Quit pharmacy due to being old and not up to date

Started by MrBonita
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MrBonita

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Hello everyone. I am a pharmacist that started working in 2005. I make around 200,000 a year at 78 an hour. The reason I am able to make that salary is by cashing out my vacations and doing 5 to 10 hours of overtime a week. I currently have 500 hours of vacation and love being a pharmacist at mail order and don't take vacations. All I do is scan the drug and verify it and off it goes to the patient by mail. I have been thinking now that I am 38 and have been doing this for so long, I no longer have knowledge of new drugs and probably cannot compete with a hungry graduate. I am wondering if anyone thinks pharmacy will last forever? I been saving just in case pharmacy dries up and have 400,000 in savings because deep down inside there is a fear I might have to start a new career in another profession. Has anyone else pondered this with all the new schools and what would you do for work outside of pharmacy? with 400,000 banked and now 38, I am wondering if I should go back and get a different degree while I am still not to old yet?
 
enroll in Trump university! otherwise learn how to buy, sell, and rent houses. buy houses that needs repair so you have something to do for fun. otherwise you're just waiting for the beginning of each month to collect rents. : ) i hope to save that much in another 5 years.. if i last that long at cvs. //why is mail order paying so high for a job so simple?
 
MrBonita said:
Hello everyone. I am a pharmacist that started working in 2005. I make around 200,000 a year at 78 an hour. The reason I am able to make that salary is by cashing out my vacations and doing 5 to 10 hours of overtime a week. I currently have 500 hours of vacation and love being a pharmacist at mail order and don't take vacations. All I do is scan the drug and verify it and off it goes to the patient by mail. I have been thinking now that I am 38 and have been doing this for so long, I no longer have knowledge of new drugs and probably cannot compete with a hungry graduate. I am wondering if anyone thinks pharmacy will last forever? I been saving just in case pharmacy dries up and have 400,000 in savings because deep down inside there is a fear I might have to start a new career in another profession. Has anyone else pondered this with all the new schools and what would you do for work outside of pharmacy? with 400,000 banked and now 38, I am wondering if I should go back and get a different degree while I am still not to old yet?
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Man this job sounds SWEEET!
 
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I'm sort of in a similar situation with a cushy, but boring work at home job, and we have all-you-can-eat OT right now. I know it won't last forever, but I'm still going to milk it until the bitter end.

I also work per diem in hospitals and other settings, even though the pay is pretty bad ($45/hr) to keep my clinical knowledge up to date, and to do some networking. Because at my main job they lay people off all the time, but by doing this I'm very confident that I can get hooked up with a new job fairly quickly.

On the money side, I have also banked a similar amount in investments and retirement accounts, but on top of that, I paid off my house. I feel like this was the best financial decision I ever made, despite all the chatter about how you can make more by keeping the mortgage and investing the money instead. The huge advantage of paying off your mortgage is that it dramatically improves your cash flow. With no mortgage or rent payments, you'll have $6k+/mo in take-home pay and I can easily get by very comfortably on $1,500. Even less if I tighten my belt. So even if things hit the fan in pharmacy, I can survive for decades on my savings alone because my expenses are so low. You could even go back to college like you suggested and start a different career.
 
pezdispenser said:
I know it won't last forever, but I'm still going to milk it until the bitter end.
....
So even if things hit the fan in pharmacy, I can survive for decades on my savings alone because my expenses are so low. You could even go back to college like you suggested and start a different career.
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These are two very good points for the OP to consider. It sounds like you are in a very lucrative position right now. It may dry up tomorrow, or it may last another 10 years. I would keep saving as much as possible while you still can. There is no certainty in this field for sure, but you never know what the future holds.

Worst case scenario, you have >500k in the bank and can easily afford to go back to school if you need to.
 
Are there opportunities to move up in the organization? Any internal projects you can attach yourself to? Might be a better option than outright getting a new degree.

But I agree, have an outside career opportunity or interest that you should develop.
 
Why not just work to update and improve your pharmacy knowledge? I don't think there are too many significant new drugs that came out after 2005. It's not like you graduated 50 years ago. I doubt mail order pharmacy is going anywhere, your hours may be cut, but I doubt your job will go away.
 
MrBonita said:
Hand have 400,000 in savings because deep down inside there is...
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That's it?! What did you do with all your $$? I'm hoping you have a house or other assets (that's mostly paid off) that you didn't include. Did you invest at all? Max 401k, IRA? How much do you spend on your lifestyle? Kids? 529? Expensive missus? I just feel you should have way more $$ than what you stated. Given your salary and years worked. If you hunkered down, set a budget, and keep it up for another 4-5 years, in most parts of the country, then you can just retire...
 
msweph said:
Where can I get hired for 78/hr ?! ESP with that easy of a job!
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I work for Kaiser Permanente in California. They only exist in some states and they are known to pay high salaries. Even the technicians make 35 an hour after 15 years of work. California also has higher pay to compensate for the high cost of living. Unfortunately, when I started they needed bodies, now there is no need because of the surplus. No one wanted this job because its mindless but now its all filled up and no one wants to leave.
 
