Pharmacy Focus: Financial Wellness Launch
Tim Ulbrich: [00:00:00] Welcome to the very first episode of Pharmacy Focus Financial Wellness. I'm Tim Ulbrich, pharmacist and co-founder and CEO of YFP Wealth, formerly Your Financial Pharmacist, and I'm very excited to be kicking off this journey together. If you're a pharmacist or a pharmacy professional who has ever wondered Am I doing okay financially?
What should I be focusing on right now in my own financial plan? How do I balance enjoying life today while also preparing for tomorrow, saving and investing for the future? And ultimately, what is all of this journey for? If you have wondered any one of those before, this show is for you. My hope is that this podcast becomes both practical and encouraging.
Yes, we're gonna talk about the numbers. I love the numbers. But we're also gonna talk about the life and meaning behind the numbers. [00:01:00] Now, I've spent over a decade speaking with pharmacists about money, and it's a really personal space, and I've come to appreciate just how special that is. And through many conversations with pharmacists over the past decade, what I've learned is this: financial stress and uncertainty, they're incredibly common in our profession, regardless of the income that somebody is earning.
Let me say that again, 'cause I think it's so important that we understand some of the shared space and community that we have. Financial stress and uncertainty, despite earning a good income, we see that those are consistent threads among many pharmacists. I've talked with new graduates that are just trying to figure it out in terms of how to tackle a couple hundred thousand dollars of student loan debt.
I've talked with many mid-career pharmacists that are navigating what I call the messy middle of life, right? Raising families, saving for retirement, trying to figure out kids' [00:02:00] college, maybe caring for aging parents. And I've certainly also talked with pharmacists that are approaching or entering into retirement, and they're wondering, "Do I have enough?
Have I done all the right things? Can I actually slow down? And what does this next chapter of retirement, what does this next chapter of life look like?" And despite all of our clinical training, very few pharmacists were ever taught how to confidently manage money. I know that was my journey certainly as well.
And that's part of a big reason of why this podcast exists. Now, a little bit more about myself and my own journey in pharmacy and finance. I'm a pharmacist by training. I graduated from Ohio Northern University in 2008. Go Polar Bears. I completed a residency at Ohio State, and I spent about 10 years in academia and pharmacy education in a few different roles.
But along the way, I became fascinated by [00:03:00] personal finance, not because I wanted to be a financial planner, in fact, I have a team of financial planners that work with me, but because I saw how deeply money impacts stress, relationships, career decisions, and overall wellbeing And that certainly was true in my own journey.
And like, like many pharmacists, perhaps you listening, I made mistakes early on. As I often say, there is no arrive with the financial plan, and mistakes are an inevitable part of this journey. Some of the mistakes that I made early on were that I took on a, a boatload of student loan debt, what would end up being a little over two hundred thousand dollars when I graduated in 2008.
And while the student loan debt in and of itself isn't necessarily a, a problem, it's without knowing and understanding how that debt was gonna get paid off and how ultimately it would fit into the rest of the financial plan.
A few other mistakes that I made early [00:04:00] in my journey were learning investing as I went along, right? Believing that, that, "Hey, that's kind of a tomorrow problem," when in fact we, we know that investing is, is a thread that we need to be investing all throughout our financial plan. I made the mistake of falling into the belief trap that because I was a pharmacist and because I was making a good income, that therefore I would be financially successful.
And over time, I realized something really important. And what I realized is that most pharmacists, right, myself included in, in my own journey, most pharmacists, they don't need more financial jargon. They need clarity. They need a plan. And they need someone who understands the unique realities of this profession.
And that eventually led to the creation of Your Financial Pharmacist in 2015, which is now YFP Wealth. Now, I started Your Financial Pharmacist back in [00:05:00] 2015 with a simple mission: to help pharmacists achieve financial freedom. Since then, we've had the opportunity to work with pharmacists all across the country through comprehensive financial planning, through education, through podcasts like this one, through webinars, through articles, and much more.
And what has become increasingly clear to me through this work is that financial wellness is so much more than spreadsheets and investment accounts. Yes, they're-- the X's and O's, they are there, and they matter, right? Student loans, investing, insurance, retirement planning, taxes, estate planning. These are all really important, and things that we'll talk about on this show as well.
But ultimately, the financial plan is a means to an end, right? The financial plan is a means to an end. So the bigger questions are: What does living a rich life- Actually mean to me, to [00:06:00] you? What are you optimizing for, right? What are we checking all these boxes for? And how do you use money as a tool to create more alignment, perhaps more freedom, more flexibility, and more purpose?
So here's what you can expect from this show moving forward. Some episodes are gonna be solo episodes where I'll break down a specific topic, hopefully in a practical and approachable way, or I'll share an insight from my own financial plan. Some episodes will feature financial planning experts from our team at YFP Wealth, including my business partner and fee-only financial planner, Tim Baker, where we'll tackle common financial planning questions that pharmacists are asking right now.
In some episodes, we'll feature pharmacists' stories because, honestly, some of the most meaningful lessons come from hearing how other people navigated things like career transitions, paying off their debt, buying a home, navigating [00:07:00] burnout, financial mistakes, big life decisions, retirement planning, right?
Or simply learning, as I've been learning, how to slow down and enjoy life along the way. I want this show, my desire is for this show to feel both educational and human, right? I want this to have the qualitative and the quantitative sides of the financial plan included. My hope is that whether you're just getting started, whether you're in the messy middle, whether you're nearing retirement or transitioning into retirement or navigating retirement, that this podcast will meet you where you are.
One theme that you're gonna hear often on this show, I've mentioned it a couple times already, is this idea of living a rich life. And when I, when I say rich life, I'm not necessarily talking about a balance in your investment account. I'm talking about a alignment, using money intentionally to [00:08:00] support what matters most to you.
For some people listening, that might mean more time with family. It might mean more flexibility or the ability to cut back in a certain role or to change roles or to, to travel or to start a business or to give generously, or maybe it's just to have a little bit more margin, right? And breathing room to reduce the stress and to have some more peace and confidence.
And again, financial planning is not about perfection, right? There is no arrived with the financial plan, and it certainly is going to include mistakes along the way. So rather, it's, it's about progress. It's about intentionality. It's about building a life that actually reflects your values, right? Money is a tool to hopefully help us get there.
So as we wrap up this first episode- Again, I'm so excited to be on this journey with you. Thank you for giving me some of your time today. I hope you'll continue to join us on future episodes of Pharmacy Focus Financial Wellness. And if [00:09:00] this conversation resonated with you, I'd love for you to subscribe to the show.
That'll help you get notifications when we publish fu- future episodes, to leave a rating and review, and to share it with a friend or colleague. It helps others not only find the show, but also brings others into this conversation of how we can develop a plan that allows us to live our rich life today and tomorrow.
And if this episode or a future episode sparks a question from your own financial plan, your own career journey, your own retirement goals, or what living a rich life means to you and how that can be implemented, we would love to hear from you. You can always reach us at info@yfpwealth.com with questions, with feedback, or ideas for future episodes.
And you can also learn more about the fee-only comprehensive financial planning services that we offer at YFP Wealth for pharmacists nationwide by visiting yfpwealth.com. And [00:10:00] finally, an important reminder that the content in this podcast is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for investment or any other advice.
For more information on this, you can visit yfpwealth.com/disclaimer. Thanks again for listening, and until next time, keep building your rich life today and tomorrow.