I built a free calculator that shows UC and Kaiser pensions side by side. When Monica and I first looked at hospital jobs in Northern California, we thought hourly pay was all that mattered. We were wrong.
Why the pension matters
Once we dug deeper, we saw that the life-changing money isn’t only in the hourly rate. Pensions can be a big part of it.
Most nurses never see the full picture until it’s too late. So I built this.
What the calculator shows you
It puts UC and Kaiser side by side so you can see:
- How much you could walk away with at UC compared to Kaiser.
- What your pension could look like after 10, 20 or 30 years.
- How the choice you make today could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars later.
I didn’t outsource this or copy it. I built it from scratch, based on what I wish someone had handed me when we were making these choices.
To see the numbers behind it, read why nurses at UC Davis never quit. Then read how Kaiser nurses can come out ahead by investing. A pension is one part of the plan, not the whole thing.
How to get it
In April 2025, you could get the calculator free when you sign up for the Map My Pay newsletter. The newsletter shares pay data, money tips for nurses and tools like this one.
Don’t just look at your hourly rate. Look at the whole picture, because your future depends on it. For more on the bigger question, read is a nursing pension worth it.
Your next move
See what you’d take home, then make the move
Map My Pay shows what nurses take home after taxes and rent at 465+ hospitals and in 21,000+ cities. It’s the app I co-founded so you can compare cities before you pack a single box.
The Nurses to Riches Accelerator is the plan Monica and I used to go from $37 an hour in New York to $143 an hour in California: license, city, hospital, and what to do with the money after.
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See the Accelerator plans
Every Accelerator plan is a one-time payment with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Written by Jason, RN. I went from $37 an hour in New York to $143 an hour in California and paid off $128K of debt in under a year. I share our numbers in the Nurses to Riches newsletter and on YouTube.