This Nurse Gets The Blueprint of How to Master the First Year of Nursing or NP Practice - Ep. 88
Morgan and Theo intentionally composed a comprehensive guide for the aspiring or current Registered Nurse, aspiring or current travel nurse, aspiring or current Nurse Practitioner.
Morgan Murray CRNP, PMHNP-BC, MSN, RN is a board certified psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioner with over seven years of training and experience in the mental health field. A Baltimore native, Morgan works with individuals across the lifespan with various mental health diagnoses. Currently, she practices telemedicine in Florida, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, serves as the medical director for an outpatient mental health clinic, and works in the psychiatric emergency room.
Theo is a Family Nurse Practitioner who went from nursing student to LPN to RN then NP. Since then Theo has started a concierge medicine practice to bring a new look to the healthcare landscape. He functions as adjunct faculty, an NP hospitalist and his newest accomplishment is co-authoring ‘So You Want to be a Nurse?”
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TRANSCRIPT:
Naseema McElroy: [00:00:00] All right, Nurses on Fire. You are in for a treat because I have Theo The Weekend White Coat and Morgan Murray , Beyond Medicine here. What's up. Y'all yes. And I'm so happy to have you here because you guys have an incredible resource. For nurses out there starting from people who are interested in being nurses, to nurses who are interested to be an NPs, to nurses who want to travel, and nurses that want to start their own practice as well. You guys got it all in an easily digestible guide where, I mean like no nonsense cutting out the middleman. Let's just get to the point. Here are your resources. This is what you do. So Hey, I love it. So what inspired you guys to create this?
Theo Jones: [00:00:50] You know, I mean, for me, the, the inspiration comes from. Everybody asks every day. How do you get to where you are? How did you do this? How did you do that? I know Morgan, just that question a lot. I get it a lot. And sometimes you just want to pass information on without answering the same question, a hundred times a year messages or a hundred emails, or, you know, it kind of, not that it gets annoying, like it's flattering, but at the same time you got to put you in once in information. So, I mean, that was, you know, a lot behind my inspiration. Morgan, what do you think?
Morgan Murray: [00:01:28] Yeah, I think that when I finished in NP school, I was in a very unique position. I think that I was positioned very well by the people that trained me. And I think that.
More of the NP experience, even in school should be circled around preparing people to practice. And, you know, it's more than just learning diagnostic tools and you know how to write a note and, and what you should be looking for, you know, for withdrawal. It's so much more than that. And , I really realized that other people were not at the same , starting point as I was, and I wanted to bridge that gap.
So it was very intentional that, that we kind of just put together , a comprehensive guide of not just things that we wish knew when we became a nurse, but also as an NP. So we just, for me and Theo, it's all about value and we really value the people who are reaching out to us. We value other nurses so we wanted to give them the most that we could for the cheapest amount and for everything that's in this book, like. I think it's one hell of a price.
Naseema McElroy: [00:02:43] Yeah. Usually the things that are in this book, you will pay a consultant, thousands of dollars to help you walk through that's how much value is here.
So the name of the book is , 'So You Want to be a Nurse' and, but it just, it doesn't stop there. But before we dive more into the book, can you guys talk a little bit more about your backgrounds in nursing and where you are right now?
Theo Jones: [00:03:05] You want to go first, Morgan? You gave a very profound answer. So I'm a line you up and I'll come behind you
Morgan Murray: [00:03:14] again. My name is Morgan Marie. I am a psychiatric nurse practitioner. I've been in behavioral health for over seven years. Actually, this June we'll make eight years as a nurse. And I'm so excited. So I kind of dibbled and dabbled in every specialty almost except for like med surge, L and D and ICU.
Like, I felt like I've done everything. I've done utilization review, case management, psych. I've done , house supervisor. I've done immunization researched me and Theo used to work in the, OR together. So I kind of, I don't even want to talk about it, but I've done. I've done a lot of things in nursing, which I think has, has shaped me so well.
And that's why I knew that I wanted to be a Psych NP because I've kind of been able to try so many different things.
Naseema McElroy: [00:04:03] I love it. I love all the experience and it's so well-rounded, but it prepares you for really serving, you know, your patients. So great background.
Theo Jones: [00:04:18] So actually nursing is a second career for me. So my first career was actually in psychology. I used to be a rehab counselor. A lot of people don't know that. Yeah. I used to be real counseling and I hated it. So I was like , I need to find some change in my life and I just couldn't figure out where to start.
