Empirical Finance · Money for research careersEducation, not investment advice

Overview

Personal finance for people who write methods sections

Stipends, soft money, a 403(b) with its own vendor history, and often a jump to industry pay. We explain the arithmetic, print our assumptions, and introduce you to a licensed advisor who works with scientists and researchers.

Request an introduction Or run Figure 1 first

Abstract

Research careers pay in an unusual shape: years on a stipend or a grant-funded salary, a retirement plan with its own rules, and often a step up to industry pay. This page sets out how we introduce you to a licensed advisor who works with researchers (Section 2), shows a model of what the postdoc years do to savings (Section 3, Figure 1), notes what the model leaves out (Section 4), and ends with the request form (Section 5).

Keywords postdoc stipend; soft money; 403(b); industry transition; advisor introduction

1 Introduction

Research careers pay in an unusual shape. Graduate school and the postdoc years often run on a stipend or on salary paid from grants, and many researchers then move to a faculty post, a national lab or an industry job where pay can step up sharply. Standard advice assumes a steady salary that rises a little each year. That does not fit a career with a step in it.

Note 1 · Stipend or wage?

The tax treatment differs. IRS Publication 970 explains when fellowship and stipend payments are taxable². Tax is often not withheld from a fellowship stipend, so many recipients pay estimated tax during the year.

The questions that follow are practical. How large a cushion do you need when part of your pay depends on a renewal? What does one more postdoc year cost in savings? Which 403(b) vendor should you pick, and what happens to the balance when you change universities? Our articles take these one at a time, and every figure on this site prints its formulas.

When you want someone to look at your own numbers, we introduce you to a licensed advisor who works with researchers. Section 2 describes how; Section 3 shows the model.

2 Methods: how the introduction works

The procedure has three steps. Asking is not a commitment.

Methods: state your situation.
Where you live, your role, what you need help with, ranges for income and assets, and how to reach you.
Verification: we check the inputs with you.
By phone or email, whichever you prefer.
Introduction: a licensed advisor who works with scientists and researchers.
You decide whether to go ahead. Advice, fees and agreements are between you and the advisor.

Note 2 · How this is funded

Licensed financial advisors join our network to receive introductions and may pay us for them, through a monthly membership and a fee for each request. The fee does not depend on whether you hire an advisor, and being matched is not a recommendation or rating of any advisor.

3 Results: the postdoc years and savings

Figure 1 follows one common path: a postdoc stipend for a few years, then an industry salary. Change the inputs to match yours. The band shows how far the answer moves when every assumption is a little worse, or a little better, at the same time.

Note 3 · Check the source

The defaults are illustrative, not survey figures. Use your own offer letter. For NIH training awards, stipend levels are published each fiscal year¹.

Assumptions (illustrative defaults)

Starting stipend, per year (dollars)

Annual raise (percent)

Years as a postdoc (years)

Industry salary, first year (dollars)

Savings rate, of gross pay (percent)

Annual return (percent)

High case
Base case (your inputs)
Low case
Sensitivity band

After 15 years: $241,841 in the base case, between $117,232 and $453,921 across the band. One more postdoc year changes the base case by −$13,676.

Figure 1. Cumulative savings over 15 years for a researcher who spends 4 years on a postdoc stipend and then moves to an industry salary. Solid line: base case from the inputs above. Shaded band and dashed lines: low and high cases, which move every assumption at once by the amount in the Method note. Illustration, not a forecast or a survey figure. Values for every year are in Table 1.

