W-2 or 1099? We run the real numbers for CRNAs: take-home pay after taxes and benefits, the break-even 1099 hourly rate, and how to compare offers.

A 2025 AANA review found that burnout runs as high as 72% among CRNAs, depending on practice setting. For many of you, it’s a matter of when, not if. Most CRNAs who hit that wall don’t have an exit ramp. They have a paycheck they can’t afford to walk away from.

Most CRNAs who hit the burnout wall don’t have an exit ramp. They have a paycheck they can’t walk away from. Here’s how one extra shift, a few traded PTO weeks, and the right account order can build your way out early, on your terms.

W-2 or 1099? Compare taxes, retirement accounts, and benefits for CRNAs, and learn how to calculate which structure actually pays you more.

For most CRNAs, the choice between W-2 and 1099 gets made by default. But your pay structure shapes your taxes, retirement savings, benefits, and long-term wealth. Here’s what each one really costs, what it earns, and a simple framework for deciding which fits your life.

How much do you actually need to leave the OR for good? It isn't a guess or a feeling. It's a number. Find yours...

Northwestern Mutual's 2025 study found that Americans believe they need $1.26 million to retire comfortably, and most fall far short. CRNAs are in a better position than most to beat those averages, thanks to high income and a strong ability to save. That only works if you know your number.

You'll graduate broke, and then a paycheck lands that's bigger than anything you've seen before. What you do in the next 12 months will quietly set the course of your whole financial life.

In this episode, Leland Murren, CRNA, introduces the Moneymoon. Like a honeymoon, it's the exciting phase that follows a major life change, in this case passing boards and starting practice as a CRNA. It lasts 1 to 5 years, and it's the best window you'll ever have to maximize a large gap between what you earn and what you spend.

 Your first CRNA paycheck hits your account, and for about 30 seconds you feel like the richest person you know. Then the student loans, rent, and car payment come calling. Nobody teaches you what to do next. Until now. 

In this episode, Leland Murren, CRNA, lays out the First Paycheck Protocol: a 10-step order of operations that tells you where each dollar goes, and in what order, before you spend it. It's built for the CRNA pay landscape, not generic money advice. The sequence works whether you're a new grad, an SRNA close to graduation, or years into practice and ready to reset. 

You earned the hardest credential in nursing, but statistically there's a 70% chance you don't have a real financial plan. In this first episode of The Financial Cocktail, Leland, a self-made millionaire and locum CRNA, explains why high earners still struggle with money and why most financial advice was never built for CRNAs.