So the first thing that popped in my head was like, Oh, maybe I should try the nursing school, not the biggest thing. It happened on a whim, but, you know, I was like, maybe I should try this. And , I remember I was just walking at CCBC campus, meeting a friend and I started looking on the wall and they had all these classes and , I was like, maybe I should just sign up for some pre-recs in the fall and see how it goes.
Sign up for some pre-recs. I did amp, which is hard as hell. Then followed up with , taking a job as like a nursing student. In my, like, while I was applying for nursing school, but it turned out, it was just like the CNA switched over. So they just had me on the floor not learning anything. And I was like, this is the worst.
And this is like at the , this was at the VA hospital at the time, the one in Downtown Baltimore. And I was like, this is awful. I was like, I hate this. So, you know, I knocked out a couple of years. I actually had a program where I had an exit option to be an LPN before I get my BSN. So I was an LPN for a couple of years until I finished school.
And then after I became an RN, I ended up in , I ended up in ICU for a bit. Then I did OR and I stuck. With that. The longest I did trauma surgery in transplant surgery. So I ended up doing family practice. I trained a train with a wonderful, like black female doctor over at Mercy. She was amazing. And I appreciated the experience.
Naseema McElroy: [00:05:57] What NO program. Did you do?
Theo Jones: [00:05:59] I did Chamberlain. I went online. I did that program. I was very enamored with going out there. So like at that point they had started putting in like the option to fly out, to do certain sessions. I had been flying out to Chicago several times in a year. So like every semester I would fly out and be like on campus.
Okay. This thing. So I really feel like it was more of like a hybrid program versus a straight online program. I know a lot of people look at it and say, Hey, that's the online program. It was very much involved. And I grew a love for deep dish pizza out there.
Naseema McElroy: [00:06:32] You know what, you know what Chicago, for me, the food.
It's it's the food for me, Chicago has my heart, like when it comes to food, like every kind of food you can imagine is in Chicago. I even clowned them for having tacos in Chicago, but listen then with some of the best tacos ever. Cause you know, coming from California, I'm like, you ain't got no real tacos though, but then tacos! I love Chicago. I love Chicago.
Theo Jones: [00:07:00] On Lake Michigan, you get a Chicago dog. You'd be good. Like Chicago. Doesn't look at me again. It's a little stand out there. Fire man. Change your life. I promise.
Naseema McElroy: [00:07:11] Taking all this wealth of knowledge that you had all this experiences. I mean, you guys experiences are so diverse and so all encompassing, but just very, very comprehensive of just like what nursing is because you guys are all around the board and especially like, even your experience before being a nurse, like even as a rehab counsoler that brings like a wealth of knowledge into nursing and just experiences into nursing. But what you guys have put together. For potential nurses and then nurses who want to expand , it's just super duper valuable, but it's just like, like I said, it's super straight to the point because.
For nurses for anybody. I say like, time is money. Like we waste too much time, wasting time. We need to just get to the point and get things done. Like take action. And this guide is a way to take action. So can you walk through like, high level, what people can expect to find in the book?
Morgan Murray: [00:08:10] I just sent Theo this email. Woo it's a lot. So like we had, we had , like kind of went over the chapters, but basically , so the book has started out as , a double-sided book. So it was going to be nurse in the front. Nurse practitioner on the back. We just kind of included it and we still have one part that is the nurse part, which is includes travel nursing as well.
And then the nurse practitioner portion, which also includes , people who might want to open up their own practice. So , we start with people who might be aspiring nurses and I'm looking at different schools. We start with first , what, what's the right school for you? One thing that was big to me is that , I'm not going to say the name of the school, but there was a school that offered me a job job to teach, and I found out.
Because I actually was teaching at another school. So the school that I was teaching at was Notre Dom and , the other school that offered me a job. I found out how to look up and see if they were in risk of losing their accreditation and this other school was so, we'd go over, no one wants to, wants to be at a school that has a quote unquote, bad reputation.
So we go over that. We go over, you know, things that you have to consider. Before starting nursing school, kind of like the average prereq's from Maryland, but it's kind of similar to other States. And then we get into, you know, your resources and , landing your first job as a nurse. And there's so many things, I seen some, some bad resumes, so, and I've seen some really good ones.
So, you know, until I had a resume writer, I didn't know what was in a really good resume. And I didn't know that people actually, you know, gave a damn if you wrote it cover letter. So I think that was very eyeopening for me. So, you know, those are just a few of the , the nurse , size and then the travel nursing , Part is very, very comprehensive, like a pre-nursing checklist because, you know, I was telling Theo, I feel like for every reason that people say I can't do travel nursing, there is the answer in this book.
The number one reason I feel like I hear is the insurance. And number two is about the pay the PTO and having time off. So, I touched on that, , and I, I even have direct links, for the insurance that I use. And, Theo will tell you, cause he's my, actually my provider, my insurance is a one.
