ll be in a much better position than when you started.
This is a great way to build confidence because it’s a win-win situation. You either reach your potential when you succeed, or you learn that you have it in you to try – and I mean, really try. Just that alone will make you consistently progress.
Now is a good time to get your priorities together. You need to try harder. It can be a physical, mental, or financial goal, but let’s be serious for a moment; you haven’t hit all your milestones. Get motivated. Let this post be the start of your end game.
It doesn’t matter who you are or what kind of work you do; every individual is looking for ways to be more productive. We live in the digital age of constant swipes, and it has become progressively harder to start a task than to actually accomplish it. What can you do to minimize distractions if you’re allowing yourself to be distracted?
Mind over the mattress. Win the battle with your bed. This habit will strengthen your willpower and give you an edge to start your day right. Social media is another form of distraction in the morning. We all like rolling around in bed and scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Before you know it, you wasted significant time doing nothing! This extra time could’ve been used to avoid tardiness and speeding tickets! One thing I do in my morning routine gives myself two minutes to reflect on how grateful I am.
“When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” -Lao Tzu
Cut your to-do list
What’s most important? What’s your number one goal right now? Design your to-do list around these questions. Your workday shouldn’t mean you’re trying to fit 20 things in your eight-hour workday. Remember, time is your most significant limited resource. Doing more doesn’t mean being more productive. It’s just being busy. Successful people know that, and they learn how to prioritize and set aside time for what’s most important to them.
Exercise
Working out isn’t just for looking superb in the summer. Exercise has many health benefits. It increases your brain function and decreases stress levels. It’s crucial to make working out habitual. When I was in nursing school, I made it my nightly routine. One day I had a stressful day, which caused me to have difficulty falling asleep. Instead, I crunched out a night workout and untwined from all the stress. You can make it part of your morning routine as well to help kick-start the day. If you can’t go to the gym, go outside for a walk. Remember, it’s about developing the habit.
Keeping your mind fresh
Work in intervals. What I found to work for me is to create mini-breaks during my hours of productivity. When I had to cram for exams, I’d put in 50 minutes of hard work and 10 minutes of free time. This may sound counterproductive, but it worked because, at the end of the day, it was about how productive I was, not busy. You can create 90-minute interval breaks in your life.
Your body, just like the sleep cycle, has a rhythm between being stimulated and fatigued. Those are the physiological indicators of your body saying, “Give me a break!” When I do busy work, I notice my eyes are strained, so during my downtime, I put my palms over my eyes to reverse the fatigue. You’d be surprised how sharp your vision is after!
Peak Power
Believe it or not, every individual has a peak time during the day when they are most productive. Take a step back from your routine and identify the hour of the day when you have an energy surge. I perform best a few hours after my morning routine. I make sure I have a solid breakfast to prepare for the day, so when my peak performance hits, I dedicate my time to accomplish my tasks. For those of you who work nights like me, your peak performance can be in the evening after your “morning routine.”
Life Isn’t Perfect
Take a deep breath. Sometimes things don’t go as planned. Be optimistic. It’s just a bad moment, not a bad day. Don’t let one dark cloud take away the sun. It’s no secret that we all make mistakes. Allowing one moment to get to you will ruin your mood. Being positive results in more productivity, keeping the sky sunny.
Stop multitasking
New research shows that multitasking is negatively rewiring our brains. Cognitive decline showed a 15 IQ points drop and scores similar to someone that smoked marijuana and stayed up all night. Multi-tasking can be productive but don’t do it for primary tasks you are working on. Turn off your cell phone ringer and email notifications, and close your door. Develop your zone. Work smarter, not harder. Be productive, not busy.
Break It Down
Some tasks can’t be completed in one day. Break down the massive project into small tasks to be more efficient. Slice and dice your tasks into bite-size pieces and finish them one at a time. Our body does the same when it comes to eating. Digestion starts at the mouth; we chew to break down large food into smaller pieces, making it easier to digest. Do the same! If you’re writing a research paper, don’t tackle it all at once. Create the outline, find your sources, and begin to type the paper.
Closing thought
Time is your greatest limited resource. How will you use your time? If you want to accomplish something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find every excuse why you didn’t. Learn what matters so you can achieve it. Set realistic goals in your day-to-day routine. Develop habits to keep you going. Determining what’s irrelevant will pave the way for the right things to catch up to you. No matter how you progress, you are still in front of everyone who isn’t trying. Productivity gets you places.
Put your mind where your heart is. Do something that comes naturally. You must be mindful of what YOU enjoy, not what others do. Straying from the herd does not necessitate failure. There is no reason for individuals not to make a decent income by doing what they truly enjoy. So just do what you are passionate about.
Steps to Take
Acknowledge the game but don’t get discouraged
You have to know what you are doing and why. Success is a process, and motivation is part of the picture. Many people will have the same ideas and goals, and it’s your job to differentiate yourself from them. You don’t just become good, you become better, and then you become great. Competition is huge in every career category; add your own spark to open some eyes. It is a tough mental game, and consistency is your best friend.
Learn when it’s time to move on
Being able to accomplish one goal and move on to the next is crucial. Trends change quickly. Society can change their minds almost instantaneously. This way, your mind is always focused on the next big thing. You have to learn what the market wants. It’s okay to switch from one idea to another. Always doing the same things over and over is boring, don’t fall into this trap of repetition, especially when it brings no benefit or happiness. You need to find when the cap has been reached so you can catch the next bigger and better wave.
Time management
The last thing you want is to be so focused on one subject that you let the others lag behind. Can you remember a time when you were stuck studying some random topic for hours and then came to realize it was already 3 am? Yet somehow, you still don’t get it. You could have put that topic aside and learned all the others in that same time frame.
Efficiency is a key aspect. You have to capture all ideas and accomplish tasks in a timely manner. A good way to assess whether you’re being efficient is to look at the clock and tell yourself you’re giving this task 2 hours. When the 2 hours pass, and you’re still not done, then you need to change something, maybe put down the social media or move on to the next task.
Understandably, you won’t enjoy everything you do in life, which is why good time management is so crucial in allowing you to do what you enjoy with most of your time. You must be mindful of time because time is a valuable and limited resource. It is why knowing how to manage your time helps you to be more successful.
Don’t undervalue yourself
If you have a good idea, set some time aside and really think about it. Is the idea relevant, purposeful, and achievable? Taking time aside will allow you to know the value of the idea instead of taking on blind faith. You don’t want to be careless and rush into things because of FOMO (fear of missing out), but you also don’t want to miss out on your potential.
To be more successful, you must put in more time to make good ideas even better. This will keep you focused because it is about you. The simple thought of personal progression keeps you motivated. Always be mindful of ways to change, progress, and improve.
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