Claim OwnershipPersonal Finance for PhDs
Subscribed: 137Played: 5,729
Subscribe
Description
As a PhD (in training), you face unique money challenges that stem from your low stipend/salary during your years of graduate school and postdoc training. Listen here for the hard-won financial wisdom of your fellow graduate students, postdocs, and PhDs with Real Jobs. From budgeting and frugality to investing and debt repayment, this podcast is your higher education in personal finance.
246 Episodes
Reverse
In this episode, Emily interviews Dr. Jim Gould and Lauren Celano, the co-hosts of Propelling Careers, about strategies for PhD job seekers, starting with an update on the PhD job market. They discuss how PhDs can figure out the salaries of various careers and particular jobs, including where they might fall within a posted salary range, and what benefits are offered at a company. They review where job seekers can go for both free and paid assistance. Finally, both Jim and Lauren give excellent financial advice related to job transitions.
Emily published the first episode of this podcast in July 2018. This is the 246rd episode, and over the last six and a half years, the podcast has featured over 300 unique voices in addition to her own. For our last episode in 2025, we are catching up with the guests from Seasons 15 through 17, and a few from earlier seasons as well. The guests were invited to submit short audio clips to update us on how their lives and careers have evolved since the time of their interview, as well as to provide their best financial advice if that has changed since that initial interview.
In this episode, Emily interviews Dr. Connor Ferguson, a postdoc at the University at Buffalo studying how professional development and student success initiatives influence the graduate training environment. While pursuing her PhD in higher education at West Virginia University, Connor worked full-time as a student affairs professional supporting health sciences graduate students, which has given her multiple perspectives on how to support graduate students. Connor and Emily discuss the best practices that universities and programs can implement to reduce graduate student attrition and strengthen the workforce development pipeline, including how to raise stipends and provide for basic needs.
In this episode, Emily interviews Dr. Sonali Majumdar, the assistant dean for professional development in the graduate school at Princeton University. Sonali is the author of the recently published book Thriving as an International Scientist: Professional Development for Global STEM Citizens. Sonali and Emily discuss the various financial challenges that international graduate students, postdocs, and researchers face when coming to the US, including the start-up expenses and relative financial dependence on their advisor's grants. They also touch on the learning curve that international scientists experience in the areas of immigration, taxes, and investing.
In this episode, Emily interviews Dr. Gabrielle Filip-Crawford, the founder of the peer support network Recovering Academics. Gabrielle left her tenure-track position after discovering she was vastly underpaid with almost no room for salary growth even after promotion. Gabrielle shares the common financial questions and mindsets that she sees within the Recovering Academics community, such as not understanding what different careers pay and feeling guilty for needing to earn more money. Gabrielle and Emily discuss how graduate students and postdocs can improve their money mindsets prior to pursuing academic or non-academic positions post-training.
In this episode, Emily interviews Snehanjana Chatterjee, a 3rd-year international graduate student at Texas Tech. Snehanjana recounts her financial journey over the past few years, from how she funded her start-up expenses upon moving to the US to how she's gained scholarships and awards to increase her income. Snehanjana volunteers to help international students acclimate to the US, and she shares some of their concerns and questions. Finally, Snehanjana asks Emily about banking and investing as an international student not planning to stay in the US.
In this episode, Emily interviews Dr. Kate Sleeth, the founder of EduKatedSTEM, on salary negotiation for PhDs. They discuss why everyone should negotiate salary and why Kate regrets not negotiating in her first position in academia. Kate teaches how someone should calculate their minimum salary number before going into a negotiation, including the free tools to use. They wrap up with Kate's best single tip regarding the negotiation process and her best financial advice, both of which are straightforward to implement.
In this episode, Emily interviews Hui-Chin Chen, a Certified Financial Planner specializing in advising globally mobile professionals. Hui-Chin is a managing partner and financial advisor with Jade & Cowry, and she is a repeat podcast guest. Her first interview from 2019 is required listening for international graduate students and postdocs prior to starting this episode. Hui-Chin gives us a bird's-eye view of a simple investing strategy for nonresidents in the US if using a tax-advantaged retirement account proves too complex. Hui-Chin and Emily review the IRA eligibility criteria for nonresidents with respect to fellowship income and married filing separately. They discuss whether and when someone moving out of the US should engage a tax advisor. Finally, Hui-Chin answers one investing and one tax question submitted by subscribers to the Personal Finance for PhDs mailing list.
In this episode, Emily shares the microinterviews she recorded at three conferences this year. The conference attendees, all of whom either work at universities or have PhDs themselves, responded to this prompt: "What resource on your campus could graduate students and postdocs access to benefit their finances?" You'll hear the responses in order from the attendees of the National Postdoctoral Association Annual Conference, the Graduate Career Consortium Annual Meeting, and the Higher Education Financial Wellness Summit. You should be able to detect the transitions among the conferences as there are strong themes within each set. As a bonus, listen for a two-time contributor! While these are all real examples from individual universities, you can search for, inquire about, or request similar resources on your campus.