Table 1. Values plotted in Figure 1

Pay and cumulative savings by year, base, low and high cases
Year	Pay, base	Low	Base	High
1	$60,000	$3,780	$6,000	$8,580
2	$61,800	$7,749	$12,480	$18,104
3	$63,654	$11,914	$19,469	$28,651
4	$65,564	$16,283	$26,999	$48,597
5	$120,000	$20,863	$40,349	$70,656
6	$123,600	$28,629	$54,727	$95,006
7	$127,308	$36,771	$70,194	$121,836
8	$131,127	$45,302	$86,816	$151,352
9	$135,061	$54,238	$104,663	$183,774
10	$139,113	$63,594	$123,808	$219,338
11	$143,286	$73,385	$144,327	$258,299
12	$147,585	$83,627	$166,301	$300,932
13	$152,012	$94,338	$189,818	$347,532
14	$156,573	$105,534	$214,966	$398,414
15	$161,270	$117,232	$241,841	$453,921

Method

Pay in year t: P_t = S(1 + g)^t−1 while t ≤ T, and I(1 + g)^t−1−T after, where S is the starting stipend, g the annual raise, T the postdoc years and I the first industry salary.

Savings: B_t = B_t−1(1 + r) + s·P_t, with B₀ = 0, s the savings rate and r the annual return. Each year’s saving is added at the year’s end.

Low case: S −10%, g −1 point, T +1 year, I −15%, s −3 points, r −2 points. High case: the reverse. Pay is before tax; dollars are not adjusted for inflation; there is no employer match, fee, loan payment or gap between jobs.

Two things usually stand out. The year you move matters, because each extra year on the lower income is a year the higher income has not started compounding. And the savings rate multiplies everything else. The full version of Figure 1 ranks each assumption by how much it moves the result on its own.

4 Discussion

The model is deliberately small. It leaves out tax, which differs between a stipend and a wage; an employer’s retirement contribution and its vesting schedule; student loan payments; equity in an industry offer; a gap between jobs; and the cost of moving. Each of these can change the answer more than the band does.

Those are the parts where a person who knows research careers is worth talking to. .

Note 4 · Plan limits

A 403(b) is the university counterpart of a 401(k). The IRS limit on employee deferrals is $24,500 for 2026³. It is adjusted most years, so check irs.gov for the current figure.

4.1 Further reading

Planning the Postdoc-to-Faculty Income TransitionCareer arc · 4 min read
Financial Planning on Grant-Funded Salary and Soft-Money PositionsIncome · 4 min read
Comparing Academic and Industry Compensation for ScientistsCareer arc · 4 min read
403(b) and TIAA Retirement Basics for University EmployeesRetirement · 4 min read
Retirement Plan Portability Between Universities: How 403(b) Transfers Actually WorkRetirement · 4 min read

All ten articles

4.2 Figures you can run

Figure 1. Stipend path into industry pay with a one-at-a-time sensitivity chart.
Figure 2. Buffer for a funding gap when part of your salary is paid by grants.
Figure 3. The cost of a late start on retirement saving.

5 Request an introduction

Answer a few short questions. We review your answers, contact you to confirm what you need, and match you with a licensed financial advisor who specializes in scientists and researchers.

Step 1 of 4

1. Where you are and what you need

So we look for someone who works with people like you.

ZIP code or state where you live

Your role (optional)

What do you need help with?

Disclosure

This website is an educational publisher. It does not give personalized advice, recommend securities or manage money. Asking to be matched does not create an advisory relationship: any relationship is between you and the advisor, who will give you their own disclosures before you decide anything. Licensed financial advisors join our network to receive introductions and may pay us for them, through a monthly membership and a fee for each request. The fee does not depend on whether you hire an advisor and is not higher or lower for any particular advisor. Because advisors may pay us, we have a financial interest in the introductions we make. We match you by what you need, and being matched is not a recommendation or rating of any advisor. Nothing here is investment advice.

Please do not include account numbers, passwords or unpublished research details.

References

National Institutes of Health. Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) stipend levels. Published for each fiscal year in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts.
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education, chapter on scholarships, fellowship grants and grants. Revised each year. irs.gov/publications/p970
Internal Revenue Service (2025). Notice 2025-67, 2026 amounts relating to retirement plans and IRAs: $24,500 for employee deferrals to 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457 plans and the Thrift Savings Plan.

Correspondence Want someone to apply this to your own numbers? We verify your inputs with you, then introduce a licensed advisor who works with scientists and researchers.