Are new doctors thatttt much better off than pharmacists?

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feelit83

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We all know docs make more than pharmacists on a salary basis, but when you consider charting and other time thats spent outside of actually seeing patients, do they really make that much more? I hear that the lifestyle between a person that makes 120K is not much more drastic than a person making 200K?

This pharmacist i work with in my last rotation, his son is a family doc. and only makes 130K! and spends 65-70 hours a week in total time at the hospital. SO i guess my question is, how much more different of a lifestyle does say a physcian that makes 225K and a pharmacist that makes 150-160K with overtime? If a pharmacists worked the same amount of total time spent in a hospital as a physician, wouldnt they be very close in financial lifestyle and spending abilities?
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I find its about the job you want to do. Only retail pharmacists make wages in the area of a general practicioner. Hospital pharmacists are behind the curve on the pay scale by 20-30k.

But i think you should not coose a job by the pay, but by the job satisfaction. If you find a job that meets your satisfaction and you enjoy it, then pay should not matter weither it be 30k or 130k.

But one flaw you have in your thinking is Pharmacists pay is only comparable to certain docs such a gp's, and emergency medicine. Other specialties see pay scales that pharmacists will never see.
 
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Phlame217 said:
I find its about the job you want to do. Only retail pharmacists make wages in the area of a general practicioner. Hospital pharmacists are behind the curve on the pay scale by 20-30k.

But i think you should not coose a job by the pay, but by the job satisfaction. If you find a job that meets your satisfaction and you enjoy it, then pay should not matter weither it be 30k or 130k.

But one flaw you have in your thinking is Pharmacists pay is only comparable to certain docs such a gp's, and emergency medicine. Other specialties see pay scales that pharmacists will never see.
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Ya, I am sure if you found a job you liked that paid 30k you would be allover it....I am sorry I made sure I found a career that kept me above the poverty line.
 
Phlame217 said:
I find its about the job you want to do. Only retail pharmacists make wages in the area of a general practicioner. Hospital pharmacists are behind the curve on the pay scale by 20-30k.
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Wrong.

Phlame217 said:
But i think you should not coose a job by the pay, but by the job satisfaction. If you find a job that meets your satisfaction and you enjoy it, then pay should not matter weither it be 30k or 130k.
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Ehhh.. Wrong. I would love to be a driving range ball retreiver and golf teaching pro working with kids. But I won't be able to eat.

Phlame217 said:
But one flaw you have in your thinking is Pharmacists pay is only comparable to certain docs such a gp's, and emergency medicine. Other specialties see pay scales that pharmacists will never see.
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Wrong. First, there is a large gap between GP and EM. If you're going to mention other specialties of medicine, then you need to also include other specialties of pharmacy...especially those pharmacists who own their own specialized businesses with an income bracket of their own.
 
OK, if you really are getting down to comparing such disparate fields & want to look at the superficials....lets do it realistically.

Doctors (are you meaning physicians?....could be dentists???)
Do they work long hours - some do, IM comes to mind. Also, transplant surgeons, anesthesia & lots of other specialties.
Do they get paid a lot of money - some do, derm, rads, transplant surgeons & lots of other specialists. Some don't get paid as much - peds is one.

Pharmacists (are you meaning the "behind the counter/shift" guy or the one who specializes or gets out from the pharmacy???)
Do they work shorter hours - some do, that "shift" worker who is gone even if the work isn't done. Not all of us - I worked an extra 3 hours last night just because it was that busy.
Do they get paid less money - yeah, most of us get paid less money than any other corresponding physician. I know personally I get paid less than my husband pays himself as a dentist. I get paid plenty though & right now both my employers are doing salary/benefit surveys. They aren't looking for new people, they want to retain the good ones they have. Both my incomes - retail & hospital are comparable.

My lifestyle is actually worse than all of my physician & dentist friends. That's because I'm not able to make my own schedule - I'm not my own employer, altho Epic explained that was always a possibility in our field.