So don't judge me for what I'm about to say, but I had seven cavities, shout out to New York night shifts. Because I had seven cavities when I went and got my dental work done, but I had to get seven cavities filled and I have to get one crown, which would have amounted to over.
I think she said$ 4,700. I know it was over $4,000. I have a screenshot. It was $399. .
Naseema McElroy: [00:10:58] Dental insurance is actually the costliest insurance and usually it's the least , reimbursable insurance. So that is a good plan. Yeah.
Morgan Murray: [00:11:07] Yeah. I paid $44 I think for a month because I had the high option. Because when I went, I knew that I, that I had cavities, I was like, I need to just, you know, get some really good insurance. So I think it, I think it's around it's between $40 and $44 a month, but it includes so much.
And I think I even have like three or four cleanings included per year. It's amazing insurance. Yes.
Naseema McElroy: [00:11:31] Yeah. That, that's definitely a reason that people cite , for not wanting to travel, but you know, I have heard like people jump into traveling and not really prepare for that. I'm not prepared to pay taxes, filing exept.
Morgan Murray: [00:11:47] Oh so, going to jail. So what'd you want a jumpsuit orange, pink or green?
Naseema McElroy: [00:11:56] Girl, you know, I have a whole chapter in my book that's called , "Pay Your Taxes or Go to Jail"
Morgan Murray: [00:12:03] We don't do tax evasion. Okay.
Naseema McElroy: [00:12:08] Yes, honey. But I love that you have that as, as a guide but also another thing to consider I was like this right here. Is the mortgage underwriting baby. Okay. So that is key and not only. Okay. So what I'm saying is that in the book, she has a resource for travelers because you don't get a W2 income all the time.
Some places, places have W2, which is a lot easier to deal with, but you can get paid a multitude of different ways, which means that when you go on to buy a house, they kind of look at you sideways, especially, first of all, let's just go here. We're black. You don't. I have like , a normal doesn't matter how much money you make in you don't have a normal job, right?
Like is you're, you're all over the place you work in different States. You you're paid a little differently. And so it can definitely be challenging. Which means adding another layer of complexity to , applying for loans, especially for home loans. As we know this industry is rigged, but , I love that you have a direct resource in there for people applying for mortgages and you have your own freaking underwriter. Okay. What kind of boss are you?
Morgan Murray: [00:13:20] They don't even understand the value. And when I told, like, because him at him and I are like our friends, so when I first, like, when I first bought my first home, you know, I would ask him, Hey, you know, he looked at his property up, can you, you know, can you look this property up X, Y, Z, this was before he even started his own company.
This was when he was working for someone else. And, you know, when I told him what I was trying to do, he was like, well, What things do you think these nurses and cause I can, I can get licensed in other States. And I was like, that is the energy that I need. So when I told him, like, I'm having a huge amount of Texas people who are interested, you know, he he'd already applied for his Georgia and I think his Texas is pending,
Naseema McElroy: [00:14:02] But I'm gonna need him to get California so he can get these million dollar loans.
Morgan Murray: [00:14:06] Listen, I, I can't remember if he's licensed in California or not. I'll have to check with them, but you know, I think a lot of people might stay away from California just because of how expensive the housing is. But that info and especially the car shipping vendor, like I would have been there. I personally know. And personally we shipped the car with her. Like everything arrived at it actually arrived the whole day early. But everything went, wow. Like no issues.
Naseema McElroy: [00:14:37] So this is what I'm saying. This is what I'm saying. Like, this guy is like no nonsense, like do X, Y, and Z check this box and you're going to be straight because I can't tell you like how much time it takes to try to plan around these things. I mean, like if you have a resource boom, just use it, that's it. And so that's what I'm saying. This is, this is thousands and thousands of dollars in value.
Morgan Murray: [00:15:00] Right. Right. And Theo, did you want to talk about the other portion of the book ?
Theo Jones: [00:15:03] So , in the nurse practitioner portion, we're definitely discussing how to apply for these schools were talking about, should you have experiences? You've not have experience I'm on the boat of, you should have a little bit experience before you to dive back in the role, transition alone will kill you. Like it's terrible. We, we discuss , learning the study and how to navigate your personal life. Why in NP school, which is rough. See people don't seem to understand, like you give them a lot.
When you start to, you know, change their mindset to say, Hey, I want to change my role. I want to become a provider and I want to do something different. Like if you, if you keep flipping in and out of it, you know, you, you gotta be consistent. You gotta be. You gotta be ready for the change. You're going to miss those birthdays.