MrBonita said:
I work for Kaiser Permanente in California. They only exist in some states and they are known to pay high salaries. Even the technicians make 35 an hour after 15 years of work. California also has higher pay to compensate for the high cost of living. Unfortunately, when I started they needed bodies, now there is no need because of the surplus. No one wanted this job because its mindless but now its all filled up and no one wants to leave.
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No one wants to leave Kaiser in CA. They start their union staff rph at 78 minimum; it's literally higher than any retail chain manager position in socal. I'd say for an easy job like that just keep going at it.

$40k (500hrs) saved vacation is nice also if you quit later, they get paid out.

It is unfortunate you have 400k cash, not in investments. There is inflation risk killing those cash every year you don't do anything about it. Buy stocks or property, any long term assets better than cash.
 
You can't beat kaiser pay. They also get a bang for their buck.

Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
 
MrBonita said:
I have been thinking now that I am 38 and have been doing this for so long, I no longer have knowledge of new drugs and probably cannot compete with a hungry graduate.
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Dude, you don't have to compete with a hungry graduate...you work at one of the most employee-friendly corporations in the country. Unless you become grossly negligent, you are set.
If you are looking for a challenge- find it outside of work. You have plenty of bank to support whatever hobby you find.
 
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297point1 said:
Dude, you don't have to compete with a hungry graduate...you work at one of the most employee-friendly corporations in the country. Unless you become grossly negligent, you are set.
If you are looking for a challenge- find it outside of work. You have plenty of bank to support whatever hobby you find.
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I am actually going to take some classes at a community college to get an associates degree in dental hygiene and work at my friends dental office on weekends. Just trying to figure out plan B since there are so many pharmacy schools out there.
 
MrBonita said:
I am actually going to take some classes at a community college to get an associates degree in dental hygiene and work at my friends dental office on weekends. Just trying to figure out plan B since there are so many pharmacy schools out there.
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Are you freaking serious? you want to clean mouths all day long? You are working for Kaiser, the union will protect you. Your job is not going anywhere.

You said you have 400 k in cash right? Assuming a rate of return of 7% a year, that is $28 k a year. Work your butt off until you have $1M in cash then invest it. 7% return out of $1M is $70 k a year.
 
MrBonita said:
I am actually going to take some classes at a community college to get an associates degree in dental hygiene and work at my friends dental office on weekends. Just trying to figure out plan B since there are so many pharmacy schools out there.
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Dude don't downgrade
 
thanks for everyone's comments. I may be overthinking this new pharmacy grad apocalypse deal. I think its time to bump up the OT to 2 hours a day just to bank in more and be safe. If we all get replaced by new desperate grads at lower pay, I think we should at that point start a thread on what to do, and where to go. Glad there is so much support on here. Maybe we should lobby politicians to stop more pharmacy schools from opening up or cap the amount of licenses the board of pharmacy can give out a year.
 
At your age, I would just try to learn about various new drugs/MOA/DDI that has come about in the past 10-15 years... other than that I'd consider myself top of the food chain in your position. A rather bleak outlook for such a promising current situation (in your shoes). Would kill for 78/hr position.
 
First-world problems indeed. Let's trade jobs so you can get up to date on the latest chain pharmacy corporate metrics and get micromanaged up the ass, and I can chill knowing I can set myself up for life with 10 years of work.
 
MrBonita said:
Hello everyone. I am a pharmacist that started working in 2005. I make around 200,000 a year at 78 an hour. The reason I am able to make that salary is by cashing out my vacations and doing 5 to 10 hours of overtime a week. I currently have 500 hours of vacation and love being a pharmacist at mail order and don't take vacations. All I do is scan the drug and verify it and off it goes to the patient by mail. I have been thinking now that I am 38 and have been doing this for so long, I no longer have knowledge of new drugs and probably cannot compete with a hungry graduate. I am wondering if anyone thinks pharmacy will last forever? I been saving just in case pharmacy dries up and have 400,000 in savings because deep down inside there is a fear I might have to start a new career in another profession. Has anyone else pondered this with all the new schools and what would you do for work outside of pharmacy? with 400,000 banked and now 38, I am wondering if I should go back and get a different degree while I am still not to old yet?
Click to expand...
You can always drive for Lyft or Uber. With surge pricing/primetime you can make around 11 USD/hour.
 
BMBiology said:
Are you freaking serious? you want to clean mouths all day long? You are working for Kaiser, the union will protect you. Your job is not going anywhere.

You said you have 400 k in cash right? Assuming a rate of return of 7% a year, that is $28 k a year. Work your butt off until you have $1M in cash then invest it. 7% return out of $1M is $70 k a year.
Click to expand...

Where can one get a guaranteed rate of return of 7% a year? Is that before or after taxes?
 
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