Now that I have enough seniority, I have the ability to take the time when I need or want it, but over the years.....there were times I had to beg, borrow or steal to negotiate time off. I would have traded any amount of income for time.

But, it all comes down to being happy during the hours you're doing it. Altho pediatricians don't make as much as other fields of medicine, they love it. If you don't like pharmacy, no amount of money will make that happen.
 
Retail pharmacists will make close to what a FP or Ped makes when they come out. A retail pharamacist get paid 55 dollars an hour, which is pretty close to what a FP might get reembursed by medicaid ($30 for half hour visit X 2).

The norm for a starting physcian in the first two years are generally tough. http://www.allied-physicians.com/salary_surveys/physician-salaries.htm
However after that, their paycheck skyrockets. Does that mean we get paid more than some doctors? Yes. . . but then again, we get paid more than residents (who are doctors specializing making 30-60k a year).

There are a lot of factors that you have to look into when talking about pay. Lets compare lawyers for example. When they come out, a lawyer might work 80 hours plus, trying to reach his billable hours . If you were to divide their pay of 160k by the hours (working nights and weekend too), it comes out to 80k. That does not sound so good compared to a pharmacist getting paid 120k for 40 hours.

Most doctors in addition to working 1.5 more hours, also have malpractice insurance. Malpractice insurance can range from tens of thousands to hundred of thousands. In fact, an ob gyn may pay 200k for malpractice insurance, etc.
 
There's a huge difference between making 120k and 200k. My husband also pulls in 6 figures in IT. Now that I'm working too, our income has doubled. We still don't make enough to live in a luxury home, but not many people do. I'm happy with what we have.

I chose pharmacy over medicine because of the lifestyle. I put in my 80 hours every two weeks. When I get home from work, my day is done. No phone calls, no emergencies, etc. That is invaluable to me. You can't put a price on time.
 
pharmacogenomic said:
But, it all comes down to being happy during the hours you're doing it. Altho pediatricians don't make as much as other fields of medicine, they love it. If you don't like pharmacy, no amount of money will make that happen.
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That's why I'm strongly considering medicine right in the middle of pharmacy application process!! They say good things happen when one is having second thoughts about something. I'm starting to realize that I am getting into pharmacy because I'm broke and I wanted a faster career education to support myself. But, we'll see. I still have nothing to lose.

P.S. Have not heard from Dgroulx, Sdn1977 for a while! :welcome: back Dgroulx.
 
Phlame217 said:
I find its about the job you want to do. Only retail pharmacists make wages in the area of a general practicioner. Hospital pharmacists are behind the curve on the pay scale by 20-30k.

But i think you should not coose a job by the pay, but by the job satisfaction. If you find a job that meets your satisfaction and you enjoy it, then pay should not matter weither it be 30k or 130k.

But one flaw you have in your thinking is Pharmacists pay is only comparable to certain docs such a gp's, and emergency medicine. Other specialties see pay scales that pharmacists will never see.
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We had a very candid conversation in my Pharmaceutical Care course around the beginning of the semester about compensation. The goal was to find out why people came into Pharmacy. Only about 2 people said for money-- everyone else had a fluffy reason. Everyone really changed their tune once the professor revealed it was okay to want the money, you really should have heard the sighs and seen the grins of people in agreement. The fact of the matter is this: If Pharmacy didn't pay what it did ALOT of us would find other "passions". Yes we enjoy helping people, yes we enjoy excelling at what we do, but bottom line: Money is a factor. We also want to be well compensated for what we do, otherwise you could help people as a pharmacy technician making $20K a year. And it's okay to demand a nice salary for what we do because the schooling is hard and we do make a difference. I just finished writing a paper about "You will dispense it!" as a law. Towards the end of the paper I came up with a really good point that I'm proud I found before turning in my paper. Pharmacists are in a really good position within the healthcare team. All other practitioners, whether nurse, PA, dentist, veterinarian, optometrist, etc. are either independent of the physician's practice, or employed by him as a direct subordinate. No one is in the position like a pharmacist to question his authority to ensure mistakes do not happen. For that alone I think we deserve what we make and then some. As a new pharmacy student I see the changes to the Pharmacy profession-- first not even being considered a profession but rather seen as lowly educated businessmen and salesmen to today's clinically based doctor of pharmacy education we receive nowadays. Pharmacists are being encouraged by the federal government to question the physician's prescription orders (the emergence of MTM in 2006), save the government money, and seek more definite outcomes for patients who are poorly managed by physician's and some states give pharmacists the authority over management of chronic patient conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, etc. Pharmacy is changing, and I'm happy to be in the field right now. Money is not, and never has been my primary motivation, but now that I'm at the point where my PharmD will be a reality, yes pay is important. If I needed a doctorate to practice janitorial services and it was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life and there was a school for it, you bet pay would be a factor in my deciding to invest the loss of time, energy, the added stress and the opportunity cost of spending 6 years in school to get the degree before I decided on doing it. Sorry for going off on a tangent, I just really get worked up when people try to play down how important a $120K salary is.
Please return to your regularly scheduled lives. :laugh:
 
dgroulx said:
I chose pharmacy over medicine because of the lifestyle. I put in my 80 hours every two weeks. When I get home from work, my day is done. No phone calls, no emergencies, etc. That is invaluable to me. You can't put a price on time.
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Yea exactly, when I close the gate at the end of the day its all over.

I enjoy retail pharmacy, but if it wasnt pulling down six figures Id never stay. Helping people is cool, knowing medicine and drugs is awesome, and having the financial ability to drive around in a viper at 24 is fantastic. Cant complain.
 
you seriously have a viper @ 24. thats interesting. ill be driving my 99 jetta for another 100K miles. I wont be able to ever afford a car like that. Im jealous.
 
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themorphinerule said:
We had a very candid conversation in my Pharmaceutical Care course around the beginning of the semester about compensation. The goal was to find out why people came into Pharmacy. Only about 2 people said for money-- everyone else had a fluffy reason. Everyone really changed their tune once the professor revealed it was okay to want the money, you really should have heard the sighs and seen the grins of people in agreement. The fact of the matter is this: If Pharmacy didn't pay what it did ALOT of us would find other "passions". Yes we enjoy helping people, yes we enjoy excelling at what we do, but bottom line: Money is a factor. We also want to be well compensated for what we do, otherwise you could help people as a pharmacy technician making $20K a year. And it's okay to demand a nice salary for what we do because the schooling is hard and we do make a difference. I just finished writing a paper about "You will dispense it!" as a law. Towards the end of the paper I came up with a really good point that I'm proud I found before turning in my paper. Pharmacists are in a really good position within the healthcare team. All other practitioners, whether nurse, PA, dentist, veterinarian, optometrist, etc. are either independent of the physician's practice, or employed by him as a direct subordinate. No one is in the position like a pharmacist to question his authority to ensure mistakes do not happen. For that alone I think we deserve what we make and then some. As a new pharmacy student I see the changes to the Pharmacy profession-- first not even being considered a profession but rather seen as lowly educated businessmen and salesmen to today's clinically based doctor of pharmacy education we receive nowadays. Pharmacists are being encouraged by the federal government to question the physician's prescription orders (the emergence of MTM in 2006), save the government money, and seek more definite outcomes for patients who are poorly managed by physician's and some states give pharmacists the authority over management of chronic patient conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, etc. Pharmacy is changing, and I'm happy to be in the field right now. Money is not, and never has been my primary motivation, but now that I'm at the point where my PharmD will be a reality, yes pay is important. If I needed a doctorate to practice janitorial services and it was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life and there was a school for it, you bet pay would be a factor in my deciding to invest the loss of time, energy, the added stress and the opportunity cost of spending 6 years in school to get the degree before I decided on doing it. Sorry for going off on a tangent, I just really get worked up when people try to play down how important a $120K salary is.
Please return to your regularly scheduled lives. :laugh:
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I agree, economics should be considered in every decision we make. Too many Americans just do whatever they want and they don't stop to think about the decision from a financial viewpoint. That is why so many people are ending up screwed. Of course, I also think our consumerism is what keeps our economy going :laugh:. I think people who say only passion matters when it comes to choosing an occupation are not really planning well for the long run.
 
feelit83 said:
you seriously have a viper @ 24. thats interesting. ill be driving my 99 jetta for another 100K miles. I wont be able to ever afford a car like that. Im jealous.
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Keep studying, its worth it.
 
dgroulx said:
There's a huge difference between making 120k and 200k. My husband also pulls in 6 figures in IT. Now that I'm working too, our income has doubled. We still don't make enough to live in a luxury home, but not many people do. I'm happy with what we have.

I chose pharmacy over medicine because of the lifestyle. I put in my 80 hours every two weeks. When I get home from work, my day is done. No phone calls, no emergencies, etc. That is invaluable to me. You can't put a price on time.
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After tax (n yes, malpractice insurance), there isnt. . . 80k to 100k. Dont forget extra student loans and years of income lost. On the other hand, 120k to 400k is a big different. :laugh:
 
Aznfarmerboi said:
After tax (n yes, malpractice insurance), there isnt. . . 80k to 100k. Dont forget extra student loans and years of income lost. On the other hand, 120k to 400k is a big different. :laugh:
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Haha, and Anesthesiologists literally make $400K a year ($390+ rounded). Now as a Pharmacist and a drug expert, shouldn't I be a prime candidate to become an Anesthesiologist? :scared:
 
themorphinerule said:
Haha, and Anesthesiologists literally make $400K a year ($390+ rounded). Now as a Pharmacist and a drug expert, shouldn't I be a prime candidate to become an Anesthesiologist? :scared:
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Oh yea, and they literally walk into surgery right off the golf course, check the nurses work and are gone. 😡
 
themorphinerule said:
Oh yea, and they literally walk into surgery right off the golf course, check the nurses work and are gone. 😡
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Wait-- Am I on glue? lol I just did a little research on Anesthesiology and apparently besides Anesthesiologists, there are Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA's) and Anesthesiology Assistants (AA's)-- both of make over $100K and both of which are Master's Programs. I think CRNA's made upwards of $102K and AA's made upwards of $120K. Interesting... I'd still be a Pharmacist for the independence. 😛
 
themorphinerule said:
Wait-- Am I on glue? lol I just did a little research on Anesthesiology and apparently besides Anesthesiologists, there are Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA's) and Anesthesiology Assistants (AA's)-- both of make over $100K and both of which are Master's Programs. I think CRNA's made upwards of $102K and AA's made upwards of $120K. Interesting... I'd still be a Pharmacist for the independence. 😛
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CRNA and AA are both hard to be, and are the cream of the crops in nursing.
 
So do pharmacy students typically have more free time than med students? If so, by how much would any of you think. Does it also continue the same trend once out working in the career?
 
maxbaner said:
So do pharmacy students typically have more free time than med students? If so, by how much would any of you think. Does it also continue the same trend once out working in the career?
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interesting question. I will take a stab at this one. My girlfriend studies her tail off every night. EVERY night. From school ending to about 10 oclock when we talk for a little bit. Of course she does eat sometime in there. There are friday, saturdays and sundays where she also sometimes studies all day and night.
On the contrast, I am always busy... either I have to work, I study, or am doing IPPE hours (pharmacy volunteer work). I probably work 14ish hours a week, and most of the rest is studying including friday saturday and sunday.

Neither of us have much free time. And to be honest, sometimes I don't know who has it worse, and often we argue about it. But at the same time, you should never make the decision to go to one school or another based on those criteria, you are comparing apples to oranges. Pharmacy school tends to allow more hands on learning (labs, allowing to be interns, working in a community setting) Not to mention treating the patient is very different for one another. And the stuff you are actually learning is VERY VERY different.

and no pharmacy school is not a cop out of med school. Our school does not take med school hopefuls, they want people who are genuinely interested in it. And many of the students do have grades to be very competitive in med schools
 
maxbaner said:
So do pharmacy students typically have more free time than med students? If so, by how much would any of you think. Does it also continue the same trend once out working in the career?
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Totally depends on the person and how they learn.

I figured out my 3rd year of college that I didnt learn in lecture halls. So I stopped going to class.

I studied from 8am to 1am, 3 days before an exam. If I didnt have an exam, I didnt go near any notes or books. I retain information easily, but cant have someone teach me. I self taught myself much of my education and relied on notes/books as guides. Just a different way of doing it, but it worked well.

Overall, Id say theirs more work in med school and would require more studying.
 
maxbaner said:
So do pharmacy students typically have more free time than med students? If so, by how much would any of you think. Does it also continue the same trend once out working in the career?
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I had a lot more time on my hands in pharmacy school than I do now in med school. Yes, med school is tougher. More material, less time. I think some of the individual classes in pharmacy school were tougher; we had a rough pharmaceutics module that comes to mind, but that's all we had to focus on. I did well in pharmacy school; now I'm just a little above average.
 
feelit83 said:
We all know docs make more than pharmacists on a salary basis, but when you consider charting and other time thats spent outside of actually seeing patients, do they really make that much more? I hear that the lifestyle between a person that makes 120K is not much more drastic than a person making 200K?

This pharmacist i work with in my last rotation, his son is a family doc. and only makes 130K! and spends 65-70 hours a week in total time at the hospital. SO i guess my question is, how much more different of a lifestyle does say a physcian that makes 225K and a pharmacist that makes 150-160K with overtime? If a pharmacists worked the same amount of total time spent in a hospital as a physician, wouldnt they be very close in financial lifestyle and spending abilities?
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In terms of $$ its probably a wash- the FP doc or pediatrician has more student loans, more time spent in residency not making the real money.

Money isn't everything. It an overused cliche, I know, but there are so many of these ridiculous salary threads, that I really think people underestimate the importance of job satisfaction, and exactly what goes into job satisfaction. If you hate your job, no amount of money will make it worthwhile.

Salary is a significant player in job satisfaction, but you'll find out soon enough exactly what I'm getting at.
 
I work hospital and I make about 8k less than the retail job I left.
 
PharmD2MD said:
In terms of $$ its probably a wash- the FP doc or pediatrician has more student loans, more time spent in residency not making the real money.

Money isn't everything. It an overused cliche, I know, but there are so many of these ridiculous salary threads, that I really think people underestimate the importance of job satisfaction, and exactly what goes into job satisfaction. If you hate your job, no amount of money will make it worthwhile.

Salary is a significant player in job satisfaction, but you'll find out soon enough exactly what I'm getting at.
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If you take extra loan interest, taxes, higher liability insurance rates and other practice related expenses into an hourly wage calculation, I'd be surprised if pharmacists didn't come up with a higher hourly wage than physicians in many specialties and practice locations.

Based on how busy school keeps alot of the mod staff that I know, I'd say medical school is alot busier than pharmacy school, especially as you get further in. People in my class go out and party whenever they want. In med school I suspect those people are referred to as "dropouts".
 
bananaface said:
If you take extra loan interest, taxes, higher liability insurance rates and other practice related expenses into an hourly wage calculation, I'd be surprised if pharmacists didn't come up with a higher hourly wage than physicians in some practice areas.

Based on how busy school keeps alot of the mod staff that I know, I'd say medical school is alot busier than pharmacy school, especially as you get further in. People in my class go out and party whenever they want. In med school I suspect those people are referred to as "dropouts".
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The hourly wage for pharmacists are around $50-$60 per hour plus or minus. Then there is time and a half pay for overtime. So if you work about the same amount of hours as many physicians you will probably be working overtime.

Anyone know how much flexibility/control pharmacist have over their schedules in clinical and retail?
 
As a pharmacist and a recent graduate, I really went into pharmacy because I loved chemistry (BS in Chem) and I wanted to make a difference. I honestly thought pharmacists made only 50-60k before pharm school, but was pleasantly surprised at the 100-120k salaries being offered. I hear alot of negativity on SDN about pharmacists and the future of pharmacy, but there will always be a need for the pharmacist. The "end of pharmacy" has been predicted since the 1960s. Another pharmacist I work with who is semi-retired, told me about how automation would be the end, then mail order companies, then low reimbursements etc..
Pharmacy started as the a drug manufacturing/compounding profession (Middle Ages - 1880s), then it moved to a dispensing function (1890s - present), now it is moving to a more cognitive/clinical function. There is alot of anxiety out there about the future or the profession because we are moving from a dispensing role to being a source of drug information and being paid for our cognitive services. Also, there is the addition of the BTC category as well as the immunization services we provide. I dont regret becoming a pharmacist because I did it for the right reasons. I think alot of the posters dont realize how important pharmacists are in the community and the healthcare system as a whole. I mean think about it, how many MD's can u get at 2am, but your friendly neighborhood pharmacist is there to help you or your child get through the night. I really enjoy what I do as a retail pharmacists. I know retail is the bane of alot of these posts on SDN, but I feel that I really make a difference by being a source of medical/drug information to my patient population.
Now will salaries always be this high? probably..and the reason is that the shortage will last a very long time 20+ years because as previously mentioned, the baby boomers are getting older and will want every "fountain of youth" drug to keep them young and healthy. Another reason is that most graduates coming out of school now are women and most of the ones in my class only want to work part time. One of the best parts of being a pharmacist is that you can have a social life outside of work. Physicians dont have that luxury anymore. With cuts in reimbursements, longer hours, and the rise of NPs/PAs, physicians don't have the clout or salaries that they once had. Plus, I think alot of SDN posters are leaving out the enormous malpractice insurance premiums that physicians have to pay. My friend is a OB/GYN and she pays 30k a year in just premiums, You know what PharmDs pay a year for malpractice insurance? $200. Basically, if you are a good employee, enjoy what you do, and have a positive attitude, I don't think you will ever be obsolete. I hope this post gives some sorely needed positivity to this forum
 
bananaface said:
Everyday if you want. You can use chemistry to predict drug compatibility, interactions, etc. There are reference available but once you get down to it, they are far from comprehensive.
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To be fair, upon graduation I think everyone can fit that bill. I know a couple of B.Sc Chems in pharm school - it helps for courses like med chem, or even some aspects of pharmaceutics - but you quickly steer away from that type of knowledge it seems. Pharmacy material is really pharmacy specific - yes there's overlap between biochem/bio/chem and pharmacy, but you all end up on the same page.
 
As Bananaface stated earlier, we use chemistry everyday with compounding, drug interactions, determining the best course of treatment for a patient, IV drug compatability, but the difference between chem and pharmacy is that you are using the basic fundamentals of chemistry in a more clinical way. Everyday I answer questions from patients, docs, nurses etc. on drug intteractions, dosing, drug compatibility, allergy severity etc.. Just the other day a doc called me to determine the best tapering schedule for diazepam to minimize complications. I think chemistry plays an important role but also you need to have the ability to talk to people and help them with their drug therapy. I really liked the combination of chemistry and the way we are taught to help patients and other healthcare professionals thats why I became a pharmacist.
 
maxbaner said:
The hourly wage for pharmacists are around $50-$60 per hour plus or minus. Then there is time and a half pay for overtime. So if you work about the same amount of hours as many physicians you will probably be working overtime.

Anyone know how much flexibility/control pharmacist have over their schedules in clinical and retail?
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I'm pretty sure janitors at my hospital make more than a PGY1 MD resident per hour, as the residents get paid about 50k...but work 80+ hours a week. Factoring opportunity cost does not make being an MD look appealing, especially if you specialize in something involving primary care. On a monetary basis, pharmacy wins short term...but of course money isn't everything and unless you buy a pharmacy or get other degrees or magically become the CEO of CVS (ha), the growth potential kinda sucks. Any ideas on how much a DOP gets paid? 150-250k?
 
How about flexibility of work schedule, time for activities, hobbies, family, etc for pharmacy vs medicine?
 
Any ideas on how much a DOP gets paid? 150-250k?
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It's going to depend on the size of the hospital & your area of the country. In general, $100,000-$200,000, a small hospital closer to $100,00, a huge teaching hospital, closer to $200,00. Retail manager would probably make more, once the bonus is factored in.
 
Smaller hospitals: $115,000 to $150,000
Larger hospitals: $150,000 to $225,000
 
Epic said:
Smaller hospitals: $115,000 to $150,000
Larger hospitals: $150,000 to $225,000
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Do you recommend obtaining an MBA if someone wanted to become a DOP one day? I was just curious what the flow chart to becoming a DOP would usally look like...
So many years as a hospital pharmacist then supervisor and then DOP?
 
I'm guessing its not necessary but would help?
 
am I not right in thinking that both doctors and dentists make more than us?
 
mass said:
am I not right in thinking that both doctors and dentists make more than us?
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Money, money, mney, money!!! Anything else on that mind of yours? For the sake of US citizens stay on your side of the pond please
 
feelit83 said:
We all know docs make more than pharmacists on a salary basis, but when you consider charting and other time thats spent outside of actually seeing patients, do they really make that much more? I hear that the lifestyle between a person that makes 120K is not much more drastic than a person making 200K?

This pharmacist i work with in my last rotation, his son is a family doc. and only makes 130K! and spends 65-70 hours a week in total time at the hospital. SO i guess my question is, how much more different of a lifestyle does say a physcian that makes 225K and a pharmacist that makes 150-160K with overtime? If a pharmacists worked the same amount of total time spent in a hospital as a physician, wouldnt they be very close in financial lifestyle and spending abilities?
Click to expand...


There isnt much difference at all anymore. Unless your a multi-millionare or making many several hundred thousands a year your life will not be that much different. I know many doctors and i personally wouldnt want to be a doctor just for the money (its not that great unless your a specialist). I feel that pharmacists have it better off on average than most family physcians that i know (of course there are exceptions). Most family physcians are in their mid to upper 40's before really start to do well financially. Most Doc's graduate with at least 175-200k in school loans then have to do 3 years in residency and they only make 45k a year for those 3 years so they have to defer student loans for those 3 years while bearing interest. But to answer your question there really isnt alot of difference in the average pay or lifestyle (financially) being a family doctor than being a pharmacist. Family physcians make more gross salary but there debt load and insurance is crazy so the lifestyle in a financial sense may be better for pharmacists on average than family physicians.
 
pharma5400 said:
There isnt much difference at all anymore. Unless your a multi-millionare or making many several hundred thousands a year your life will not be that much different. quote]

Exactly 👍
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Not having to be subjugated in the world of academia is worth at least $100,000 a year. Minimum. If I had to go back to school, I'd shoot myself. Becoming a physician would be total balls. Thank God it's not interesting at all.
 
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Idesiretosling said:
Money, money, mney, money!!! Anything else on that mind of yours? For the sake of US citizens stay on your side of the pond please
Click to expand...

I just want to find out, money is important in life.
 
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