When I saw the headline “Fastest-growing jobs” with Home Care Nurse right under it on CNN Money, I wasn’t surprised. But, what did surprise me is the amount of growth this profession is anticipated to experience in the next 10 years – an enormous 70.5 percent!
Best Employment Opportunities
| Job | Growth % | Pay | Education Requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Home Care Nurse | 70.5 | $61,000 | Bachelor's degree (minimum) |
| 2. Medical Device Clinical Engineer | 61.7 | $80,400 | Bachelor's + Certification or Master's |
| 3. Meeting / Convention Planner | 43.7 | $56,000 | Prefer Bachelor's, experience is a must |
| 4. Marketing Consultant | 41.2 | $92,100 | Prefer Bachelor's, MBA (optional), experience is a must |
| 5. Marriage/Family Therapist | 41.2 | $56,800 | Master's degree |
| 6. Physical Therapist | 39 | $76,700 | Doctoral or professional degree |
| 7. Audiologist | 36.8 | $71,400 | Doctoral or professional degree |
| 8. Cost Engineer | 36.4 | $96,500 | Bachelor's degree + Certification |
| 9. Clinical Research Associate | 36.4 | $90,700 | Bachelor's degree, CRA certification (sometimes) |
| 10. Veterinarian | 35.9 | $81,300 | Bachelors + Doctor of Veterinary Medicine |
Growth % is based on projected growth between 2010-2020. Sources: CNN Money, Education-Portal.com, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
With baby boomers aging, more nurses will be needed. I recently did some research to find out what is happening in the nursing field. The reason behind this significant growth in home care nurses is not only due to the simple fact that baby boomers are approaching that age, but also because of our current economic stance on Medicare.
Healthcare Reform
Obama has been pushing to reform healthcare to include provisions for affordable nursing care. The so called CLASS Act was supposed to provide a voluntary program in which people could participate to set aside money for nursing care. Under the current Medicare policies, nursing facility stay is very limited. I can’t remember the exact figure but something like 100 days for a qualifying condition are covered by Medicare, the rest isn’t.
The CLASS Act was insolvent and Congress gave it the boot. With the rest of the law still hanging in threads to survive tonight’s election, it is not exactly clear how baby boomers will pay for care, but what is clear is that they’ll have to do it one way or the other.
Good Pay
Nevertheless, a real opportunity exists for those pursuing nursing careers. Currently, the median household income in the United States is $50,054 according to Huffington Post, a number much lower than the median salary for a nurse. With great pay, high personal satisfaction rewards and incredible benefit to society, what’s not to like about nursing?
It goes without saying that the job is not without stress. Nurses often work long hours in hospitals and have little or no flexibility in hours. However, according to a discussion on a popular nursing website, continuous care nurses who provide assistance at home experience much less stress and more flexible work hours.
I personally believe Nursing to be one of the best employment opportunities in 2013 and many years to come. Some of the other jobs in the chart look very promising as well, and perhaps a bit less stressful.
You’re right on about the boomers. I meet with a lot of people and we discuss needs for long-term care….I don’t think many people realize how big of a gold mine that industry is going to be in 15 years. If you want a good business idea then you should build a hotel and then convert it to a long-term care facility in 15-20 years! Boom…just made millions.
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That and how rapidly technology is evolving in the medical field. I think there is a lot of profit to be made in this industry, just have to be careful not to speculate based on growth prospects, instead sticking to the basics – patience and self control.
The health sector is huge, you really can’t go wrong getting into it if your goal is job security.
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One thing I noticed is how some of these jobs focus on the end of their spectrum. Like marketing consultant… you really have to be at the top of your game to make what they claim in average salary. That is to say, average of the top tier marketers
First off I’m not defending your friend. I think the fact that they have credit card debt is the biggest reason the expenditures you are pointing out are for the most part unneeded. Let me say this tho: the dinners are the biggest problem. Paying someone $20/week to do all your yard work doesn’t sound like too bad of a deal, and if they ddint’ have credit card debt I would actually argue the opportunity cost (from what I understand of the situation) very well could justify it. But when the dinners and credit card debt are factored in, it’s not as justifiable.
