What we cover

Empirical Finance covers stipend volatility, conference travel budgeting, 403b education, and signing bonus trade-offs for grad students, postdocs, and bench scientists moving to industry. Plain-language guides come with calculators you can run yourself, listed below.

1 Career arc

Stipend years, the tenure clock, sabbaticals and the move from academia to industry.

Model: Figure 1: stipend path into industry pay

2 Income

Grant-funded salary, gaps between awards, and patent and royalty income.

Model: Figure 2: buffer for a funding gap

3 Retirement

403(b) and 457 plans, TIAA and other vendors, and moving a balance between universities.

Model: Figure 3: the cost of a late start

4 Grants

What indirect costs are, and how grant budgets touch your own pay.

NIH and NSF Indirect Costs: What They Actually Mean for Researcher Compensation

5 What an advisor can help with

These are the subjects you can choose in the request form. We introduce a licensed advisor who works with scientists and researchers.

6 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.

Methods: a few short answers. Ranges are fine.
Verification: we review them and contact you to confirm the inputs.
Introduction: a licensed advisor who works with 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Please do not include account numbers, passwords or unpublished research details.