former career
I was a retail pharmacist who hated his
profession for the following reasons: unacceptable amounts of stress, lack of
civility from the general public, capitalism gone amok, fundamental
disagreement with the overuse of pharmacotherapy as an answer for underlying
health issues, and a severe opiate crisis that few have yet to appreciate. I
attended college for eight years to earn a bachelors (1997-2001) and a
doctorate (2001-2005) before joining the workforce for nearly twelve years
(2005-2017, entirely with CVS). $150k in education costs were covered by academic
scholarships ($25k), employment during college ($20k), prior savings from high
school employment ($5k), revenue from an eBay business while in college ($10k),
and massive help from my parents ($90k). My salary plus compensation went from
$115k in 2005 to $150k in 2017. My savings rate was about 70%.