I mainly focus on taxes, student loan payment plans, assets, net worth, compounding interests and budgeting using real world examples.
My students are generally those who are on their rotations.
Believe it or not, the thought of "making 6 figures" from years of living the college student lifestyle really propels my co-workers to spend "big" after graduation.
I would say the salary of a RPH (and relatively young age of acquiring such salary) is pretty susceptible to high accumulation of debt and paycheck to paycheck living. Some sees "6 figures" and want to live the 6 figures lifestyle which is also encourage by peers and friends. You may be seen as the "rich" one among all your friends and family...so it's entirely possible to overspend to meet expectations...
I put big in quotations because what I teach have been eye opening for my students in a sense that their "6 figures" salary really doesn't buy them much before they start living paycheck to paycheck.
Like one said, we pretty much take home 75k after it's all said and done. A brand name car payment, student loan payments, and a nicer apt complex than normal is all it takes to stagnant any attempt at saving money. When you add dining out, social bar tabs, and some nice vacations..there's really nothing left to save for a house. Then there's a tendency to buy a house more than any can afford.
It's pretty amazing how little some of my 50 yo+ co-workers have as their nw. I am talking about barely breaking 100k-200k in net worth. I have co-workers in their 60s who work 2 jobs and can't retire..even after a major car accident. Then you have some of the people who posted above with 800k in NW easy...and will be in the millions by 40 yo.
I myself didn't work on the side or did anything out of the ordinary. In fact I bought a house somewhat at the peak of the market. Just living like a college student for the past 9 years yield myself a net worth of 600k at 33 yo..but this was with no student loans so I don't expect students in debt to be in a similar position.
Commendable, but unsympathetic to the idea that this is a golden time and there will be periods of maintaining that lead.
I teach both the Pharmacoeconomics class for the pharmacists and the Independent Practice Management and Medical Contracting class for the Med and Dental Schools. You're exactly in the right age range (as I am) to have hit the jackpot in pharmacy:
1. Graduated in a shortage and you're actively sought after
2. Working in a low inflation (relatively) and high yield market at least until 2008
3. (Controversial) Have the majority of assets in non-income generating assets (housing), low liability "assets" (spouse actually works), or in securities (which considering the market is at an all time high)
I'll give you a couple of alternate scenarios though on how you could be a net worth of $200k at 50-60:
1. Got screwed by the 1987 crash (security destruction, and it was a big one)
2. Married a high liability asset (spouse doesn't work or is a net negative for his or her spending habits against income) or like my LDS colleagues, took the multiply part seriously and have enough children such that the income generated was used for their futures.
3. Spent some time between employment. If you started in the 1980s, the likelihood that you're still employed without a year or two break in employment in the profession is fairly low. This is a lot higher now.
4. Bought a house in a metropolis where the house went down in value relative to inflation even though the price nominally increased (this is true of more or less every major metropolitan in the Midwest and East).
5. Had your small business fail (individual pharmacies come and go)
6. Divorce. The biggest financial decision in most people's lives is not to get married or have children, but to get divorced. Watch how both of you burn your assets in the bonfire of your vanities.
I differentiate between "rich" where you have a lot of assets but you're still working and need to work, and "wealthy" where you have assets sufficient that you don't have to work at all and that your assets indefinitely produce. I would say that I am both now, but it's not due to my "virtuous" saving habits which are made easy in this market and expense class (although I am worth more than your number). It's due to being married to someone who earns 5X of my not-insubstantial salary and can exceed mine by an order of magnitude on good years. My wife has been harping on me to become the house husband for several years now, but I just can't see myself being a homebody. It would be a bit too damaging to my ego and self-worth to not be doing something.
Many of the pharmacists though who did do everything right in the timeframe, you don't see anymore in the pharmacy as they have retired (usually around 52 after 30 years worth of work from a BS Pharmacy 22). If you can survive the major bumps in your career around 38-42 (divorce being the one major matter within your control and the market being the one thing outside), then you'll be wealthy around the 30th year such that working is definitely not a good option.
The other observation I'll make it something that I do have to deal with in 50 year old physicians, dentists, and pharmacists in terms of having too much of one asset (money) and not enough of others. There is a right time for everything, and to do things out of sequence becomes costly. There is something to be said about the gypsy idea that wealth is a function of how much is spent not how much is earned. You can't pursue certain passions when you're 50 (especially spouses) when you're older unless you're willing to give a lot more in other respects as the relationship is unequal. There's certain kinds of activities like mountaineering, scuba, and the more extreme versions of those activities that pretty much can't be pursued at that level when you're much older. While I do encourage everyone to be on sound financial footing, I really don't advise people to focus on becoming a Boglehead unless that's what they want. There's nothing wrong with the pursuit of wealth, it's just that many don't think about the opportunity costs involved until they are too committed just like our profession or medicine. Re the gypsy idea, what's money for if you can't use or replace it. I have too many irreplaceable things that I'm not willing to pursue money more than I what I do (always net positive, but not so much). The other flip side is that I see one too many of us in our middle age go for things beyond their ability to "pay."
A final joke: