One of my fellow-PhD students is of the opinion that when applying for postdoc positions you don't need to worry about whether the academic has lots of funding (which is a big concern for me - I want the 'richest' supervisor out there!) because they wouldn't be able to afford a postdoc if they were poor. BUT I have come across situations which seem to contradict this - how is it possible that an academic can afford to always have a postdoc without having a current research grant? Have the postdocs applied for their own funding (for their wages, not research materials)? I feel a bit ignorant asking this, but I really want to know where research money comes from and how to get it.