Thread regarding Honeywell International Inc. layoffs

I wish I had known the hsa could pay health care premiums. I would have maxed it for the last few years. Unfortunately it’s too late for me. I was laid off in March after 20+years. And yes, I’m soon to be 60.

I would also tell younger employees that plan or aim for retirement at 65 to revise that goal to 60- that way IF you get laid prior to 65 you will be more ready. I wish I had thought that way. S---s when you are financially on track for 65 and you get laid off 5 years early.

Your HSA can be used to pay COBRA premiums. Consider building up your HSA balance to cover 18 months of premiums, particularly if you think your reemployment prospects are weak due to your age. My COBRA premiums are about $550 as a single person, married/family probably double that. So a single person would want about $10K in their HSA, someone with dependents double that, with extra over and above to cover your deductible.

@6ttg - I floated the 0.75% figure as a informational guideline. Even some “semi-reputable” places will try to charge 2% with a smile. Go to one of those investment counselor breakfasts and the sky's the limit. Best to do your own investing.

My concerns for the welfare of funds is based on the HW/State Street relationship. The State Street S&P fund charged more than some equivalent funds. Also some employees were looking at the S&P and when it took a dump they would sell their foreign funds that day anticipating a similar loss only to buy back lower later. State Street put a time limit on how you could do this so the tactic became ineffective. At the time it was said that it was how they were making their money.

Old HW always tried to find the best choices for custodians. State Street was not but I hope things have improved and one can invest more freely.

Actually, 4ddm, the Honeywell selections and fees in the 401k are pretty good without adding another 0.75% for advice on top of the fees that the investment vehicles charge in the IRA. As for "They have even less incentive to grow your money now as an ex-employee than they did when you were employed." - Honeywell has no control over the results of the various investment vehicles except for the obvious one of Honeywell stock and it doesn't matter if you work there or not.

BAE & Harris ( AkA ITT Cliffton) is looking for lots of people with Aero and Mil spec design experience!

Get your 401k out of HW as soon as you can. They have even less incentive to grow your money now as an ex-employee than they did when you were employed. Open your own IRA under your control or if you are deficient in the investment skills area get a financial advisor (if you have the amount you should in your 401k you shouldn’t pay more that 0.75% per year for their services). I set up mine to have a dividend and interest stream of 4%.

A smaller company that has no time or funds for training people would probably love to have your services. Unfortunately for less money. As a non-career-path-plug-in-grunt-engineer the general salary around here is $80K. There is solace in working at what you enjoyed doing before you got caught up in the upper level engineering nightmare is nice. The lack of toxic politics is better because as non career path employee you are defined out of that. If you still get caught up in politics the leaving is easier this time.

Of course working subcontract the sky's the limit for income. If you work out of town a second residence will be needed. Some will pay a per diem - around here $100 per day for a year. Per diem money is tax free. Some contractors without per diem have to work overtime and whether that is available is stated going into the contract.

Indeed is probably the best job posting aggregator. If there are no local job postings for the week that you apply for open a Boeing/Raytheon/Lockheed etc. account that have plenty of jobs to apply for local or not. If you setup your web browser to remember these passwords it is even easier. Immediately file the response letters in a dated file on your email for unemployment insurance audit purposes. No, unless it is a staff level job these companies will not hire you as a FTE. On the other hand they will use your college graduation date to filter out your resume so you are not wasting their time either.

The outplacement service may claim to have a super-duper list of job postings and pump you up with a over positive attitude but it really comes down to networking and luck. If you contact someone that you have not talked to in several years it will probably not be helpful to you.

Contractjobhunter is a no BS listing of contract jobs.

These folks are spot on and I can’t really add but I can embellish.

Use the outplacement service to update your resume. There is a lot of fluff added these days as HR searches electronically for keywords before they pass them on to hiring managers. This is not the resume I would write and/or use to make a hiring decision but you have to get them past the HR gatekeepers.

At least register and put a resume on Linkedin. When I got my walking papers in the pits of the recession in 2008 - nobody called for years. Now at 59 I get a call from a local company every 2 weeks or so. They will encourage you to do the connection thing and cold call friends of friends. Don’t think that does much good.

