Science Finance

Real financial advice for real scientists

How to Be an Independent Contractor and Not Get Screwed Over

This post may contain affiliate links that help keep the blog running. Check out my disclosure to learn more.

  Let’s face it. Independent contracting is getting more and more popular for scientists, mostly because the government is cheap AF. You’re basically becoming a one-person businessman. Being a business owner is WAY different than being an employee. You need to figure out how to pay your own quarterly taxes, get health insurance, and finagle…

Read more

Beer + Budget Giveaway!

This post may contain affiliate links that help keep the blog running. Check out my disclosure to learn more.

  Hey there! Do you like craft beer? What about budgeting? I’ll bet that you only really like one of those things. That’s fine. I used to hate budgeting too. In fact, I plain sucked at it, because I could never keep up with it. But that’s before I learned how powerful money is. It’s…

Read more

January 2019 Debt Payoff Update

This post may contain affiliate links that help keep the blog running. Check out my disclosure to learn more.

  January 2019 was a just-OK month for us. But that doesn’t mean it was a bad month – far from the truth! In fact, in the upcoming months we’ll be able to make BIG progress towards our goal of being debt-free. W00t! Also new in this video, I walk you through my own Undebt.it…

Read more

8 Weird Ways We Save A Ton of Money

This post may contain affiliate links that help keep the blog running. Check out my disclosure to learn more.

  Being weird has a lot of advantages. You get to stick out from the pack, experience a different side of life, and find true friends who like you for the weird person you are. Another advantage that people don’t often think about is that you can save money by being weird! If you’re interested…

Read more

Science Job Budget Breakdown: Habitat Restoration Ecologist

This post may contain affiliate links that help keep the blog running. Check out my disclosure to learn more.

  Let’s assume you find a great science job to apply to. Sweet! The next question is – does it even pay enough? Thankfully we’re scientists armed with the awesome power of math, spreadsheet wizardry, and enough internet research skills to wow your grandparents. We don’t have to guess; let’s nerd this question up. In…

Read more

Federal vs. Private Student Loans: What’s the Difference?

This post may contain affiliate links that help keep the blog running. Check out my disclosure to learn more.

Student loans are student loans, right? I used to think so too…until I had to start paying my private student loans back, and realized my friends (with federal student loans) had it way easier than me! The truth is that they are very different, and those differences have a big impact on your ability to…

Read more

10 Reasons Side Hustles Will Improve Your Life

This post may contain affiliate links that help keep the blog running. Check out my disclosure to learn more.

  I’ve been side hustling since I was but a wee tot. Don’t believe me? Here’s the evidence. But it wasn’t until after I graduated college and was really expected to earn a living that I realized the importance of side hustles. I’ve since turned my side hustle into my full-time gig (here’s more on how…

Read more

Is it really cheaper to grow your own food?

This post may contain affiliate links that help keep the blog running. Check out my disclosure to learn more.

A lot of people will tell you that you can save money by growing your own food. But as someone who’s failed spectacularly at gardening at various times, I can say without a doubt that growing your own food is not free. So, I decided to put this to the test: Is the cost of…

Read more

How to Set SMART Financial Resolutions in 2019

This post may contain affiliate links that help keep the blog running. Check out my disclosure to learn more.

  Welcome to 2019!! Clearly Science Finance Lab and Science Finance Cat couldn’t give two hoots, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. The New Year is a great time to set resolutions. In fact, 94% of millennials are planning on making financial resolutions in 2019, according to one study. But if most New Year’s resolutions fall…

Read more

December 2018 Debt Report

This post may contain affiliate links that help keep the blog running. Check out my disclosure to learn more.

  In my FIRST video debt report for 2019, I’ll be covering how 2018 went and where we’re at with our debt at the end of December 2018. We paid off three debts in 2018: Personal loan to pay for our broken-ass house from three years ago Personal loan to pay for Zach to attend…

Read more