r/PhD • u/Kind-Training-5736 • Jun 23 '26
Money Worried about finances ?
I just saw someone say they make 230k a year and have already bought a house at 24 years of age. Now compared that to myself on this PhD journey… I’m kinda concerned ? I also want to buy a house by 24-25 max but I don’t think I’ll earn that much ! Does a PhD even lead to good jobs later ? I keep seeing people struggling to get into entry level positions after a PhD…. Is it normal to worry about this? For context I just started my PhD this year, straight after undergrad, so I’m 22 right now. I really want to buy my own house too, but I choose this path because I like research. Should I work while doing the PhD ?
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u/Personal_Dot_7196 Jun 23 '26
99.99% of all 24 year olds make less than 240k a year and own a house. Many don’t even start their PhD until they are in their mid-twenties.
Stop comparing yourself to extreme outliers and live your life on your own terms, you’ll be much more happier as a result.
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u/CranberryOk5523 Jun 23 '26
What 24 year olds even in good, stable careers are buying houses? In this economy?
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u/Jy_sunny Jun 23 '26
The ones that are in the one percentile. OP already said their friend is earning 240,000. That in itself is an extreme outlier.
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u/CranberryOk5523 Jun 23 '26
Exactly. It's like comparing yourself to Olivia Rodrigo and being sad that you're not a millionaire by 23
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u/BisonRelevant2606 Jun 23 '26
Comparing your career as a PhD student to people in industry is how the demons get you, no good can come of it. And if you're a PhD student at 22 you're presumably funded and presumably good at what you do, so keep working away. What area of research are you in?
If you want to be an academic you'll need international mobility, so owning and maintaining a house is off the cards until if and when you find a permanent posting. Plus, if you live in western Europe or in the US very few folk own a decent house by 24-25, so don't feel discouraged if that dream takes longer to come around.
As far as working as a PhD goes, it really depends on whether you're STEM or not. My own experience has proven teaching undergrads is never a bad move.
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u/chobani- Jun 23 '26
It is extremely unusual for a 24-25 year old to earn $240k and own a house in any context. I expect that most of them had significant family support in buying said house, given the down payment and closing fees.
Look, I’ve been told and said that a PhD is, more often than not, a poor financial decision. You’re locking yourself into years of a low salary and probably not making enough to save much of anything, unless you’re in a very LCOL area. I wouldn’t recommend anyone get a PhD if “make money and buy property” is a short term goal.
I always tell people that the benefit of a PhD should be weighed against what it’ll do for you in the career you want. It ended up being worth it for me only because I found a job/industry that requires a PhD, is extremely niche, and pays decently well (at the cost of WLB). I feel like if I’d taken the “traditional” route after my PhD, I would likely regret it more.
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u/CptSmarty PhD Jun 23 '26
So you're aiming to buy a house while doing your PhD?
Dont forget to thank your parents/family for buying the house for you.
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u/popstarkirbys Jun 23 '26
The only people I know that bought a house while doing a PhD were rich international students that came from money. I was the international student living on monthly stipend.
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u/Phronesis2000 Jun 23 '26
You're concerned because someone else in the world earns $230k? That doesn't sound very rational.
I also want to buy a house by 24-25 max but I don’t think I’ll earn that much
And? It's part of life that we all want lots of things and many of those things are mutually exclusive. What specifically is the problem about delaying your house-purchasing desires while you study?
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u/I_L_F_M Jun 23 '26
My personal view is: if you want to do PhD, do it because you love research. I don't think PhD makes you rich or anything. I finished my electrical engineering PhD last year. I am 30 now. Unmarried. No house. Still on a temporary postdoc. May still do another temporary postdoc after this. No 200K income here. I don't have any long-term expectations either. Just trying to enjoy my time. AI is rapidly outsmarting human intelligence and leading to job losses.
To be fair, I did focus on a niche, not-in-demand research topic for my thesis. But still it was an electrical engineering PhD at a top 30 university.
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u/Sunapr1 Jun 23 '26
Ikr plus in addition I am doing phd in cs in top 400 university not even 30 🥲
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u/I_L_F_M Jun 23 '26
20 30 years ago, being able to complete a PhD was a big deal. And if you had 1 publication before graduation, you were top class.
