Code from the figure above. To get ahead of this: PhD students and post-docs should not feel bad that structural issues are preventing them from being stable; it's not you. Just think about these sorts of things if you ever catch wind of ~folks~ fighting for better wages.👀 [8/]

Adequate stipends for PhD students and post-docs are not just about meeting current financial needs. They are about affording scholars the opportunity to secure their financial future and know that they don't have to be precarious now OR in the future. [7/]

In addition, even if your salary is higher later, you have to save and invest far more aggressively to get the same result as putting in $6500 (the max for the Roth) at age 22. This would make home ownership and starting a family much harder even at later ages. [6/n]

The findings: Starting early leads to a significantly higher spending power at retirement. The lost years of not being able to contribute fully during your PhD or post-doc can potentially cost hundreds of thousands in lost future value for the average person hoping to retire.[5/]

Here's a reasonable projection (code at end) that demonstrates the potential growth over time with different starting ages. The projection generated portrays the relative spending power upon retirement in today's dollars.[4/]

In this analysis, we are going to start your Roth IRA investment at different ages (22, 31, and 38) with dynamic returns. We start at 8% return, decreasing by 0.1% until your retirement age (as your portfolio becomes more conservative), with 3% inflation [3/]

Many PhD students/post-docs find it challenging to save or invest due to limited stipends. Let's delve into the financial opportunities that could be missed, particularly the benefits of maxing out a Roth IRA ($6500/year) that tracks the S&P500 through low-fee index funds [2/]

Feel free to tag folks in should follow here in the #neuroskyence community :D (or science communication more broadly).