You're going to miss those parties. You're going to miss, you know, going to the baseball game every once in a while. We talk about establishing relationships that translate into career opportunities. You know, people don't seem to understand like everywhere you go, you represent yourself well, like you have to walk into the door and say, Hey, you know, I'm Theo , potentially can work here and I'm going to make a good impression on you, you gotta walk in with that energy because people don't come with that energy.
Naseema McElroy: [00:16:15] Say that again though. Cause people don't, people don't get it. Like, do you know, like these are your potential employers?
Theo Jones: [00:16:23] You got the energy 24 seven.
Naseema McElroy: [00:16:24] That's what I'm saying even before I was a nurse, right. So nursing was my second career too. Before I was a healthcare administrator, like I wasn't MHA. And I worked, you know, in the boardrooms there. And I was like, I'm really not into this corporate life. I know I have a Brown nose, but I'm not a Brown noser. I'm not about this and I'm not going to really stay.
And I can't do it. Right. So , I was like, let me be a nurse. Cause all my friends was nurses name was flying around the world and they was doing all these things and had so much autonomy, but got paid really well. They got paid more than me and they chose they schedule. And I was like, let me just do this.
So actually like in, like when I was taking my pre recs , like I took this job at a County hospital as a secretary. Right. People not knowing like my background, cause I'm like, I'm just applying to nursing school. Like I'm not really like tripping people, not knowing my background, but I could come up in here and be in like, I used to be , this administrator, I used to run that and I could have had a messed up attitude, but I was just like me, for me, it was just like, Oh, I'm just paying the bills while I'm doing these pre-recs right.
Then later people found out and was like, why are you working as a secretary? I was like, don't even worry about it. You'll see. But I got out of nursing school during the recession. And there was no jobs. So in the class, my class of 83 people, only three people had jobs at graduation and guess what?
I was one of those three because , I wasn't sure up in the air trying to show out like, this is what I can do. And this is my background and all that stuff. And everybody actually appreciated my work. It doesn't matter if you're going there to do your clinicals.
Nothing like everywhere you go, somebody can help you, even if they can't hire you. And you never know who's watching because it'd be the housekeepers. It'd be the clerks, Dallas who to are the ones who can affect those decisions. So walk up in there, like that's your future place of work?
Theo Jones: [00:18:21] Exactly. You respect people based on their ability to lead and be led, you know,
Morgan Murray: [00:18:27] that's the best way to do it. And a huge part of the book was that we talked about how to get a preceptor without cold calling. Because I told the AU, I said, if we could just put out a guide just to this, I think people would find that useful because, I.
Like, I, I think at least every week I get a request to be a preceptor,
Naseema McElroy: [00:18:47] LinkedIn. I'm like, did you not read that? I am not a nurse practitioner,
Morgan Murray: [00:18:53] right? Oh, you getting messages from LinkedIn
Naseema McElroy: [00:18:56] girl in my LinkedIn. Like, can you please be B? Oh, wow. Yeah. Can you please be my preceptor? I'm an L and D nurse, so no.
Theo Jones: [00:19:05] You know, I've gotten, I've gotten several messages from my , from my team from a answering service and like six messages. I got to the alone. It's like, I need a precept. And I'm like, Ooh, these people, you
Morgan Murray: [00:19:17] know, like you
Theo Jones: [00:19:19] can't just like, it's no name it. Just say, I need a precept, then a phone number. And I'm just like,
Morgan Murray: [00:19:25] huh. I'm here for the answering service though, because one thing that we talk about is automation and how to be successful being successful your first year. Because especially if you open up your own practice, you know, that's something that you'll struggle with. Like, you know me, well, I'm in the process of hiring a virtual assistant because I had to set some boundaries within my relationship because, you know, it's.
Don't don't you laugh? Don't you laugh? Because there was, there's a lot of time that I'm spending that I could probably be using for other things that are productive.
Theo Jones: [00:20:03] But you know, one of the things that I really liked that we talked about in a nurse practitioner session was establishing. You know how to build wealth and how to , how to grow your net worth.
I really do appreciate that part. I feel like I didn't, I, we didn't dive as deep as I want it to because there's so much there that we could go through of network. You know, I mean, being a high net worth six figure earning, you know, figure. Plus probably can earn more on your own. That's such a big thing that we could touch on, and I really loved that portion of it.
I miss you. I'm a huge proponent of it
Morgan Murray: [00:20:39] And I think just, you know, on a really emotional and personal note, I can honestly say that I'm not the person that I was a year ago or five years ago. And I think that working in a pandemic and, and having crisis pay has really aligned me to create generational wealth. And I'm not, you know, I'm not concerned about like now one thing I would spend money on is trips.