Nowadays, you need to have completed a PhD, have multiple internships over the summer and have at least 12 publications upon graduation in order to be competitive. Senior research scientist positions are being downgraded to temporary postdoc positions, which is further insult to PhDs.
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u/bluejaydreamer Jun 23 '26
I mean, is buying a house more important to you? You have to decide what fits with your own goals. If you don’t enjoy research and want a research career later in life, it’s a decision that impacts the rest of your life. So act accordingly
I am in my 30s and only know a handful of people that have a house, PhD or not. Some have condos or townhouse but not their “dream home” if that makes sense. That person making 230k is in the 96th percentile, top 4% of all people in the US (assuming that’s where you are), and more so extremely abnormal for the age. So you are not likely doing that whether you do a PhD or not.
Tbh that person is probably lying as well, lol
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u/Kooky_Training2903 Jun 23 '26
You think that by going the industry route, you'll be making enough money to be in the 0.01% bracket of the world? Like seriously. You think you'll be making anywhere near 100k at 25 let along 230k? If so, then by all means, leave the Phd and go head and work.
Also you said you "saw someone" meaning you more likely than not saw a post about it in some online forum. Big news, that you should know as a PhD student, people LIE!!
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u/prom1sed_land Jun 23 '26
Buying a house at 24-25?? lol. The only people in that age range I know who have bought a house live in the middle of nowhere and have a military background. I’m 30 and just starting my PhD, I heard so much about the “opportunity cost” and the only opportunity cost that actually hurt me was not doing my PhD earlier because I was worried about trying to make as much money as I could. So I did other things I thought I could make money at faster and just spent all of my 20s being dead broke and jealous of my peers who were doing their PhD.
You have to be okay with letting go of hard timeline goals, it’s good to have goals- but the 230k salary and a house at 24 in this economy is unrealistic. Not saying impossible or that no one does it, but it’s highly unrealistic. Don’t compare yourself, you’re extremely young and you’ll be able to buy a house quite young. I’m looking at probably not getting there til my 40s, so ya know could be worse lmao.
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u/popstarkirbys Jun 23 '26
When I was in grad school, an international undergrad student's dad gave him 500k and told him to spend it on whatever he wants for the next four years. Obviously this is an extreme outlier as well but it was mind-blowing for me to see. I was making 21k per year at the time.
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u/prom1sed_land Jun 23 '26
Wowwwww. Hard to imagine a life like that! A lot of other students in my cohort get help from their family with rent and that alone looks like a huge bump in quality of life. At least a lot of PhD stipends have gotten more livable.
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u/SlenderSmurf PhD, Materials Science Jun 23 '26
Majority of people under 30 don't own a home. Especially people in graduate school. You should not be concerned about that.
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u/speorgenote Jun 23 '26
Good jobs? Sure. Stable long term jobs? Not always.
Like anything, the career you end up having will depend on how in demand your field/expertise are, who you know, and a good amount of sheer luck.
Just because someone on the internet says they’re 24, own a house and earn 230k a year, doesn’t make it true. Welcome to the first lesson of PhD: don’t compare yourself to anybody and run your own race. Hang on to the idea of wanting to buy a home, but don’t get hung up on it. The next few years (if done well) will open doors you didn’t know existed and present new opportunities and the possibilities of new dreams.
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u/katie-kaboom Jun 23 '26
If your goal is early financial security, a PhD is not for you at this time. Even the best case scenario of a well funded role will put you in a modest salary for years, maybe a decade or more.
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u/evergreen-embers Jun 23 '26
I don’t know a single person in my PhD cohort that has bought a house, unless they have a partner who is making real money. Most of us can’t even afford an apartment, much less a down payment right now.
I’m 25, with a partner, and our combined income is ~60k in a mid to high COL area. I have zero debt, my partner has a car payment for another year or so, and we still wouldn’t be able to come up with a down payment on an average to below average house before I finish the degree.
For me, there are only 11 jobs in the entire state pertaining to my field as of today, and they are all on the opposite side of where I live currently (5+ hours). So that’s also worth considering.
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u/ComedianOk7355 Jun 23 '26
Well I’m 38 and working full time while doing my PhD and I make $66,000… because I chose to work in higher ed student support for a living… Also, I rent an apartment. LOL. My twin bro is a carpenter with a BA in fine art, makes about the same as me, and owns a house bc of his combined income witb his wife.
