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Personal Finance for PhDs

Jul 14, 2025

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...


Jun 30, 2025

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...


Jun 16, 2025

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...


Jun 2, 2025

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...


May 5, 2025

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,...