A Cry for a Financially Well Pharmacist Workforce | Tim Ulbrich | TEDxBGSU

The 300,000+ pharmacists practicing in the United States are foundational to the health infrastructure of our nation; evident by the critical role they have played throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in providing vaccine and testing services. In addition to facing unprecedented workload pressures and levels of burnout, these individuals often carry the burden of financial stressors hallmarked by a median debt load upon graduation of $170,000. This session, presented by Tim Ulbrich, a pharmacist and Co-Founder & CEO of Your Financial Pharmacist, will explore financial wellness strategies to support the pharmacist workforce and the essential medication and patient care services they provide. Tim Ulbrich is the Co-Founder and CEO of Your Financial Pharmacist. He received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Ohio Northern University and completed residency training at The Ohio State University. His academic career included nine years at Northeast Ohio Medical University and three years at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy as a clinical professor of pharmacy. Tim is the host of the Your Financial Pharmacist Podcast and co-author of Seven Figure Pharmacist: How to Maximize Your Income, Eliminate Debt and Create Wealth. He has presented to over 100 pharmacy organizations on financial wellness. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@jkpetre1]

Tuition is out of control, student loan interest rates are too high. But - when you tell me you paid off $200k in student loans in 6 years, and your other example paid off $180k in 3 years by working insane hours and focusing on getting rid of this debt, it doesn't really help make your point. Student loan reform should be a huge priority for our country. But when you go into a field knowing you'll reap the rewards of a 6 figure+income, you make a cost/benefit decision knowing, as you said, that you'll most likely be financially secure. Maybe not right out of the gate, but you'll get there. It took me 20 years to pay off my student loans and I didn't have anywhere near this amount of debt. The other factor in this is - it should have come as no surprise that you'd end up in this situation as you signed for all this debt and spent it. It shouldn't sneak up on anyone. We definitely need reform and to crack down on predatory loans, but a medical student who takes out $100K+ in debt shouldn't feel victimized by the large payment it takes to pay it off. It's a broken system, but you willingly participated in it. I didn't find any of your points compelling or your solutions to be transformational. This sounded like "how terrible that I was debt free and then when I took out $200k in loans I wasn't. And the payment was really high!" - Maybe that should be the first course you take as a medical student. "You're responsible for your debt 101".