I came out of y'all and I, and listen, my 30th is going to be lit. Okay. But what, what I can say is that I really, you know, I saw I'm going to give you an example. I saw a beautiful pair of Tom Ford shoes that were $1,300. And, you know, and you know what saying, because I'm going to tell you, I looked at my phone and I said, etherium dropped to 1400, I think I'm going to buy that.
And. But that's just my mentality. These days is like, you know, I do day trade, you know? Whew. I'm up on , those, some of those Bitcoin stocks , for something big.
Naseema McElroy: [00:21:40] Yeah, they drop. Yeah. Last week was the time.
Morgan Murray: [00:21:44] Yeah, I made some pretty good money and I just enjoy seeing the first of my labor.
And to me, the, you know, there's nothing wrong with having designer, but I'm just in a space where my assets pay for my liabilities and where my money makes money. At this point, I'm putting it into and to make more money. I'm not spending buying things, but you know, and that's about all of that. They've got, that's just not the space that I'm in.
I mean, Nurses on Fire. That's what we about here. So if you not about that live you in the wrong place.
Theo Jones: [00:22:31] Exactly. You gotta, you gotta get the money in. You gotta, you gotta learn. You gotta learn. Once you're done. Every, everybody, the breadth in that field, it's a practice and it's learning. Michael Jordan said, make the jump shot straight out to break, you know?
So why do you think that you can just walk out and make financial decisions without, or, or learning, which you're trying to do? Everything takes practice. Everything takes patience. Yeah. It's disheartening that you don't see enough , professionals talking about this. Most people were still paying more in fees than they're earning a year on their 401ks.
It's just crazy, you know, people these big, like these big fund fees, you know, it's like, it's like 1% and people only contributing to present making like 3% a year is like,
Naseema McElroy: [00:23:18] speak on it, speak on it. Not even inflation though.
Theo Jones: [00:23:25] Exactly. You just take an elbows out here. You know what I mean? While I'm beating the market, you know, I did, I think I did 40% less.
Morgan Murray: [00:23:33] I did 32. I just want to say
Theo Jones: [00:23:37] if people
Morgan Murray: [00:23:38] I'm gonna let you finish, I'm not finished, but all I'm gonna say is do y'all. Okay. So in, in my pre-saved days, when I was, Aaron, may Louie Vuitton, all that. Like, I'm gonna just tell y'all do y'all remember the hype, but I behind the Hermes sample sale last year.
Well, that's how it was last week when all the stocks were down, like, I just want to say I'm looking at my TD account. Don't judge me. I still, I still bought my crypto on Robin hood because Coinbase is too high.
Naseema McElroy: [00:24:14] Coinbase does have some high fees. Robin hood though, girl.
We got to get you out the hood.
Morgan Murray: [00:24:24] I know it's get over here by the hood. You don't I'm from Baltimore. I like it though. I like it. I like it, girl. I like it. Don't rescue me. I'm good here.
Naseema McElroy: [00:24:32] Well, I mean, that's the whole problem though. The whole problem is you can't get it out. You can't get your crypto out.
It's it's there, but it'll make your money. That's all that matters. It's gonna make me, it's going to be. Yeah.
And if y'all don't know what we
Morgan Murray: [00:24:47] talking about, we still love you. IRA. That's that's that's what I would I tell people if you don't remember nothing else, remember Roth IRA as the P 500. That's it.
That's all you got
Naseema McElroy: [00:25:01] to know index funds. If you don't know nothing puts you up money in the index fund and let it grow or, or ETF, I mean, open up a fidelity account that got hella free ETFs.
Morgan Murray: [00:25:11] When you, you said that and you really hit the nail on the head because I've seen quite a few, like. Financial pages on Instagram. They've done audits for people come to find out they had their money in a Roth IRA, but it wasn't invested anywhere. It was in money market. And I'm talking all the time, girl. No, but I'm talking about people, people for eight and nine years, it was just sitting. And money market not doing anything,
Naseema McElroy: [00:25:36] but Morgan, I don't know why that surprises you. I had a nurse because it's the way that it's set up, it says a low risk fund. Like it's set up like the low risk fund, right? Yeah. So, if you choose like a very low risk portfolio, even in your 401k, they will put your money in that money market fund. So I had a coworker legit. She had a hundred thousand dollars. No, and it was there. It was there for at least 10 years in her money market fund. And I literally was like, girl, if you don't move this money today,
Theo Jones: [00:26:15] Killing me.
Morgan Murray: [00:26:17] That's so sad
Naseema McElroy: [00:26:18] Nurses. I mean, it's, it's a lot of people in general, but nurses, I find because we're mostly women, no offenseTheo, but you know, mostly women and like, Either intimidated to speak to our financial advisors, feel like we don't know what we're doing.
So we just kind of put it off and we kind of invest like say we invest in, set it up when we first started working and then don't touch it. I mean people always ask me how I make extra money. How do I do this stuff? I'm like, make your money work for you
Morgan Murray: [00:26:51] Remember that Tyler Perry movie?. What was that? Tyler Perry movie. When that girl crashing that Jeep into that trailer. Which ones. That's how I stock my accounts I'm on their ass, my wealth manager. I'm on him. Yeah. I'm surprised. Listen, harassment. Like I'm checking my mutual funds constantly. When I first even went into mutual funds , with Ameriprise, I was , emailing him, call him everyday, like, Oh, the money isn't in yet. Where is it? What what's going on?
Naseema McElroy: [00:27:25] But that's the thing. People need to know that. You can get an Ameriprise mutual fund and I've seen some mutual funds. I'm like, what is the return on this? Like, you need to know, you need to understand how your money is invested, your rate of returns and your fees. Now I don't mind paying no high fees.
Like I know that there's an account and the fees are, you know, I'm, I'm into index funds. So the fees be like 0.0 something percent. But I know , I was talking to a friend the other day. And she said, you know, she's an actively managed to council. You know, the fees are a lot higher, like in the one, 2% would at 97% return. So give me that, I'll pay 2% for that.
Morgan Murray: [00:28:06] Maybe me and I need to talk, what I can say is, and you know, we, we got to get away real quick because. I tell people like what I look for in wealth managers. And when I met with this guy, I told him, I forget the name of the site. I said, I'm looking you up right now.
I see you had a charge at this, at this age. Tell me about that. Like, I literally looked at his criminal history. What you, what you can do. I, you know, I asked him about his experience and I also said, how are you going to beat the S and P 500? How can you beat a 10% rate of return?
I said, it needs to make sense. His name is Mike. I said, cause Mike, if it doesn't make sense, man, me and my money are out in a year. We're out. So what I can say is that so far the mutual funds that I'm in, they performed extremely well. So , you know, on average, like, you know, I, my first year I wanted to do like, you know, the 19 five with him.
So I did that and I'm averaging like $1,300, $1,400 per month, but you know, so I'm, I'm doing well, but I'm not, I can't lie. I'm not dollar cost averaging when the market is a shitty day. That's when I invest. So I'm not doing dollar cost averaging.
Naseema McElroy: [00:29:22] You're more actively managing, but that's your goal, but you don't have to do that though. The whole point is you don't have to do that. You can, that's what people don't understand, like in order to make your money work for you, you just have to like, understand what your pan understand, understand where your money is invested, which. I mean, if you invest in just an index fund, a regular index fund is going to be invested in Google, Apple, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and everybody knows what that is.
Right. You know what those companies are, you don't have to do too much. Like what does this company, what do they say? You already know, put your money, their dollar cost average. If you not like Morgan and try to optimize every single one of your pennies, you know,
Morgan Murray: [00:30:12] Every single one,
Theo Jones: [00:30:16] You can make it easy they got robo-advisors. They got Wealthsimple betterment. They got a Wealthfront you can go to, I think Goldman Sachs got Marcus now. Like you can literally, you can be, you can be dumb as a doorknob and get rich.
Morgan Murray: [00:30:32] I know, I know dumb people in the stock market and day trading every day. But they are doing very well. And I, I mean, you know what, that's, that's not a nice thing to say. They aren't the brightest, they don't have the brightest Apple in the bunch.
Naseema McElroy: [00:30:47] They can't do what we do. Right. There you go. So that's the bottom line. That's the bottom line like, like transfer some of your knowledge over to your money game and you'll be straight.
Theo Jones: [00:30:57] Exactly. It's a book, a Simple Path to Wealth. And I mean, that's probably the biggest keys. It's probably one of the biggest key, Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins and listen, it's easy as pop people always say, what do you, what do you recommend? I recommend that you use a three fund three, put your money in these three funds.
Get exposure. Let us say grow. You don't need your money right now. Let it grow 10 years and see how it look, you know.
Morgan Murray: [00:31:23] Naseema what are your thoughts of AR K K as a fund?
Naseema McElroy: [00:31:27] Oh, I actually like AR K K
Morgan Murray: [00:31:29] I'm in it. I,
Naseema McElroy: [00:31:31] I am a big fan actually of Kathy Woods I think even though she's a Trump supporter, I think that people support different things for different reasons, but I think that she is brilliant. First of all, I love that it's a fund ran by a woman. For people don't know , R K K is an actively managed ETF. So the expense ratios are a little bit higher, but the returns are really good.
