Grad students
Grad students · PIs managing lean grants
Abstract
Research & Scientist Finance DeskFinance models you can peer-review.
Grants, stipends, and industry jumps—explained with assumptions you can change.
- Method-Transparent
- Sources Cited
- Not Personalized Advice
Avg. postdoc stipend (NIH)$55K
10-yr forgiveness track for academicsPSLF
Grant overhead deductions matterR01
Net Pay Estimator
IllustrativeNet Take-Home
Federal Tax
FICA / Medicare
State Tax
$
$10,453
Federal
$5,780
State
$6,503
FICA
27%
Eff. Rate
Illustrative estimate only — not tax advice. Uses simplified 2025 federal brackets and estimated state effective rates. Verify with a licensed CPA or tax professional.
PSLF vs standard repayment for academic scientists — Illustrative. Not financial advice.
NIH/NSF grant budget — direct costs vs indirect overhead — Illustrative. Not financial advice.
What We Cover
Financial intelligence built for your profession
PSLF & Forgiveness
Qualifying programs for academic and non-profit scientists
Grant & Salary Planning
NIH salary cap, indirect cost implications, and income modeling
Academic Retirement Stack
403(b), 457(b), pension, and TIAA-CREF optimization
IP & Licensing Income
Patent royalties, licensing agreements, and non-W2 planning
Career Transition Finance
Academic-to-industry moves: equity, salary jumps, retirement rollover
Academic-to-Industry Transition
The academic-to-industry salary jump changes everything — including your taxes
Moving from a $95K postdoc to a $150K industry role means a different tax bracket, loss of PSLF eligibility, and entirely new equity compensation structures. Understanding the financial implications before you move can save tens of thousands.
See the transition comparison
Coverage
Empirical Finance — who it's for
Built for Grad students, Postdocs, and Bench scientists moving to industry. Coverage concentrates on Postdoc emergency fund, PhD student investing basics, and Grant stipend taxes education, with guides and calculators that reflect how these readers actually earn, save, and plan.
Postdocs
Postdocs · National lab staff
Bench scientists moving to industry
Bench scientists moving to industry
In practice
Questions we answer
Empirical Finance is an independent editorial desk covering Postdoc emergency fund, PhD student investing basics, and Grant stipend taxes education for Grad students, Postdocs, and Bench scientists moving to industry. Personal finance for people who publish methods sections—assumption tables, reproducibility, and zero mysticism. Guides state their assumptions, calculators run in your browser, and disclosures stay visible wherever regulated topics appear.
How to model a postdoc year with two income sources
When a signing bonus should move the retirement timeline
Featured tools
Run the numbers before you decide
Free, in-browser calculators built for Grad students, Postdocs, and Bench scientists moving to industry — adjust the assumptions and stress-test the outcome before you act.
Interactive
Compound trajectory lab
Project how regular contributions grow over time under different return, fee, and timeline assumptions.
Future value
$1,185,264
Projected ending balance under the current compounding path.
Your contributions
$460,000
Starting capital plus every monthly contribution.
Investment growth
$725,264
The share created by compounding instead of deposits.
Output path
The line updates immediately as you change the assumptions.
Year 0 to Year 20
Year 0Year 10Year 20
Interactive
Allocation drift check
Compare your current mix against a target allocation and see where drift has crept in.
Enter current and target weights. The model normalizes them to 100% and flags any sleeve that sits outside your drift band.
equities
fixed Income
alternatives
cash
Largest sleeve
55%
Anything too dominant deserves extra governance.
Effective sleeves
2.6
A lower value means the portfolio behaves like fewer real bets.
Concentration score
0.39
Herfindahl-style concentration across the current weights.
equities
Current 55% vs target 60%
Drift: -5%. Keep this sleeve within +/-5% to stay inside the current policy.
fixed Income
Current 25% vs target 20%
Drift: 5%. Keep this sleeve within +/-5% to stay inside the current policy.
alternatives
Current 10% vs target 10%
Drift: 0%. Keep this sleeve within +/-5% to stay inside the current policy.
cash
Current 10% vs target 10%
Drift: 0%. Keep this sleeve within +/-5% to stay inside the current policy.
Interactive
Retirement runway model
Model your retirement runway from savings rate, timeline, and expected returns — then stress-test it.
Nominal balance
$3M
Raw dollars at the retirement start date.
Today's dollars
$2M
Inflation-adjusted view of the same future balance.
4% rule estimate
$130K
A quick annual draw estimate before tax planning.
Output path
The line updates immediately as you change the assumptions.
42 to 65
425365
Sustainable real income
$112K
Approximate annual spending in today's dollars if the portfolio must last through retirement.
Membership
Free reading. Calmer sessions when you want them.
Reader
$0
- Full article and guide access
- Standard calculators and planning tools
- Ad-supported layouts on long-form and tool pages
Member
$4.99/month
- No display ads across eligible templates
- Uninterrupted tool runs and exports where implemented
- Preference persistence when the product layer ships
- Early access to new niche tools on this domain
Optional advisory
$99 intake
- A structured intake that connects complex situations with licensed professionals — always optional, never required to use the site.
FAQ
How this desk works
What is Empirical Finance?
Personal finance for people who publish methods sections—assumption tables, reproducibility, and zero mysticism.
Is this personalized investment advice?
No. Materials are general education and illustration. Decisions involving securities, taxes, or planning should involve your own licensed professionals.
What does membership change?
$4.99/month removes display ads for calmer reading and uninterrupted calculator sessions, and adds member features like saved scenarios as they ship. Cancel anytime.
What trust signals does this desk maintain?
Licensing disclosures; Niche-specific limitations; Privacy
What type of content lives here?
Practical guides and scenario tools for scientistfinance professionals — every article ships with a calculator or scenario box.
Contact
Contact Empirical Finance
Questions about a calculator or a guide? Send a note to the Empirical Finance editorial desk — we read every message. Licensing disclosures appear wherever regulated topics are discussed.
Fenul Wealth Management
Method-transparent wealth management for researchers and scientists
Grant income, startup equity, academic retirement plans, and non-profit wealth all operate under different rules. Fenul Wealth documents every assumption in your plan — reproducibly.
- Grant income and non-profit 403(b) strategy
- Startup equity and lab spinout modeling
- PSLF and academic loan strategy
- Assumption-documented scenario planning
Opens fenulwealthmanagement.com · General education only · No fiduciary relationship formed on this page