In this mostly solo episode, Emily shares how to manage lump sum fellowship income with respect to your budget, cash flow, and bank account structure. Grad students and postdocs struggle to manage their money when they are paid less frequently than monthly, such as once per term or once per year. This lump sum income occurs for some fellowship recipients, though it's not a common set-up. In the first half of this episode, Emily presents her suggested system for managing this type of income with respect to your bank account structure, budget, and cash flow. In the second half of this episode, Emily interviews Shalom Fadullon, a grad student at Northeastern who receives this type of income, on how she implemented Emily's system in her financial life.
In this episode, I share what I've learned recently about the landscape of postdoc benefits in the US, specifically with respect to health insurance and workplace-based retirement accounts. This discussion of employees and non-employees or fellows may be familiar territory to some of you, but I also know I'm reaching people who have never heard it before. I hope that this episode helps more postdocs access more benefits, but I will not present a single universal solution that can be immediately adopted. Please take what you learn today back to your peers at your institution to converse about what they're doing for their benefits and what may be possible for all of you.
In this episode, Emily explains how to live on time with your finances. Living on time means maintaining financial margin in your life to be able to absorb unexpected occurrences in your income or spending. When you're behind in your finances, your income is going out the door right after you receive it, you have balances on your credit cards that you can't pay off until your next paycheck comes, and/or you are unprepared for the next manual tax payment that is required of you. This may be true even if you're not experiencing financial consequences such as interest payments on debt. The good news is that it's very simple, though not necessarily easy, to transition to living on time once you know what it means.
In this episode, Emily presents five suggestions for reducing financial anxiety that you could use alongside your general anxiety management strategies. These five suggestions are designed to be used by graduate students, postdocs, and PhDs who are in objectively stressful financial situations. They include choosing just one financial goal, taking a small step, creating a recurring appointment, thinking through the worst case scenario, and talking with others.
In this episode, Emily interviews Hannah Takasuka, a 3rd-year PhD/DDS student at the University of California, San Francisco. Hannah is in the process of purchasing a condo in San Francisco as part of a governmental program to provide affordable housing. Hannah overcame multiple hurdles in the journey to home ownership, including being rejected by mortgage lenders over her fellowship income. Several puzzle pieces have to come together for any graduate student to purchase a home, and Hannah shares all the numbers and details for how it happened for her.
In this episode, Emily interviews Brendan Henrique, a fourth-year PhD student in education at the University of California, Berkeley. Brendan leverages his conference and research travel plus personal spending into free luxury travel by amassing credit card points and elite status at hotel chains. He breaks down how he pursues the points and miles hobby even while living on a grad student stipend and how it's motivated him to work hard so he can play hard. Brendan's travel habits might seem out of sync with his income or 'student' status, but it's achievable for many grad students who are free from credit card debt and have a small degree of savings.
In this episode, Emily shares her thoughts on whether PhDs are in a financial emergency. It's possible that you are facing a financial emergency because you've been laid off or your grants have been terminated or interrupted or there's some risk of that happening in the future. In this episode, Emily explores 1) what she learned from attending the National Postdoctoral Association's Annual Conference in March, 2) what steps she recommends that you take in your personal finances and your career if you are in a financial emergency, and 3) what she's giving away this spring to help you in this turbulent time.
In this episode, Emily interviews Garrett Dunne, a 5th-year PhD candidate in the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Realizing that they were being dramatically underpaid, Garrett and his peers used the data from PhD Stipends to advocate for a significant stipend increase in their department. Subsequently, they joined up with grad students in other schools within the University of Alaska system to unionize and bargain for better pay and health insurance. Garrett's account of their relatively quick process includes several concrete tips for graduate students at other universities who are advocating to increase their stipends and improve their benefits, including who is in the best position to lead the charge.
In this episode, Emily interviews Dr. Ilana Horwitz, a professor at Tulane University and the author of the newly released book, The Entrepreneurial Scholar: A New Mindset for Success in Academia and Beyond. Ilana explains how a grad student or academic can be an entrepreneurial scholar and why it is so beneficial in an environment of uncertainty and limited resources. Ilana and Emily discuss the necessity for grad students to become the CEOs of their own educations and careers. Finally, they explore in more detail ideas from the chapter on how to leverage resources, both human and monetary.
In this episode, Emily interviews Dr. Danielle De La Mare, a career wellness coach and facilitator and the person behind Self-Compassionate Professor. Danielle recounts how she reached a crisis point in her career and personal life that led her to quit her tenured professorship. This crisis included a financial component due to her avoidant money mindset. Danielle describes how she is healing in the area of finances, especially in relationship with her husband, using self-compassionate practices. Danielle and Emily draw parallels between time management and money management to keep both in balance and sustainable. Danielle ends the interview by teaching two quick self-compassion practices that you can apply immediately to your financial life.
In this episode, Emily interviews Kyle Smith, a sixth-year graduate student at Penn State, about the financial strategies and hacks he's used during grad school to increase his income and optimize how he spends and manages his money. In addition to side hustles and credit card and banking bonuses, they discuss how graduate students can benefit from using 529s and 457(b)s in a unique way. Kyle's message is that finding ways to spend a few percentage points less on much or all of your expenses really adds up over time to confer financial security in the present and increase wealth in the long term.
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States