And I liked that there's a lot of education around it. Like you can subscribe to the newsletters and see on a week to week basis, what funds are moving, understand more about the funds in the portfolio. That's what I really, really like about it. Actually, that's interesting that you asked that Morgan, because usually I'm like a VTSAX ex Vanguard, total stock market index, or a VTI, you know, VTI where you can get everywhere else.
But I'm like, even maybe you should like mix up a little bit for a little bit higher expense ratio, get a little bit more exposure in the, in this tech area. She also has our G, which is, you know, the genomicsand she has like a whole bunch of different other kind of , little , other kind of interests , and other funds. That's a good one for a leap.
Theo Jones: [00:32:40] I did a post about it that night, probably like a month, like a month, month and a half ago. It was like, you know, you guys, everybody should be getting in on this. I like what she's doing with it, you know, slept on completely slept on.
Naseema McElroy: [00:32:53] Yeah, my kids have it in their custodial account, in their brokerage account. I don't have it in mind because I'm waiting to do a leap on it, but I got to do some other stuff first.
But I did a leap in my simulated account, just like bought one contract, I think in a leap. And that thing is like a 300% already. Wow. And I did it the end of the year.
Theo Jones: [00:33:17] Wow. I use Think or Swim, I do out trading like crazy. I got them, but you break that technical chart now you get in there.
Naseema McElroy: [00:33:24] I have Think or Swim. Yeah. We need to do what we need to do a session.
Morgan Murray: [00:33:30] It's how my brain works. I feel like Think or Swim has too much going on in the air. I like WeBull. I don't know why. Maybe it's a phone is more friendlier. I, I personally like WeBull
Naseema McElroy: [00:33:42] You do what works for you, I like to think or swim. Yeah, I, yeah, I like it. I like to Think or Swim, but I transitioned to Think or Swim from Trade Station , which is that even like smaller platform, but , It works. It has a really good mobile app where you could chart on which I still like a little bit better the charting functionality, but do what works.
I mean, analysis paralysis. That's the problem. And that's why I liked this book. It solves a lot of that. Like stop playing here at the answer, do this and get it done.
Theo Jones: [00:34:11] Simple answer. It's about action. Yeah, you can learn where I find stuff later. That's that's how I go. Hey look, you, ain't got to fake it to make it, just take the facts that work.
That's all it is. I think we cut straight through , I think we gave a lot of good gems here. I mean, I always, I always liked the over-deliver, but Morgan is like, listen, this book is fine. Don't you dare touch his book. You say, you think that's about it? I'll kill you.
Naseema McElroy: [00:34:37] No, you guys did an incredible job. I love it. And I love that. Like, literally I went through it, I got what I needed and I was like, click, click, click. This is what I need to do. And then, you know, and then it's a, it's just a resource. You can go back to. Like it's perfect.
Theo Jones: [00:34:54] I love that you did the research to, I was like man, she read the book.
Naseema McElroy: [00:35:04] I read it at work. I have a girl at work like between patients. I was like, I'm about this. Like that's, I mean, that's how. Good is like I got through it and I got what I needed. So I mean, like that's what I'm saying. Like everybody, you know, everybody needs to use this as a guide, have this on their ebook shelf for reference.
So tell the good people where they can get the book ?
Morgan Murray: [00:35:31] Yes, they can click the link. And , if they go to Instagram and look up, my name is super simple. Morgan, San Diego, like the city and California. The link is in my bio.
Theo Jones: [00:35:46] I got it on my bios, Weekend white Coat,College Boy Jones, FNP, Clubhouse. Wherever you can find the link to be plugged in.
Naseema McElroy: [00:35:58] I'll have the link in the show notes as well. But like I said, it provides thousands of thousands of dollars of value and it is not thousands of thousands of dollars. How much is it?
Morgan Murray: [00:36:08] It's $27.99. And I'm gonna just leave you with this, this one thing, because I really don't feel like I have to. Sell it, because it's just that good. There are like, I'm going to give you an example. One of my good friends is starting to work in another state and didn't even realize like, one thing I talk about in the book is waste is to protect your license. Especially if, when you start as an NP, The first thing that some people don't even know is that if you're going to be working in multiple States, you need multiple DEA numbers.
