I can tell you about practice in Italy:
- job is not difficult and quite low responsibility, patients don't expect you to help or suggest drugs, you just have to give them what they ask or what the doctor prescribed. (actually you can't suggest any prescription drug or read any exam, is forbidden by law). 8 hours a day. 95% of pharmacies are independent and privately owned. 70% are nice places, clean and comfortable.
- pharmacy staff is usually composed by:
- 1 pharmacist owner of the business, who usually don't works whit patients and spends 2-3 hours a day in the pharmacy. (pharmacies can be owned only by pharmacists here and pharmacies number is fixed by the state). The owner earns medium from 70k to 150k €/yr (gross, to be taxed 53%, but can have some benefits)
- from 2 to 5 dependent pharmacists, working 40 hours a week, 3 weeks off for holiday a year. Not hard job, but low pay: 12-15k €/year (net)
- 1 or 2 warehouseman, same hours of the dependent pharmacist, pay 10-12k €/year (net)
usually dependent pharmacists are bored by the pay and the routine of the job, but are generally happy of the environment.
Sincerely I don't suggest you to leave US for coming to IT.
- job is not difficult and quite low responsibility, patients don't expect you to help or suggest drugs, you just have to give them what they ask or what the doctor prescribed. (actually you can't suggest any prescription drug or read any exam, is forbidden by law). 8 hours a day. 95% of pharmacies are independent and privately owned. 70% are nice places, clean and comfortable.
- pharmacy staff is usually composed by:
- 1 pharmacist owner of the business, who usually don't works whit patients and spends 2-3 hours a day in the pharmacy. (pharmacies can be owned only by pharmacists here and pharmacies number is fixed by the state). The owner earns medium from 70k to 150k €/yr (gross, to be taxed 53%, but can have some benefits)
- from 2 to 5 dependent pharmacists, working 40 hours a week, 3 weeks off for holiday a year. Not hard job, but low pay: 12-15k €/year (net)
- 1 or 2 warehouseman, same hours of the dependent pharmacist, pay 10-12k €/year (net)
usually dependent pharmacists are bored by the pay and the routine of the job, but are generally happy of the environment.
Sincerely I don't suggest you to leave US for coming to IT.
I read about UK last year since I was also interested and I believe that would take an extra two years until you can officially practice because the UK health system is different and some of the drugs or whatnot are prescription here that are not there, etc. On that same note, I am curious as to what the pharmacy practice is like in Toronto, Canada. I have heard TO is the only place that has similarly switched to PharmD in sync with the rest of the US (while in most Canada, pharmacy is still a bachelors).
If you can speak German I'd recommend Germany or Switzerland. Pay is better in Switzerland but cost of living is absurd. Something around 90k with average of 17% taxes. Germany has a union and you're guaranteed a minimum salary, it's something like half what you make in the US but the workload is much less. Then there's the exorbitant taxes in Germany, something around 50%.
Spain pays almost nothing, and it's near impossible to open a pharmacy. Many countries in Europe regulate the opening of pharmacies and limit the number that one individual can own. I.E. no chains. Expect the Eastern Bloc to pay nothing as well.
I don't know about France.
Uk has decent pay, but nothing like you're getting in the US. Add in the exorbitant taxes and the only way you can make Europe work out and be reasonable near to your US experience is to have a large family. Somewhat break in taxes, free healthcare, excellent public schools, and essentially free University education. Then there's the fact that the retirement system you'd be vesting into in Europe usually pays out at around 80% of what your salary was. If you live a long time that's a nice benefit.
One could argue it would be better to stay in the US ten years and retire early. At the very least don't put your eggs in the Europe basket until you have enough money to buy your home outright.
Spain pays almost nothing, and it's near impossible to open a pharmacy. Many countries in Europe regulate the opening of pharmacies and limit the number that one individual can own. I.E. no chains. Expect the Eastern Bloc to pay nothing as well.
I don't know about France.
Uk has decent pay, but nothing like you're getting in the US. Add in the exorbitant taxes and the only way you can make Europe work out and be reasonable near to your US experience is to have a large family. Somewhat break in taxes, free healthcare, excellent public schools, and essentially free University education. Then there's the fact that the retirement system you'd be vesting into in Europe usually pays out at around 80% of what your salary was. If you live a long time that's a nice benefit.
One could argue it would be better to stay in the US ten years and retire early. At the very least don't put your eggs in the Europe basket until you have enough money to buy your home outright.
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Meh, I think the best option is to save up as much cash money as possible, at least half a million and then flee to South America and never return to the USA.
That's what my goal is after 10 years. Then I'll buy the last house that I'll ever buy and never leave it. The hardest part for me was accepting the reality associated with having a logistical plan. It is very, very difficult to maintain a light that continues to illuminate at the end of the tunnel. You have to be adamant about creating a future for yourself, because we live in a society whose goal is to recapture every penny that we create.
I will spend my 30s chiseling away at the stone that is impenetrable for all but a lucky few, and then hopefully at 40, I'll cut ties and start over however I want.
If religion is the opium of the people, working to live and not living to work is the opium of the privileged.
ETA: Being as though I am either the youngest of the Generation X or the oldest of the Generation Y, depending on who you talk to of course, I can relate to the need to accept long working hours for a chance at a better position in life, but I also don't want to live to work. So perhaps the trade off that I'm willing to take now makes perfect sense considering that I fall within a generational gap, and if nothing else, at least it all makes sense moving forward in terms of generational needs.
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Basically same situation and goal here too, although I will stay for 20 years. I think practicing pharmacy is a pretty good opportunity in the US. Work here, enjoy a good challenge and good $, retire abroad.
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Most of the places in Central and South America worth living are expensive and/or politically unstable.
My cost of living is much higher in CR than it was in Virginia, Florida, Texas, or Washington State. Good parts of Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Argentina, etc... are the same way.
Places that are cheap, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, parts of Columbia and Brazil, Peru, etc... are cheap for a reason.
Freedom, rule of law, political stability are all things you will find are VERY different south of the US border.
My cost of living is much higher in CR than it was in Virginia, Florida, Texas, or Washington State. Good parts of Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Argentina, etc... are the same way.
Places that are cheap, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, parts of Columbia and Brazil, Peru, etc... are cheap for a reason.
Freedom, rule of law, political stability are all things you will find are VERY different south of the US border.
I commend you! I feel like too much of my self will be lost after 20 more years, so I'm capping it at 10 years and pushing it while I still have gas left to burn.
It's certainly not anything to turn your nose up at.
This month marks my tenth year of having worked in a pharmacy. Cheers!
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