This episode of The Bold PhD Podcast is a little different. It’s audio-only and deeply personal—and it’s about learning how to build wealth as a PhD even when money feels tight.
In December 2025, I realized I had ten years of managing my own money since finishing my PhD at Temple University in 2015. In that decade, I moved through a postdoc, unemployment, adjuncting, freelancing, and eventually into full-time science writing. For most of that time, I believed wealth-building was something reserved for people who already made a lot of money. I was wrong.
This episode follows my conversation with Dr. Emily Roberts of Personal Finance for PhDs (https://pfforphds.com), and I recommend listening to that episode first for the financial fundamentals. Here, I share how I finally found my footing.
What helped me learn to build wealth as a PhD was thinking about money in buckets: giving, bills, learning, investing, and emergencies. Even small, automatic contributions—especially to an emergency fund—shifted my identity from “just surviving” to saver and investor.
This isn’t financial advice. It’s transparency. The Bold PhD exists so you don’t have to repeat my mistakes—and so you can see that building wealth is possible, even on a PhD salary.