You need to be a different DEA number for every single state. This girl been at MP, as long as I have, and didn't know that. And that is, and that is how you go to jail. That is how you lose a license. So I'm telling you this book has a lot of value. I haven't had anybody say, you know, I don't feel like I got my money's worth. We have had great reviews so far. And, you know, this is really a resource that you can use throughout your career. Like it's something that is not a one and done, you know, we're your local gem droppers. That's what I'll call us.
Theo Jones: [00:37:12] Way up!
Naseema McElroy: [00:37:14] And you know what, I think it speaks a lot.
Yeah, I think it speaks a lot to the, the fact that I have a book that's coming out in March. Yeah. But I'm plugging this book because that's how much value I find in it. Like, listen, like I could just be like, I'm not going to talk about any other books. Cause I have a book that's coming out for a while and just don't get down like that.
Second of all when I heard you walked through this book, I was like, Morgan. I need you to share this book. Like we gotta get this out here. Like we gotta do this. So like, this is how important it is. If you want to be a nurse, if you know somebody that wants to go into nursing, that keeps on asking, can you question as you need to share this book?
I'm with you Theo like I don't like to repeat myself. That's why my platform was created. So, if you have, if there's a question there's an FAQ, there's a book, there's a resource. I can point you to that's the whole point, but let this book serve as that for you. So like, I really appreciate you guys writing this.
I feel like the information in there is invaluable. I really just liked. That is it's coming from you guys' perspective, especially like with your background and just such a wealth of knowledge and experience. And I think people will feel that and see that when they pick up this ebook, well, you guys, I could talk to you all day. You guys are awesome. We need to do a clubhouse room, talking about investing and trading and all that fun stuff and wealth building. Cause I know people tired of hearing it just from me. They need to hear a different perspective
Morgan Murray: [00:38:54] Pound it in their head until they open the account.
Naseema McElroy: [00:38:57] Exactly. Yes.
Theo Jones: [00:39:00] I think I like talking about money more than like medicines.
Naseema McElroy: [00:39:04] I'm like somebody hit me up, today, like, Oh, are you a part of this , nursing organization? And I have to think I was like, nah, I'm like, but I was born in money organization. You're not even on my , it's pretty sad. Even on my , reviews, you know, you might end your reviews, like, like, so what are your nursing goals? I'd be lying to retire early.
Theo Jones: [00:39:35] There's no such thing as a dream job, I do not dream to work.
Morgan Murray: [00:39:38] Right. And that's what I think that Theo and I like impressed the people is that, you know, nursing is not really a means to an end, but it's something that we love, but we, we're not just nursing. We're so much more,
Theo Jones: [00:39:55] Right. That to me is a platform. It's a step. You know, I don't, I don't think that working for anybody should be your end, all be all, you know, this isn't my parents' generation, you know, my parents they're always like you go to college, get a good job, but it's so much more like how about you become an entrepreneur and create an asset that pays you well into your retirement versus retiring.
So, you know, how about you beat the economy? I bet every person on his, you know, on this chat right now, you know, we're an economy ourselves. People depend on us to make money. So I just, I think about it differently.
Naseema McElroy: [00:40:32] But I also love nursing because I feel like nursing, is it like nursing is one of those professions you can dip in and dip out. You can make your money, make some quick money real fast. I know Morgan. You, you like to take them contracts and then be out on your vacations. I just feel like it's the ultimate profession that you can have while still crafting a life that you love.
Theo Jones: [00:40:57] Have you have you seen Morgan on vacation?
Naseema McElroy: [00:41:00] I be like girl every time I see the pictures, I'll be like, girl, can you please just take me with you?
Theo Jones: [00:41:04] El Chapo out there.
Naseema McElroy: [00:41:11] First of all, I'm coming. That's not even a question. Okay. Morgan, be out here living her best life.
Anyway, you guys, this been an incredible conversation. I know everybody will get a kick out of it, but also learn a lot. So I appreciate you guys being on nurses on fire. Cause you guys are the epitome of Nurses on Fire. And then one more good time. Where can people get the book? So You Want to be a Nurse?
Morgan Murray: [00:41:38] Yes, go to my Instagram page. I, again, I am Morgan San Diego Morgan, like the school San Diego, like the city in California, click the link in my bio and you will see the link for the ebook. And it's an instant download.
Theo Jones: [00:41:54] Yes. Yes. Yes. Same thing at Weekend White Coat, click the link in a bio straight instant download. You get everything you need. And if you have any questions, feel free to reach out. I'm always approachable, you know?
Naseema McElroy: [00:42:07] They're very nice. People have a wealth of knowledge, so don't hesitate to slide in those DMs. And again, thank you guys so much. This has been amazing.
Morgan Murray: [00:42:18] Thank you. Thank you for having us.
Hey there I’m Naseema
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