Live Personal Finance Seminars, Webinars, and Workshops

I offer a variety of live seminars, webinars, and workshops, which I can deliver in person or virtually. Any of them may be recorded for future viewing as long as it is posted behind a login wall and removed at the end of the academic year.

The information below is for academic year 2023-2024.

To learn more about or book any of these seminars, please email email at PFforPhDs dot com or schedule a call.

Content Options

How to Survive and Thrive Financially During Grad School or Your Postdoc

• Description: Managing your money as a grad student or postdoc is challenging, but it shouldn’t be overwhelmingly stressful. This seminar teaches you how to both survive and thrive financially on a grad student stipend or postdoc salary, including real-life examples of early-career PhDs finding financial success. We will discuss money mindset, increasing income, decreasing expenses, saving, investing, and debt repayment, all tailored to the constraints and opportunities of the PhD life.
• Length: 2 hours
• Cost: $3,000 for up to 50 attendees, $3,500 for 51-100 attendees, etc.

Hack Your Budget

• Description: When it comes to balancing their budgets, grad students and postdocs usually try to pack as much value into as little spending as possible. This immensely practical workshop shows attendees how to “hack” their budgets by decreasing their spending in key necessary areas. Attendees will submit their spending data on housing, utilities, transportation, and food in advance through a survey. Dr. Roberts will present the crowdsourced data and invite attendees to share with one another their strategies and tips, focusing on university- and city-specific insights.
• Length: 1 hour
• Cost: $3,000 for up to 50 attendees, $3,500 for 51-100 attendees, etc.

Optimized Financial Goal-Setting for Graduate Students and Postdocs

• Description: Having any degree of savings when living on a grad student stipend or postdoc salary is a huge financial accomplishment. You are likely eager to make the best use of that limited flow of money. Should you save up cash? Should you pay down debt (even student loans)? Should you invest—and is that possible during PhD training? This workshop presents an eight-step framework that helps you make the right decision for your individual situation to get your money working hard for you by focusing on just one financial goal at a time.
• Format options and cost:
  • Lecture + Q&A; 1 hour; $2,000 for up to 50 attendees, $2,500 for 51-100 attendees, etc.
  • Workshop; 2 hours; $3,000 for up to 50 attendees, $3,500 for 51-100 attendees, etc.

Why and How to Passively Invest as a Grad Student or Postdoc

• Description: Even if you’re financially ready to invest, doing so is not straightforward as a graduate student or postdoc if you don’t have workplace retirement benefits—or even if you do! However, it is possible to invest even very small sums of money—without the investment management becoming a part-time job. This workshop teaches you how to passively invest your money in an Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA), brokerage account, or workplace-based retirement account and guides you in how to choose where to open an independent account: a roboadvisor, discount brokerage firm, microinvesting platform, etc. 
• Format options and cost:
  • Lecture + Q&A; 1 hour; $2,000 for up to 50 attendees, $2,500 for 51-100 attendees, etc.
  • Workshop; 2 hours; $3,000 for up to 50 attendees, $3,500 for 51-100 attendees, etc.

Whether and How to Pay Off Debt During Graduate School or Your Postdoc

• Description: Paying down debt is a wonderful financial step, but is PhD training the right time to do so when there are so many other demands on your money? This workshop teaches a framework to help you decide which debt(s) to prioritize repaying now and which can be put on the back burner. It also gives you specific strategies for minimizing the negative impact of various types of debt you may hold: credit cards, student loans, car loans, medical debt, mortgages, etc. Particular attention will be paid to how to treat federal student loans and the benefits of the SAVE plan.
• Format options and cost:
  • Lecture + Q&A; 1 hour; $2,000 for up to 50 attendees, $2,500 for 51-100 attendees, etc.
  • Workshop; 2 hours; $3,000 for up to 50 attendees, $3,500 for 51-100 attendees, etc.

Up-Level Your Cash Flow as a Graduate Student or Postdoc

• Description: As a grad student or postdoc living on a modest stipend/salary, you’ve likely experienced having ‘more month than money.’ How can you create more cash flow to give yourself some breathing room and even work toward financial goals? This workshop will teach you how to apply the best practices in financial management, decrease your expenses, and increase your income. The goal is to reduce your stress about managing your money and give you multiple ideas for how you can effect a positive change in your cash flow.
• Format options and cost:
  • Lecture + Q&A; 1 hour; $2,000 for up to 50 attendees, $2,500 for 51-100 attendees, etc.
  • Workshop; 2 hours; $3,000 for up to 50 attendees, $3,500 for 51-100 attendees, etc.

I also create custom seminars upon request.

Discounts

I offer a discount for booking multiple events in a single academic year:

• Two events, 10% discount on both
• Three events, 20% discount on all
• Four or more events, 30% discount on all

Previous Hosts

A comprehensive list

Reviews