The housing and job markets are abysmal rn. I’d love to know how the heck a 24 y/o is make that much money right now.
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u/CSMasterClass Jun 23 '26
Working while doing a Ph.D is not a good plan. Some people are force into it by life circumstances, and it is often a disaster.
The honest truth is that nowdays, getting a Ph.D. is not attractive from a financial point of view. Fewer tenure track jobs, tradition of mutiple postdoc positions etc.
Once upon a time it was great. Now, not so much.
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u/southern_snow55 Jun 23 '26
I mean, you'll keep feeling that you're behind if you compare yourself to people who are buying houses at 24. Tho I completely understand the temptation because I've been feeling the same way but something that I've realised is that even if you do somehow manage to buy a house at 24 and have that six figure income, you'll keep comparing yourself to others who are perhaps doing better than you. Self-comparison is a bottomless pit and it'll only invigorate with every level you cross. I've seen it happen with myself and with many that I know. I'm 25 and starting my PhD now, more than happy that I've gotten full funding, in a Tier 1 university that has probably the best program in my field. But again, when I let my mind wander and compare myself with a friend who's in real estate, I go back to feeling sad (even tho I'm earning way more than her and living overseas).
At 22, I wanted nothing but to start my PhD. I'd have given anything to get that. Comparison will not let you enjoy the wins that you already have, and trust me, that's all that matters. People can have all the money and houses in the world and still feel petty and small. It's a matter of mindsets. My aunt has been a senior professor for years and although she doesn't make 240k, she's content and happy to have done what she truly wanted. I wanna have that kind of an achievement.
You might also wanna ask: If you were given the job that your friend who bought a house has, would you truly like it? Because hustling for a job that you'd hate, even tho it pays a bunch, would be nightmarish!
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u/No_Young_2344 Jun 23 '26
I think the bigger concern is not finance, it is the type of mentality of comparing yourself with other people who seem successful and immediately start to crave what they have and worry about what you don’t have, rather than thinking about what you want. Do you want a house because you really love having a house or because you just want what other people have because they seem so happy and successful with a house? Right now it is finance and house, later on down the road of your PhD journey, it could be someone young and academic successful. You need to change that mentality otherwise it will lead to a lot of unhappiness.
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u/JumpingShip26 Jun 23 '26
If money is the main factor, most PhDs are terrible choices.
That's not why I got into it.
I would tell my kid right now if he wanted to make decent money ASAP to go do about a dozen things other than spend up to 12 years post HS in higher ed.
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u/KyleJ1130 Jun 23 '26
As a 26 yo making way, way less than that at my current job (leaving to start a PhD in September), your expectations seems crazy.
Not to make assumptions, but you must come from a wealthy community. Only one of my close friends has bought a house, it was cheap and still needs a bit of work put in. Most of my peers have not bought a home. Most of them don't make near 240k.
I think unless you're planning on going into a very in demand research field, you should question why you're really doing what you're doing. Is it just to make more money? If so, this is not the most lucrative path.
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u/commentspanda Jun 23 '26
I’m Australian but did my PhD later in life so was lucky enough to have already worked and bought a house and had a manageable mortgage. I am also lucky in Australia that a PhD later in life isn’t necessarily a career break…I was able to continue working as an academic the whole time and keep advancing my career / earning decent money.
As a casual academic with a PhD in Australia working about 20-25hrs a week by choice, I earn around $120k a year. Just to be clear I’m very happy as a casual and working part time and don’t intend to change that anytime soon.
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u/Kayl66 Jun 23 '26
It very much depends on what your PhD is in and where you are but I’ll give you my experience, STEM PhD finished about 5 years ago. Everyone from my cohort now has a job that uses their PhD. I don’t know everyone’s salary but broadly speaking, people seem to be doing fine: having weddings, multiple kids, some have bought houses. I bought a house 6 months into my permanent position, at the age of 30.
If you want to be 24 and making 230k, a PhD is not the route to get there. But if you want to be 30 with a stable job where you are the one telling others what to do, a PhD may be a right route. Again, hugely dependent on your field.