If your state has a “good” Obamacare try that. You could be able to control your income and hopefully get a subsidy. Subsidies are based on income and not net worth. Don’t feel bad about taking the assistance as you are not here because you wanted to be plus you are paying out of savings or interest thereof. You could spend your money now and it is a pretty sure bet that later there will be no help. Sell lots of stock that made money (Apple) and sell losers to balance (oil) and your income will only be the bottom line of the Schedule D.

"As long as your HSA contributions were in place prior to incurring the expense, you can reimburse yourself years later and use the cash to cover living expenses."

Really?! I had no idea! will need to research that further because our HSA has built up into a healthy amount. Thanks.

-2vfh. Save those medical receipts to reimburse yourself later. As long as your HSA contributions were in place prior to incurring the expense, you can reimburse yourself years later and use the cash to cover living expenses. Try to make a mortgage payment with each paycheck (rather than just once per month) for the rest of this year to retire that mortgage faster and then stockpile that extra cash to live off of, you may need it. It will also get you used to living on less. If you currently contribute to the savings plan, drop your contribution to exactly 8%, and if you haven't already, switch from pretax contributions to Roth (you can tap those contributions tax-free if you need to). Of course you will have to wait another week to do that, since we are in the Fidelity conversion blackout at the moment.

I am ten years behind you but mortgage-free, maxing HSA and Roth, and stockpiling cash in preparation for the inevitable. Best of luck to you!

I am still with Honeywell but won't be Medicare eligible for 3 more years so am planning options for if I retire early or am let go. What are some good other sources of "after tax" dollars besides ROTH IRA and HSA?

Have been maximizing money out into the Health Savings Account (HSA) for several years and have NOT been using it for health care expenses so as to build up a nice little fund. Would use this money to pay health insurance premiums and medical care costs until Medicare.

Have been maximizing money put into my ROTH IRA. Same for wife. Would draw on these funds as after tax source of living expenses.

Have downsized house and only have 2 years mortgage payments left.

For people not eligible for medicare yet.

ACA healthcare loophole: If you have after tax dollars to live on and you can keep your taxable income below approximately18K (single person) than healthcare is very inexpensive. I pay less than $65/month with a $50 deductible (Silver plan). I'm 60 years old and happily retired from HW in Arizona.

Look at all of Honeywell’s competitors, suppliers and related products. Check out othecompanies that exhibit at their major tradeshows. Consider contract work... look for special companies in your field that specialize in contract help. You only need a few more years to hit 65. I too am being laid off because I am not currently in the right location which seems to be a former Communist country.

Try something totally different.... something you’ve always liked.May not make the same money after 30 years but just about guarantee you will be happier without the Honeywell stress. Just keep trying and never give up.

Thanks for the high level tips so far, please keep 'em coming.

@1arc - Yep, I am not asking for specific companies, just a bit of an arrow pointing which might be a good direction to go.

Health care at 59 YO.

My wife and I ate in excellent health with one prescription for her , estrogen. After calling and getting many emails, we went with a cost share program, Liberty Heslth Shsre. We pay 298.00/ mo. With a 3k deductible. We are blessed with great health and I’m waiting for Medicare or Trump to do something. We’re both vets but make too much money to make that affordable.

Good luck.

Another really hot field right now with a huge increase in the Defense budget is missile defense systems. Numerous players are already in the game, and new players are coming in to get in on the action. Even though the missile counter-measure systems arn't new, there's newer technology just coming to fruition. Land a job either as a contractor or direct hire could net you 10 solid years of employment right now to bridge an older employee until retirement (and possibly beyond).

Good luck in your search!

@1arc - Not a good idea to share where people went. ALT can research to find out who went where and potentially hassle those people on the non-compete (that wouldn't stand up in court anyway). They are uptight about this site.

The Missile and bomb business is booming!

I would, for my part, appreciate if the folks who say "I found a job elsewhere and couldn't be happier" could share some details on what companies they got on with. Might those of use just starting to look identify some early targets to apply to.

Thanks in advance.

For those of you who chose to retire early, what do you do for healthcare? (The million dollar question). At 59, I have saved well for retirement but was on track and planning to retire in 6 years- not now. My wife doesn’t work so there are two of us to worry about health insurance. Cobra is way too expensive to even be an option. We are both very healthy. But? How do early retirees handle that?