I do get a bit irked when people point out cable/satellite bills as the “end all” as far as saving money. If you spend a lot of time using it and it’s your primary source of entertainment in your time outside of work, I don’t think it’s something to be villianized.
With all that being said, I understand your point and agree that with the credit card debt they should be limiting whatever expenditures they can.
Dang…I didn’t even get into my political opinions!
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My wife is in nursing school right now — guess we made the right decision on that one!
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Hey, nice! You definitely made the right decision. There’s going to be a massive shortage of nurses according to my research and that of similar repetitive statements in the media. Is she looking to get into Hospital work or long term care? Some say its best to get some hospital experience before getting into long term / nursing home care.
My sister in law is a nurse and loves it, there are so many opportunities for her. She recently went back to get more accreditation to become an operating room nurse (read: no more shift work for her!). If she gets bored in one field she can switch it up pretty easily.
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That’s awesome! Do operating room nurses have requirements on how many hours they can work at a time? I’m sure they wouldn’t want a tired nurse in an OR.
Healthcare is huge and will only continue to be so as the Boomer population gets older, costs rise, etc. We’re in one of the fields, sort of, marketing consulting. We love it and can go after businesses we like. The big thing about that sector, and I am sure many others, is change. It’s constantly changing and will only be more so that way in the future. The key is stopping on top of, if not in front of, that change so you can remain competitive.
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Interesting. Is the change in the marketing consulting industry positive, or generally creates more competition? I’m curious how you stay on top of that.
It’s positive for the most part. A lot of it comes down to how we’re moving much more to a smartphone and the like driven society. Our attention spans become even shorter which means you need something even catchier to get someones attention.
John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted..Festival of Frugality #361, Election Day Edition
Gotta have them mobile friendly websites
I guess being “likable” forces business to be on their best behavior (I kinda like it). If a business is terrible, they better know it they’ll be getting terrible reviews from me 
I can believe that about home care nurses. People are living longer and longer and reluctant to move into nursing homes. And a good chunk of the boomers have money, and can afford in home care. Too bad I’m not good with people or medical stuff..
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It’s true that they have money, but believe it or not, many have underestimated the costs involved in long term care. They rely on Medicare, not knowing that Medicare won’t actually cover their long term care costs. It’s actually a huge problem – I did a lot of research on this. It’s one of those things that you really have to plan for (our younger generations included) much earlier than we may think. I may write a series of follow up posts on this issue of saving early and saving for this purpose specifically.
Personally, I work in healthcare as my day job. It is a great industry to be in from all angles. It has a lot of job security, pays well, and you feel like your job means something outside of making someone else rich.
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Cool, what do you do? Or is that a secret?
The salaries confuse me here… If I had to match up salaries to jobs I would get it completely wrong!
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I know what you mean, like… how does a clinical research associate make more than a nurse? right? lol.
Any business related to boomers can be a good one. They have a lot of time, for leisure, and as they age they need nurses and probably people to deliver their meals and clean their houses. I thought about a service company once that would provide this kind of stuff.
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Pauline, I agree. What happened to that idea for the service company?
I really wish I would have paid attention to this kind of stuff when I was choosing a career years ago. I doubt video editing is a growing field, although I do believe more small businesses are going to have needs for video, especially since everyone has a website now. But if I had to do it all over again, I choose to go into the medical field in some capacity.
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I know physical therapy assistants start of at 50k or so and that only requires a 2 year associates degree + certification. Pretty much on par with planner, but less education.
I’m surprised business is not great in SoCal for video editing though? Your video looked great on your website!
Where I live there is definitely a demand for nurses. My sister just started in that faculty and I think she has a bright future ahead of he!
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Is she going for her RN?
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