Seven Figure Pharmacist: How to Take Control of Your Financial Life
Editor's Note: We've been able to get tl;dr pharmacy readers a discount for the book Seven Figure Pharmacist. If you purchase it, make sure to enter the code TLDR at checkout to save a cool 15%!
I mentioned in a recent post that I'm somewhat of a personal finance nerd. I read books on personal finance, investing, and the overall "philosophy" of money. My daily reading list includes several blogs on personal finance. It's a sort of hobby of mine.
If you're not aware, there's actually a couple of pharmacists who write and podcast about this stuff. Their names are both Tim, and they also have a certified financial planner named Tim who works with them.
One of my favorite things in the world is to come up with different nicknames for the Tims. Anyway, you can find them at Your Financial Pharmacist. They are the only ones tackling personal finance issues from the perspective of a pharmacist. It's highly recommended reading.
I was so pumped for this book that I took a selfie with it the morning I started reading it.
Anyway, the Tims wrote an incredibly handy and relevant personal finance book called Seven Figure Pharmacist. I purchased it the day it was released, and eagerly read through the entire thing.
And I wanted to use this post to tell you a little bit about the book, and to encourage you to read it for yourself (spoiler alert: It's excellent).
Even better, Tim, Tim, and Tim have graciously offered a discount for tl;dr pharmacy readers that will knock 15% off your price (just enter the code TLDR at checkout).
Anyway, let's dig in to the nuts and bolts of Seven Figure Pharmacist.
In true nerdy pharmacist fashion, the book is broken up into 6 "prescriptions."
The first prescription focuses on preventative financial medicine, such as the behavioral decisions associated with money, contraindicated decisions to avoid, and minimizing debt.
The second prescription talks about having a plan, including goals and a budget.
The third prescription talks about protecting and maximizing your income, saving for emergencies, paying taxes and growing your income.
The fourth prescription focuses on debt.
The fifth prescription focuses on investing and hiring an advisor.
The sixth prescription focuses on how to follow the behaviors of successful people.
Taken as a whole, these prescriptions are basically a comprehensive overview of personal finance. It's like the "How Not to be an Idiot with Your Money" class that we all wanted but weren't taught in pharmacy school.
You'll learn ways to maximize your income. You'll learn how to take control of and destroy your debt. And you'll learn the basics of wealth management and financial planning (so you can have the peace of mind that you won't have to work until you're 75 years old...unless you're into that sort of thing).
There are many books available on each of these topics. Why should you buy this one?
Because in terms of a comprehensive guide that's relevant to pharmacists, I've never come across anything like it.
Sitting in its rightful place among some of my other personal finance favorites
Seven Figure Pharmacist packs a ton of information into a handy 350 pages. I wish it was around when I started pharmacy school...it would have prevented me from making several stupid mistakes that tacked years onto my student loan repayments.
Most personal finance advice is directed at the Average Joe making $55,000 a year and getting significant raises throughout his career. That's not really how it happens in our world. We might start out making $115,000...but we've also got a $150,000 burden of student loan debt that we're lugging around. And unless we shift gears and move into management, we don't really get raises (outside of a semi-annual 2% for cost of living).
We enter our profession at our earnings ceiling.
I don't remember where I first came across this idea, but I'm a believer that books are the cheapest and most efficient tool for personal growth in existence. Seven Figure Pharmacist costs a minimum of $30 (there are several tiers of upgrades you can purchase if interested). That may seem like a lot (especially if you're a student), but look a little deeper...
If you get even one idea that you take action on from this book, it will pay for itself many times over throughout the course of your life. I personally found several gems that easily make Seven Figure Pharmacist a great investment.
Here's just a few of the action items from my own list after reading:
I didn't know that fees for membership in professional organizations and board certification were tax deductible. That's a quick, easy win for me. Score!
I'll be increasing the amount of disability insurance that I carry (I have decent coverage for free from my employer...but I never ran the numbers on what our month-to-month budget would look like if that's what I was actually taking home)
I've been converted to a believer in Roth. Currently, I max out my 403b contributions every year and put whatever I have left into a Roth IRA. After reading Seven Figure Pharmacist (and talking it over with some of my finance buddies), I'd now like to contribute to my employer match in the 403b and then max out Roth IRAs for my wife and I (tax free growth!). Whatever is left in the budget after that will go towards my student loans. Once they're gone, I'll max out the 403b again (in addition to the Roth IRAs).
If some of those terms are foreign to you, don't worry. They are covered comprehensively in Seven Figure Pharmacist.
Another point that I really liked in the book was that they covered the psychology of personal finance. The math of personal finance is easy. There's only one rule: Spend less than you earn. Do that consistently throughout your life and generally you'll be fine.
However, if that were simple, we'd all be rich. Personal finance is easy, but not simple. Seven Figure Pharmacist actually deconstructs the cognitive biases and silly decisions that you make on auto-pilot every day. Just becoming aware of them is often enough to change your behavior. And if you don't get control of these auto-pilot decisions, you'll always be on the edge of financial uncertainty (no matter how much money you make).
There's also a great section written by Tim's wife which really resonated with me. It mirrored my own home life. I'm very goal-oriented...and one of my biggest goals right now is getting rid of my student loans. The problem is that left to my own devices, I'd be sacrificing a lot of the great life I have right now in pursuit of some magical "some day" land where I'll finally be happy if only I didn't have those student loans.
If I had my way, we'd be living in a shanty town with no possessions somewhere out in the middle of nowhere until the loans are gone. My wife constantly has to talk sense into me to make sure we're having fun and actually enjoying our lives today (thanks, honey!)
Alright, so here's the bottom line with Seven Figure Pharmacist:
If you're a complete novice to all things money and finance, you need this book (and you need it right now). I can't even begin to describe to you how much money it will save you throughout your life.
If you're a self-proclaimed finance enthusiast like myself, you still need this book. I can practically guarantee you'll gain some new insights and perspective about your financial situation.
If you're already independently wealthy and don't need to work...well you probably don't need this book. But it's still a good read and you're supporting a couple of excellent pharmacists. #BrothersInTheProfession
So again, I highly encourage you to check out Seven Figure Pharmacist.
And remember, you can save 15% by using the code TLDR at checkout.
As a disclaimer, tl;dr pharmacy will get a small commission if you purchase Seven Figure Pharmacist through one of the links on this page. But to be clear, I wrote this post a full year and a half before that commission structure was in place.
I was never asked to write this post, I wrote it on my own accord because I truly believe that this is a book worth reading. And I think the vast majority of tl;dr pharmacy readers will do themselves a huge favor by checking it out. Like everything else on tl;dr pharamcy, this post is not about making me a couple of dollars. It’s about helping you out.
That said, if you DO purchase Seven Figure Pharmacist through one of the links on this page, thank you so much for helping to keep us up and running!