I will be retiring in the near future younger than i hoped

[Anonymous]

Agree with both posters, but want to emphasize a point made in earlier post. I remember how horrified we legacy PD people were after attending our first Pfizer meeting. The newly promoted Regional Manager (from Pfizer) was so awful and arrogant that during the breaks, phone booths were stuffed with people calling headhunters. No lie.

We also couldn't believe the lazy work ethic, especially of the younger Pfizer reps. In our region, they were driven by spending their T&E budgets and dropping off cases of samples. We heard that one Pfizer rep further north was actually a full time dental school student....while he was a Pfizer rep.

Yes - I remember the first merger meeting. The Pfizer HR guy gave a presentation on how the Performance Improvement Program worked, and the process involved in firing someone. Very inspirational.

Actually Pfizer wasn't a bad company - once you learned the power structure, the importance of paying homage to Alabama Football, etc. A lot of wasted time on initatives like Women in Leadership (all lip service). Some good people, some jerks, etc. It really went south when Jeff from Boston Market took over.

 

[Anonymous]

wow pretty good both of you guys. i'm trying. yeah these jobs will be ending shortly i can feel it. next job will pay less but won't be as formal (no suit) and something I am passionate for

 

[Anonymous]

52 yrs old , 1,300,000 in 401k , house paid off, no debt. Still love my job.

I doubt this.

 

[Anonymous]

Who is blaming the government for everything ? I said that that the industry is heavily regulated - which it is, and in fact needs to be. However, this takes away from some of the attractiveness of the sales job. You can't just free lance. I also said Pfizer had lost the innovative spirit it once had - you give some very good examples of that. Yes - Pfizer went for the big dollar blockbusters and continued to swing for the home run rather than the singles and doubles. In a way, the success of Lipitor really hurt the company for the long run - it got fat, lazy and wasteful. It also had some rather inept leadership that thought they could out muscle other companies by just adding "noise level" and mutiple layers of sales forces. The TACU was a joke. There was clearly a law of diminishing returns in increasing the size of the sales force. It also led to an arms race in the industry which hurt the image of the professional sales rep. I agree with everything in your message.

Waxman-Hatch and 401Ks were the beginning of the end for the pharmaceutical industry.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes - I remember the first merger meeting. The Pfizer HR guy gave a presentation on how the Performance Improvement Program worked, and the process involved in firing someone. Very inspirational.

Actually Pfizer wasn't a bad company - once you learned the power structure, the importance of paying homage to Alabama Football, etc. A lot of wasted time on initatives like Women in Leadership (all lip service). Some good people, some jerks, etc. It really went south when Jeff from Boston Market took over.

It was probably headed south looooooong before Jeff came. Why do you think Hank (his predecessor) was given over $180,000,000 TO LEAVE?

My first merger meeting was a window into typical Pfizer arrogance. They didnt know shit about oncology until we (Pharmacia) came, but you'd never know it talking the THEM. "We have to Pfizer-ize you" was all we heard when we first came over. Ditto for Bextra and Celebrex.

Back to OP's point. I doubt that many people still here have $1,000,000 401Ks. Most long-timers were shown the door awhile ago.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok , maybe I don't "love" my job, but the rest is true

 

[Anonymous]

It was probably headed south looooooong before Jeff came. Why do you think Hank (his predecessor) was given over $180,000,000 TO LEAVE?

Yes it was headed south long before Jeff, but it REALLY headed south under his tender loving care. He is also the one who gave big bucks to promote the "affordable" care act. (Why are things coming from D.C. often named the opposite of what they are - purely rhetorical, I think I know the answer)

 

[Anonymous]

Yes it was headed south long before Jeff, but it REALLY headed south under his tender loving care. He is also the one who gave big bucks to promote the "affordable" care act. (Why are things coming from D.C. often named the opposite of what they are - purely rhetorical, I think I know the answer)

Not sure Mr K was in power long enough to "take credit" for what we have today. Downward momentum had been building for many years. Like someone said, r&d strategy was dumb, so we ended up with little coming out of Groton, and pinching other people's drugs to stay afloat. That sales force was bloated to the max, and the so-called leaders were nothing but hand-picked cronies. Read Fortune's expose on us. EMBARRASSING!

 

[Anonymous]

I am 48 also and have a net worth of 1.4 million not including my house. I have been a lifetime rep just been careful. No marriage means no divorce and no kids. Just a few dogs and cats along the way, great vacations and a stocked bar at home.

 

[Anonymous]

I am 48 also and have a net worth of 1.4 million not including my house. I have been a lifetime rep just been careful. No marriage means no divorce and no kids. Just a few dogs and cats along the way, great vacations and a stocked bar at home.

just think, if you were married and now divorced you would be down to a mere 700 k. smart move my man!

