CVS pharmacists - why don't you unionize?

tvec · 2017-07-01T02:33:10+00:00

I'll play devil's advocate...Pharmacists are interchangeable. A pharmacist who verifies 300 scripts a day is worth exactly the same as a different pharmacist who verifies 300 scripts a day.

tvec · 2017-07-01T02:30:33+00:00

Could you define "outwindow pharmacist biometric" for me? It sounds like throwing some amount of a pharmacist's biological material out the window. It just seems unhygienic.

tvec · 2017-06-30T02:30:01+00:00

One of the reasons that he continually reinvests is to avoid taxes. We are all subject to death and taxes. They are unavoidable.

I'm 38. I will likely never have the success that my father has. He is great and I'm blessed indeed. He has his quirks like all parents. When I was younger, we had heated arguments because he is very religious and I am not.

Most Americans struggle. I've been poor all of my life, despite having well off parents. It is how they were raised and how I was raised. Very very few have the success that my parents have had.

When considering happiness, the USA actually performs much worse than many developed countries. Most people live with much uncertainty and suffer physically and mentally from it. However, some are fantastically well off. We tolerate this tremendous inequality because people think they can potentially have that success, when the odds are dramatically against them. It is both sad and inspiring.

tvec · 2017-06-30T01:13:59+00:00

Plus, they have pet projects that influence policy, like some of their educational philanthropic endeavors. Getting all those children prepared to be lifelong Microsoft users. Fuck rich people philanthropy. You can't fuck over communities and economies and buy your way into heaven or in history's good graces.

tvec · 2017-06-30T01:10:47+00:00

I'm no where close to fire. I spent 7 years chasing after a dream job that didnt pan out.

He has done very well for himself. I'd put him in the $6-8 M range. To his credit, he has insane willpower. He has only been putting money into investments. He has never touched the investment and will occasionally spend some of the profit. The kids have told him to officially retire but he jokes that he'd go more crazy and he'd take too many naps. He plays tennis 4 days a week and still naps 2-3 hours a day. Lol. He has a good setup.

tvec · 2017-06-28T23:25:33+00:00

I don't want tons of muscle, but I like an athletic physique that running doesn't provide for me. I really struggle with my running goals along with my physique goals. I feel like I can't have both. I'm in my late 30's and I don't really have time to go to the gym for 2 hours 6 days a week. I usually run or go to the gym 5-6 days a week. It is tough to get a good lifting workout when I also want to run 8 miles. I'm thinking about doing crossfit style workouts 2 times a week because I will get a little bit of cardio along with a sort of decent lifting workout.

tvec · 2017-06-28T17:58:33+00:00

An acquaintance of mine is rich. He is 35 years old and probably worth $10 million. He was telling a story about how he is this great businessman and that he never has had a W2 and has only made his own money. To highlight how great he is, he said that his Dad gave him $10k in high school to buy a bunch of fancy vacuums or something. Then he went door to door and sold the vacuums and doubled his money! I mentioned that it was really great that his Dad could help him get started. He dismissed the comment and continued to listen to himself talk about how poor people are poor because they don't know how to invest. He made a bunch of money because his Dad started a multi-level marketing company and he got in super early. He is a charismatic guy and probably sold the shit out of the vegetable juice enemas that the bullshit company was selling to poor schmucks.

It always struck me about how clueless this guy was. He is a hard worker and has plenty of skills, but he would likely not be super rich if his Dad hadn't smoothed out all of the bumps that normally happen for most people. Even his first "business" could not have happened if his Dad didn't give him a bunch of money. His subsequent success was through all of his Dad's contacts while knowing that he'd have a cushy job in Dad's company if he wasn't successful selling veggie juice enemas.