Thanks for all your input!!

I got it last March at 59 YO with 37 years of perfect service. Got caught up in the WFH stupidity. Or now it was was a corporate excuse to let us go.

I never went back to work nor am I looking. I have retirement and a nice 401 savings account to pull from and at 62 I’ll get 2200. In SS. I’m living the dream.

Wow. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by these posts. I remember when those over 50 wouldn't be laid off due to fear of age discrimination lawsuits. Then those over 55 were untouchable for that reason. Now I guess there's no rule or regulation regarding age. Well, it's their loss. I was 55 when they whacked me and like most, after shock and dismay, I can honestly say things have worked out better than I could have expected. There are jobs out there. I also do contract work and am really adding value to the projects I work on without the Honeywell b.s. Good luck to all!

You might want to check into working as an engineering contractor. Not salaried necessarily but billing for hours worked. That's the gig I had after HON. When there was work, I worked. When there wasn't, I was semi-retired. No unemployment hassle for my employer. That was the arrangement and it worked long enough to get me to social security. I had my modest pension to go with it.

What an awesome breath of fresh air this thread has been! Thank you, everyone, for such positive words. Honeywell definitely let the wrong people go.

Great advice people. Many blessings to all.

Sorry. It happened to me after 14 years of service at age 61. A common story at HON. I had 3 employers before I joined HON, and my experience at HON was the worst. The RIF happened a few years ago, and looking back on it was a great move. At HON I was very disappointed and really hated my job and really needed a change. I really wanted to work another 2 years, but was fortunately financially to retire.

I was a RIF candidate after a long Career and in my mid-fifties. I started a job search and I wish I could say it was easy. However I was incredibly fortunate to land a new position at a company that wanted/needed my experience. This may come across the wrong way, but you'll be fine. There are countless companies looking for people to help them grow and prosper. Be open to new different areas of the country, explore different networking groups and learn how to positively sell yourself. Get on LinkedIn, update your profile and do job searches. I wish you all the best, you'll look back at this and be thankful they let you go. I look back at my time at the company with pride over what I accomplished and sadness with what that company has become.

I love the responses so far to this OP. You guys are amazing and it's very clear that HON has let the wrong people go! Good luck, OP! We're all pulling for you!

In regards to your posted question - if your severance is anything like mine (I was notified last month and given my transition window which is ending soon) you have available to you the services of an outplacement service. You should take advantage of their services and resources to help you with the search.

I know I will be, since it's been 33 years since I've been without a job.

It’s been about 18 months since Honeywell faded into the rear view, and I can tell you things are better out there. Not one day since have I wanted to go back. My post-HW job has all of the technical challenges with a micro-fraction of the corporate BS. I come to the board primarily to remember how bad working for HW s---s. My current position involves a good deal of networking and the message is clear that companies large and small are having trouble finding qualified people. I am certain that no matter what product you support, your experience is valued! I guarantee that as I write this, there are young, hungry companies having meetings figuring out how to steal business from the white whale. They would love nothing more than to say on their PPT slide “we hired Mr./Ms. X - 30 years’ experience with your product.” I have added several ex-HW employees to my team and they help us tremendously. So if you are ‘well-seasoned’, don’t despair, but instead try this approach: 1) be confident - dust off your resume, include specific cases of how you cleared that insurmountable hurdle or delighted that customer 2) Improve your networking prowess (we all need to), get on linkedin, go meet some new people and get comfortable with selling yourself and your skills 3) be flexible (if possible) with new locations, working remote, consulting agreements, and if you land a spot at a small company, there will not be near the specialization you are used to, so you might need to make a drawing, cut a PO or get on the test bench again 4) embrace the role of mentor and the way that younger engineers work and learn – it’s hard for us that have soaked up knowledge like a sponge for 20+ years to flip the switch and be the giver, but that may be your primarily role and you will be valued for it.

You have both my congratulations and condolences. It's unfortunate that after giving your life to a company like Honeywell, they can cut you loose as you are nearing retirement. Unfortunately your story is all too common. You also have my congratulations because although this s---s at this point in your life, you are young enough to find a small company that will value your experience and input and can end your career enjoying what you do and find a company that you will be proud to represent. Good luck and stay positive!!! I know many people that have left and are in better positions today.