 

[Anonymous]

just think, if you were married and now divorced you would be down to a mere 700 k. smart move my man!

sounds pathetic to me. That poster sounds very familiar to me. I picture a lonely old man that golfs 3 rounds a week and hits the early bird special at the Applebee's in Wilmington, NC. I started here when the average age of the field force was 40 or so. A lot of those guys (and they were almost always guys) retired at 52 or so. Guess how many funerals I went to within 3-4 years of their retirement? It was really, really sad.

 

[Anonymous]

i might turn tricks for a living. I'm a guy but can certainly bend both ways if I have to. That's where the real money is these days. Just be safe and call your shots.

 

[Anonymous]

Hundreds of us agree

I will ride this bitch as far into the ground that I can. I despise this company and will take the maximum advantage I can. This point of view was instilled from our ELT. FU pfe.

 

[Anonymous]

how much money does everyone have?

$3.4 million in paid assets. Out of that less than $200k liquid. 43 years old, never married. Stock market, real estate and collectibles. It doesn't matter if these assets go up or down, you just need to be on the correct side of the trade.

Very soon I will no longer be feeding the office pigs and laughing at the Dr's jokes. 7 years ago I was proud of this job. Now I am embarassed. I no longer tell people I work for pharma. I say I am an investor. I took advantage of ever opportunity to utilize the perks pharma gave me. Company car, free phone, 20 hour work weeks. I was never at the top but never at the bottom.

My life is no longer about efficacy and safety. It is now about freedom!

 

[Anonymous]

i call liar on the last post

 

[Anonymous]

i call liar on the last post

Of course you call liar because you are poor and a bad provider for your family.

 

[Anonymous]

I got to add 5 years to my age during the 2008 downsizing, and after 22 years, my severance plus my 401K gave me a healthy retirement. I was so excited. However, we made the mistake of moving away from family and friends, so I am somewhat bored. We plan to move home once our kids go to college. I found work on a contract basis, making about 40% of what I used to. No stress and I can take months off at a time. I travel with friends quite a bit. Go for it - volunteer doing what you like. Go get more education in an area that interests you, but do not move!!!

I am 50y with 25 years. I would like to retire, but they just raised retirement age to 55. How did you get 5 years added?

 

[Anonymous]

$3.4 million in paid assets. Out of that less than $200k liquid. 43 years old, never married. Stock market, real estate and collectibles. It doesn't matter if these assets go up or down, you just need to be on the correct side of the trade.

Very soon I will no longer be feeding the office pigs and laughing at the Dr's jokes. 7 years ago I was proud of this job. Now I am embarassed. I no longer tell people I work for pharma. I say I am an investor. I took advantage of ever opportunity to utilize the perks pharma gave me. Company car, free phone, 20 hour work weeks. I was never at the top but never at the bottom.

My life is no longer about efficacy and safety. It is now about freedom!

I am 35, have $20 million in the bank and I am always on the right side of the trade because I am smart and you are dumb. This last post is a dreamer. Most responses are inflating their net (and self) worth. You missed the boat, you spent your most productive years working for Pharma and wonder why you didn't pursue that dream. Deal with it. Most of us in the industry for 20 year have $500,000 in 401K if we are lucky and disciplined. We have most of our house paid off, have a family (this is what matters, not savings without purpose), and some sustenance for the inevitable layoffs. Anyone with several million and settling for a $100,000 a year job is short sighted or lazy or just blind lucky. Why do you continue to log calls, provide lunches to fat nurses, and go to boring meetings? You must be a liar or a coward.

 

[Anonymous]

$3.4 million in paid assets. Out of that less than $200k liquid. 43 years old, never married. Stock market, real estate and collectibles. It doesn't matter if these assets go up or down, you just need to be on the correct side of the trade.

Very soon I will no longer be feeding the office pigs and laughing at the Dr's jokes. 7 years ago I was proud of this job. Now I am embarassed. I no longer tell people I work for pharma. I say I am an investor. I took advantage of ever opportunity to utilize the perks pharma gave me. Company car, free phone, 20 hour work weeks. I was never at the top but never at the bottom.

My life is no longer about efficacy and safety. It is now about freedom!

I think you can say anyone is an 'investor', Rockerfeller. As you rack up your sports memorabilia and rental houses, ever wonder why most people your age are married with kids?

 

[Anonymous]

I think you can say anyone is an 'investor', Rockerfeller. As you rack up your sports memorabilia and rental houses, ever wonder why most people your age are married with kids?

Because they are stupid and they need to satisfy the wishes of their parents. Every wonder why the divorce rate is over 60%.? Do you ever wonder how many unhappy friends you have that stay in the marriage just for the kids? Do you ever dream of buying anything you want for cash and going on any trip you wish like me?