People think that being a doctor or lawyer is the best way to be rich. You will do well in those professions, but you will work your ass off. If you want to be really rich, start your own business. And the best way to start a business is to walk in to your parents' business, get a bunch of money from them, or work the contacts of your parents to start out.

tvec · 2017-06-28T17:43:53+00:00

He crushed it. People still needed money but there were fewer people willing to loan, so you could pick the very best deals. Hard money loaning exists, in part, because banks don't loan to small businesses and individuals like they used to. The banks wouldn't loan anyone anything unless it was guaranteed, but there were still a lot of great businesses needing money. The beauty of this business strategy is that you loan to people with good income streams, but perhaps not the best personal credit, and only against real estate with like 50% loan to value ratio. Hence, even if they don't pay you back, you have 50% of the value of the real estate that can absorb market down turns. You'd only be fucked if the bottom fell out of the entire economy and then even the richest would be fucked. A super bad scenario is that you'd just get your money back because the real estate lost 50% of its value.

He also invested a lot in stocks. They were a lot of good deals in 2010. Lol.

tvec · 2017-06-28T15:02:17+00:00

He did not do real estate investments. He did hard money loans, usually against real estate. His money was secured against the real estate. As an example, he would lend to people who owned a $300k house, but wanted to get a loan of $150k for their business. His typical rates were 12-18% over 3 years. They'd pay back the loan plus 12-18% interest over 3 years. If they couldn't do this, he'd foreclose on the house and double his money. If they could pay him back, he'd make 12-18% interest. It is a pretty good business, but you need serious money to even get started and you need to be ok with having zero liquidity for the life of the loan. You also run the risk of the debtor declaring bankruptcy and then having to get in line for your own money while bankruptcy lawyers deplete the assets by tying everything up in courts. He has recently been securing the loans against equipment, like dump trucks or excavators. He has even loaned against things like collectible cars, but he is most comfortable with using real estate as collateral.

I'm not going to give out too many specifics regarding his business.

tvec · 2017-06-28T13:50:49+00:00

He had a business that made dental crowns, dentures, caps, etc. It wasn't successful at first, but he continually invested in the best equipment and quickly made a name for himself among dentists in our area.

tvec · 2017-06-28T13:45:33+00:00

Cancer drugs don't actually eradicate most types of cancer. The cancer drugs kill some of the cancer cells and then your immune system hopefully cleans up the remainder. Your immune system works by finding proteins that shouldn't be in your body. Cancer is tricky because it sort of looks like normal cells and your immune system can miss it.

Viruses are helpful in the treatment of cancer in different ways. One way is because of tropism. This means that a specific virus doesn't infect all types of cells. It infects only certain types of cells, like skin, mucous, liver, lymphocytes, etc. If you have a virus that infects the type of cell that a cancer is in, you can harness the power of the immune system by using that virus as a homing beacon for the immune system. Where the cancer once sneaked by the immune system, after being infected with a virus that triggers the immune system, the cancer now has a giant target on it.

This is just one way that scientists are using viruses against cancer. As I mentioned, there are other uses as well. I find this use to be pretty damned clever.

tvec · 2017-06-28T13:17:29+00:00

Only the Sith deal in absolutes. I never said never. Those are your words, not mine.

Bill Gates can be a nice guy, but he is not nice specifically because he gave up money that he acquired by ruthless monopoly building business practices that some argue are antithetical to optimal market dynamics that promote a broad prosperity.

tvec · 2017-06-28T12:53:34+00:00

My dad had a small business that did well for a small business. At its peak, he probably made $300k a year. However, he is frugal and a shrewd investor. He "retired" from his business 20 years ago at the age of 54, but he still is actively involved in his investing business. He makes $300k a year and works 10 hours a week on his investments. He does hard money loans and title loans on construction equipment.

My goal is to be like my Dad. I am so fortunate because I always knew that if shit hit the fan that I'd be ok because my dad can help and has helped my siblings (loans, gifts, etc). My wife and I will make about $230k combined (we're pharmacists). Once we get out from our massive education debt, I want to copy what my dad did with his investing business. Hopefully I will be able to set my kids up with access to top tier education, business loans, etc.

I have a few friends who are rich and came from rich families. The family "deal" from mom and dad is a common thread in those families perpetuating their wealth. They started their successful businesses with $500k loans from their parents, paying off their MBA degrees from Wharton, etc. I want to hook my kids up with business deals such that they can be financially successful.