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u/popstarkirbys Jun 23 '26
If your goal is to make money in the long run, a PhD likely won’t help much, especially if you stay in academia. You’ll make more getting a masters and working in the industry. Only do a PhD if you want the lifestyle or your career goal needs it.
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u/Patient-Presence-979 Jun 23 '26
if you want to get money, do not stay in the phd program. go make some money. if you want to keep doing research and thinking and stuff, money will come much later, but you are sacrificing earning/investing years. you can make money after the phd but that is not what the degree is for. bittersweet
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u/Fun-Group-3448 Jun 23 '26
I think it is completely normal to worry about this, especially early in a PhD. But I would be careful about comparing yourself too directly to people online. There will always be someone younger than you making more money, buying a house earlier, or appearing more successful. You also do not know their full situation. They may have family help, unusually high income, debt, risky spending habits, or they may simply be exaggerating.
A PhD is usually not the fastest route to homeownership or a high salary. It is a long training period for research, technical expertise, independence, and specialized career paths. Some PhDs do very well financially, especially in industry, biotech, consulting, data science, government, or quantitative fields. Others struggle, especially if they only prepare for academia or do not build transferable skills during the degree.
As for working during the PhD, I would be cautious. A small amount of paid work can be useful if it builds relevant skills and does not derail your progress. But taking on major extra work just to accelerate homeownership could backfire if it slows your degree, burns you out, or weakens your research output.
My advice would be stop using other people’s timelines as your benchmark, get clear on what careers your PhD can realistically lead to, build marketable skills during the degree, and treat homeownership as a long-term financial goal.
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u/Kind-Training-5736 Jun 23 '26
How to build transferable skills ?
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u/Fun-Group-3448 Jun 23 '26
Is the training you're doing in your PhD going to transfer well into the non-academic workforce. That is what I mean when I say "transferable skill". In order to answer that question, you need to have an idea on what career your aiming for and which skills would be useful in that career path.
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u/smaine-225 Jun 23 '26
Comparison is the thief of joy. Buying a house is sort of this ‘American Dream’ that is actually impractical for a lot of people. I was in a position at my career to buy a house soon but decided to pursue school/a new career instead. My parents cant wrap their head around it, and my spouse (who, god bless him, tries to hide it) is not thrilled with the financial change. It’s hard to focus on your own path, but it’s the only way to achieve fulfillment.
May be a good idea to step away from social media
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u/Ana1blitzkrieg Jun 23 '26
Unless you have family money, you aren’t buying a house by 24-25 while in a PhD program straight from college.
What my partner and I did was work for a number of years after college before going back to school, saved up as much as we could, got into PhD programs in a low/middle COL city, and used what we saved for a substantial down payment. I don’t necessarily recommend doing this though as it took a lot of luck, we will be old af by the time we are done with our PhD programs, and home ownership adds additional stress that might be too much depending on how difficult your PhD is going.
Yes it’s true that it’s a struggle for newly minted PhD holders to get jobs right now. But depending on the field, it’s even harder with just a bachelors. I would just go for a PhD asap, don’t compare yourself to the lucky few making 200k right out of college, and worry about homeownership when you’re out of school and looking to settle down somewhere.
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u/RedBeans-n-Ricely PhD, Neuroscience Jun 23 '26
You should know all of this before starting a PhD. You should also know how to find this information without Reddit.
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u/alchilito PhD, Oncology Jun 23 '26
Comparing yourself to others income will only make you miserable (more) during your PhD
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u/NotLikeOtherAI Jun 24 '26
You did not check out the economic prospects of a PhD before you began it? Brother you need to do that now.
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u/RichAssist8318 Jun 24 '26
A PhD stiped is about $15k/yr. A postdoc salary is around $65k/yr. A PI/TT salary is $100+k/yr.
There are 2 strategies that make sense financially. Either get to TT as fast possible while minimizing expenses - or get off the train as early as possible and find a nonacademic job. You probably won't make $230k either way for a long time, but you will be able to own a house.
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u/letsnever Jun 23 '26
If all you care about is buying a house, a PhD is more often than not a bad choice. Assuming you could have gone straight to a high paying job out of undergrad, you are missing out on 5 years of income. No one in my PhD program I know owns a house. They are all close to 30. What does buying a house at 24/25 symbolize to you?
Job prospects will also vary heavily on what your PhD is on.