Real financial advice for real scientists
A stuffed capercaillie sits mounted high on the wall in my old wildlife classroom. It used to distract me all the time; I’d picture it coming alive and taking flight across the room in a flurry of feathers and bird poop. It would have been be quite the sight; capercaillies are halfway in size between…
Have you ever done something that scared you so much you had to refrain from peeing your pants and running away to a foreign country? That was me a year ago when I was a starting freelance writer! In January 2016 I officially started as a part-time freelance writer, working for myself. It scared the…
I just lost my job. Or, rather, I didn’t get my job back that I was hopefully being re-hired for. It’s a bit confusing, but that’s the point of the story: jobs for young people just starting out in the career world are confusing and not secure. Last summer, I was hired on with the…
It’s my one-year blogging anniversary—hooray! Coincidentally, it’s also my nine-year wedding anniversary, and I suppose that’s just as important. 😉 It’s been a great year and I’ve learned a ton about the business of blogging. I thought I’d take the time this week to give you a behind-the-scenes peek and thank you all for…
Being in debt sucks. Being in debt and making peanuts for a salary and knowing all the steps you need to take to be financially secure (like contributing $5,500/year to a Roth IRA or having a fully-funded emergency fund) yet being unable to take them is a special kind of hell. Sometimes Saving Money…
How secure do you think your job is? Are you sure? What would you do if you went in to work one day and found out you’re out of a job by next week? That actually happened to me last week. I lost my job! After struggling to find good employment for nearly two…
Have you ever thought back on some of the hare-brained money-making ideas you had as a kid? Did you ever sit in the sun on a hot day, staring at strangers and hoping they’d buy your reconstituted lemonade? Or woefully wander the neighborhood, offering to rake leaves? Whatever happened to those jobs? What did…
Loud rooms packed with strange people chatting away in small circles are normally the stuff of nightmares for me. I once nearly passed out in front of my 8th grade English class because the teacher wanted me to recite a poem about flirting in front of twenty other students (four of whom I had…
In my last post, I talked about one of my most embarrassing money decisions: using my student loan money from my undergrad degree for some not-so-scholarly purchases. I’m a bit in need of some redemption. I’ve already eaten too many pity-party tacos, so it’s time to focus on a good financial move. They’re few…
I’ve never really been a brave person. Once, I was given the task of reciting a poem about flirting in front of my high school English class (consisting of several of my crushes). Rather than buck up and do it, I pretended to be sick for an entire week of school. Just to be…
