Falling behind: postdocs in their thirties tire of putting life on hold

Former postdoc in 30s here - I only had to postdoc to 31 (am now on the tenure-track, woohoo) and I still felt like the impermanence was unsettling and stressful. It made it nigh-impossible to plan out life pathways, and just like the many they interviewed for this report, I and my wife also held off on big decisions like kids and home purchases.

Overall, I do think the academic pathway needs to be overhauled. Probably this would need to be a function of academic finance reform. When post-docs exist on "grant-funded" positions, then the position naturally expires at the end of the grant. I would love it if we had different mechanisms for funding.