3 Wealthy-Mindset Lessons From a Freelance Nurse Working 4 Months a Year

You don’t need a degree to be good with money.

My friend Victor is a weirdo with an unusual financial mindset.

He comes from a poor immigrant family. He’s never had a 9 to 5. Yet, he always has cash.

No, he’s not a business owner.

He’s a freelance nurse.

1. Be Where Money Is

You don’t envy Victor his occupation.

Feeding and cleaning the elderly in a nursing home isn’t a dream job. It’s not only boring. It’s stressful.

Victor’s clients have physical and mental deficiencies. He keeps an eye on them to prevent them from falling down the stairs, smoking in their rooms, and wiping bedsheets with their excrement (sorry for the details).

What makes him keep this job?

Victor stays where the money is. He’s smarter than many people I know with a higher education.

The German government allocated huge financial resources to nursing facilities at the outbreak of the Covid pandemic. The country has robust social security and an aging population that needs daily care.

The demand for these facilities skyrocketed in 2020. Many elderly are lonely and end up in nursing homes. Their survival depends on people like Victor.

His job had always paid well but things have improved even more in the last three years.

Here’s what he does to make as much money as legally possible:

• He finds several private nursing homes across the country. They get government money and don’t mind how much Victor charges, within reason.
• He picks one that satisfies his requirements in terms of location and pay.
• He spends there one to two months without going back home. He either gets a room in the facility or books a small apartment via Airbnb.

I say “legally possible” because German law discourages extra hours. If you nevertheless happen to do them (why not?), you’ll make 25 to 50% more money per hour.

Victor charges between 50 EUR ($55) and 80 EUR ($88) an hour. The extra pay for working 10+ hours a day is more than palpable, given that he puts in 16 hours a day.

He’s got nothing else to do in the new place. Why not make extra money?

2. Reward Yourself for the Hard Work

Like many of us, Victor has lower back problems and needs to take it easy sometimes. Lifting the elderly from the bed to transfer them into a wheelchair is physically demanding work.

My friend excels at selecting things that boost his comfort during his well-deserved vacations. I love sitting in his mega comfortable chair designed for people experiencing pain in the lower back.

Victor’s top trick for recharging his energy is traveling to unusual destinations. The guy loves Asia and has visited just about every country in the region.

He doesn’t travel for a couple of weeks like you and me. He’s spent 6 months in the Philippines this year on the 30,000 EUR he made in December ’22 — January ‘23.

He could stay there longer. Nobody is waiting for him in Germany while he’s chilling out on the beach on the other end of the world. Money is the only limiting factor.

I’ve learned a lot from Victor’s unconventional take on the work/life balance.

“Hard work doesn’t pay off. Work smart, not hard”, I keep saying to myself.

Victor shows that you can make good money by doing the hard stuff too. It’s not for everyone. But it’s a good fit for a corpulent 6’3 guy without a degree.

Two months of hard work in exchange for six months of vacation? Piece of cake.

Perhaps you deserve more than two weeks of vacation but don’t know how to achieve this.

Working less and vacationing more seems to be a daily agenda on social media. I don’t promote it. You’ll get bored if you plain and simply stop working.

But try to explore if you can get this lifestyle hypothetically.

I recommend you spend more time with people who don’t go to work five times a week but always have cash. Chances are they know something you don’t.

3. Don’t Obsess Over Your Income

You may get the impression Victor splurges on expensive vacations.

He doesn’t. My friend wouldn’t need to travel to countries where life is cheap. Victor is good at budgeting.

He must be. His whole point is to avoid working 9 to 5.

Knowing my love for details, I’d obsess over following my budget to the cent.

Not Victor. He’s relaxed even when he’s about to spend his last 100 EUR. He knows he’ll get another offer from a nursing home.

He’s not planning to do the physically hard work until he’s 60. Victor invests. But his investing journey has been everything but smooth.

He says he’s lost 85,000 EUR on stocks altogether. He was in when the German company Wirecard AG nosedived after a regular audit discovered a 2 EUR billion financial hole on the company’s balance sheet.

The stock went from $113 to $1 within a couple of weeks. It was one of Victor’s many losses. He stays away from stocks for now.

But he’s good with real estate. He took out two mortgages when the interest rates were low. His renters are paying them off.

My friend keeps making money when he’s in Asia. It’s the right mindset for someone who’ll get a minimal state-sponsored pension when he’s old.

I respect my friend. Not for investing but for finding the courage to continue building wealth after his, well, catastrophic losses. You gotta have the balls to give it another try.

Above all, he doesn’t expect to find a permanent job to solve his financial issues. He wants freedom and is willing to do the hard work to get there.

Bottom Line

My friend is a living example that you don’t need a degree to be financially free. You only need to optimize several factors giving you income.

And you can enjoy your life!

Victor

• looks to be where money is;
• treats himself to lovely vacations;
• plans his financial future.

Repeat this, and you’ll be able to live life on your own terms.

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This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.