Help!!! Please!

[rv1978]

I'm a 26 year old male who is very interested in becoming a nurse, but I need some help.
I want to be a nurse but I would like to find out how well nurses are paid. I'm not asking for exact amounts but just a general estimate. It may seem like Im basing my decision on money alone but the reason why I would like to get info on the avarage salary for a nurse is because my wife is a teacher. As you all already know, teachers are underpaid so therefore I would hate for my family to struggle if both (my wife and I) have underpaying jobs.
thanks for any feed back you have provided.

[reba21]

Pay is often dependent on locality and experience.I currently work in a rural hospital in Wisconsin and will make 58000 this year. I am an FTE.9 which is 72 hours in 2 weeks. I often pick up an 8 hour shift for premium pay. With 10 years experience in my specialty I make 25.00 an hour base rate. If staffing is short you receive critical pay which is time and a half plus an extra 4 dollars an hour.Whats great about nursing is flexible sheduling. If you can get your days scheduled together you can have 8 days off in a row every two weeks.

[imported_Aaron C.]

8 days off every two weeks must be very nice! I'm assuming day one consists of sleeping a lot, laying around the house, and complaining about work, and then day 8 consists of dreading the week ahead

[Randy, RN]

I think nursing is great! You are probably looking at somewhere in the low 40's when you start out, but you can go as high as you wish.....many, many opportunities in nursing and many more coming with all of us OLD nurses out here! Be a nurse! I have raised, well, a family and still have a 9 and 12 year old and a wife cleaning da kitchen! LOL...my wife is also a RN but she stays home to nurture the kids and ME! LOL....