Sacrificing for a Lofty Financial Goal on a Grad Student Stipend

About this episode

Emily interviews Dr. Jed Kim about his financial journey during his PhD, focusing on his savings strategies and the trade-offs he faced.

In this episode, Emily interviews Dr. Jed Kim, a recent PhD graduate in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Jed built a $35,000 Roth IRA by the time he finished his PhD due to consistent $500 per month contributions. Jed and Emily discuss what it took financially to maintain that savings rate, from applying for fellowships and bank bonuses to sharing food with multiple roommates to engaging in free and low-cost activities. Jed speaks openly about how spending too little at times hampered his mental health and how a family emergency caused him to rethink his approach. This interview illustrates the trade-offs graduate students have to navigate when striving to make the PhD less of a financial liability.

People in this episode

Host: Emily Roberts

Guest: Dr. Jed Kim

Topics covered

• financial goals
• graduate student life
• savings strategies
• mental health
• fellowships
• financial trade-offs

Keywords

• PhD finance
• Roth IRA
• graduate student stipend
• savings rate
• financial trade-offs
• mental health
• fellowships

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Wisconsin at Madison

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• This Grad Student Bought a Home at the Start of His Doctoral Program · February 9, 2026 · 37 min