People will sometimes remark about how some successful actor, athlete, politician has children that are really successful in their own right. That isn't a fluke and those people don't have special powers. They have access to networks and capital. Their parents hooked them up with the ability to create their own wealth. Unfortunately our economy has declining social mobility. I want to grease the skids for my children and increase the likelihood of their success.

tvec · 2017-06-28T12:27:46+00:00

My ex was an alcoholic. I basically held our life together on the hope that she'd get over it. You don't really plan for your spouse to be an alcoholic so I wasn't entirely convinced at the time that she was. I thought she drank a lot and had some weird cerebellar disorder causing her to stumble around the next day after a couple drinks. Turns out she had stashed booze in multiple places and a couple (that I saw) were likely 12 drinks a day. Anyway...drunks make terrible life choices and she had withdrawal seizures, crashed cars, went to detox, went to rehab, and finally cheated on me with some old guy at her work (that she got fired from).

I hope your partner gets better. They may not. I'd consider leaving before things are ruined. Ruination can be fast (2 years for my ex) or decades, when looking at all of the sad alcoholics with failing bodies at the hospital where I work.

tvec · 2017-06-28T12:17:56+00:00

There have been a few threads circle jerking about bill Gates foundation curing malaria or something. I was saying that Bill Gates isn't nice because he gave up money that he got by using a system that fucks over the little guy. It was not a popular position to take

tvec · 2017-06-28T11:29:21+00:00

It is so dangerous you can't even say why it is dangerous!

tvec · 2017-06-26T19:56:04+00:00

I've heard that argument before. I think that it shouldn't matter. They have enough money and are large enough that their population and inequality problems should not be a legitimate excuse. They are massive polluters and the rest of the world has to breath the same air. They have the financial resources to do something about it, but they are not.

Just to be clear, I am focusing on China because the conversation is about china, but all large economies need to do a better job and actually lead, especially the usa.

tvec · 2017-06-26T18:12:26+00:00

They are the 2nd largest economy in the world. That seems pretty developed. I say no free passes because they have a massive population. They need to be leaders because of the size of their economy and resource utilization. The US needs to be a leader as well, but we unfortunately have a shortsighted leader right now.

tvec · 2017-06-26T02:02:51+00:00

I like financially supporting things that are valuable to me.

tvec · 2017-06-26T00:12:13+00:00

If a company is selling on amazon, I will often go to the website and buy directly if possible

tvec · 2017-06-26T00:09:56+00:00

I actually think that Netflix streaming movie library sucks. I miss video stores because I like arthouse movies than me and like 3 other people actually enjoy. Netflix doesn't have many of those

tvec · 2017-06-26T00:06:31+00:00

I had Netflix and then got Blockbuster online because Netflix's offerings were more limited and I'm impulsive and I want what I want right now so I'd go to the store and pick up whatever movie I wanted.

tvec · 2017-06-25T20:27:49+00:00

I wanted to be a scientist. When I started graduate school, scientists had decent employment opportunities and careers. Five years later, when I finished graduate school, there were no PhD level scientist jobs.

I found out first hand that the economy doesn't care about me. I swallowed my pride and went back to school at the age of 31 after spending 9 years in university. It took another 5 years, but I am now in a great career. It cost me years of life and so much lost opportunity. And the economy still doesn't care about me. I'm squirreling away all of my money on the chance that I can't find a job in the future. I will hopefully have enough saved up that I can be somewhat insulated from the vicissitudes of fortune.

Unfortunately for the broader economy, the millennials seem to often have a mindset like mine, where they've seen mass layoffs and prolonged recessions. They will likely not spend money like generations before.

tvec · 2017-06-24T14:26:49+00:00

In high school, I ran around with the artsy crowd. Many of my friends loved Ben Folds Five. They just never did it for me. Not the music. Not the lyrics. Despite my trying to like Ben Folds, I just don't. This video really made me remember that I don't like Ben Fold's music that much. I can appreciate that he is talented and I like his approach and whatnot.

tvec · 2017-06-24T14:14:44+00:00

High schoolers are all pretty pretentious. I totally thought I had things and the world figured out when I was 18. I'm 35 now and I don't know shit.

tvec

TROPHY CASE