Navigating the Career and Financial Transition Out of Academia
Release Date: 10/07/2024
How to Negotiate Your Salary Post-PhD
Personal Finance for PhDs
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.
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The Simple Way to Invest as an International Grad Student or Postdoc
Personal Finance for PhDs
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...
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Campus Resources to Improve Your Finances
Personal Finance for PhDs
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...
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How to Financially Manage Lump Sum Fellowship Income
Personal Finance for PhDs
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,...
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Which Postdocs Get Health Insurance and Retirement Accounts?
Personal Finance for PhDs
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...
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How to Live on Time to Maintain Margin in Your Financial Life
Personal Finance for PhDs
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...
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How to Reduce Financial Anxiety as a Limited-Income PhD
Personal Finance for PhDs
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.
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How This DDS/PhD Student Purchased a Condo in San Francisco
Personal Finance for PhDs
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.
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Business Class Flights and Hotel Elite Status on a Grad Student Stipend
Personal Finance for PhDs
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...
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Are PhDs in a Financial Emergency?
Personal Finance for PhDs
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...
info_outlineIn this episode, Emily interviews Dr. Jill Hoffman, a former assistant professor who left academia to become a stay-at-home parent and part-time business owner supporting academic entrepreneurs (including Emily!). Jill recounts how she decided that academia was no longer the best place for her and how she and her husband planned out how to swap roles as the stay-at-home parent and move cross-country to be closer to family. One of the major themes of this episode is how to prepare financially and in your career for transitions. At the end of the interview, Jill gives not only her best financial advice but also her best advice for someone looking to leave academia and someone starting a side business.