I am already stockpiling PTO, paying off debts from smallest balance to largest, updated my resume, and trying to save up a few weeks worth of cash. What have I missed?
11 replies (most recent on top)
If you carry any balances with creditors look into the cost/availability of unemployment insurance.
Consider any refinancing or car purchase if going to be needed as it may be hard to qualify for a loan later or for awhile. You may wish to consider applying for a line of credit even if you don’t need it now so you can draw on it later.
Also think about any major bills you may have that are yearly. For example, HOA for those that own homes. I have six month sales of my HOA expenses paid up. I also am working on finding cheaper non state Farm insurance so that I can go to big annual car insurance payments. Doing the same thing for house insurance.
Small things that add value are:
1.Stocking up on common household items that can add up monthly. Ex cleaning and hygiene, canned veggies, etc
2.Paying a little extra something like 20 more a month on lights and gas so that you have a credit going into the winter months. IL winter gas bills are no joke. Now think about having no income in the winter and kids to keep warm.
3.Making sure credit cards have cash advance options
Possibly refinancing if you r in an expensive mortgage.
God bless us all. This is something most tenured SF employees have never had to think about.
If you are able to and need it purchase life insurance as the converted group life is very expensive. We still needed the protection and due to my and my spouse’s ages and his recent surgery we could not readily purchase. Explore if your spouse can add you to their medical plan and the cost so you don’t have to deal with that in a sudden, less than thirty days, time frame.
Contact Lifeworks to find out benefits as they have additional things they provide after termination or leaving.
Good Luck. There is life after SF.
These are some GREAT posts and wise ideas.
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Update your LinkedIn
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LinkedIn with as many people as you can. Also, soon to be former SF employees will land in other places and these connections may help.
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If you think the end is near, start looking for jobs now. Do practice interviews. Get a better understanding of your strengths and weaknesses and work on any gaps now.
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Perfecting your resume and cover letter now. It takes awhile to get these document in good shape.
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Start researching real estate prices in areas you may want to relocate to - to see these places are viable.
To last commenter, great, sound advice. All of us need to prepare regardless of whether we’re impacted now or within the next 3 months...
Connect to as many coworkers as possible on social media like LinkedIn or Facebook. Like another person said, print a list of email addresses. Hoard PTO and save money.
OP:
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Print a copy of SF retirement plan - you can do this from the Aon Hewett website at home. Save a copy with other valuable papers as you will need this down the road.
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Make sure you have copies of any positive comments from mgt.
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Start removing personal items from your work area, not all at once so as not to be noticed. SF may not let you get your things after you give your notice. If you are proximity, ask your TM what items they want back & have them send you that in writing. They will want to account for any inventoried items such as the phone and anything with a bar code.
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Print a copy of your contacts from outlook in case you need to get in touch will those left behind - you never know.
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Get the phone number for the HRSC.
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If you have MER money, spend it before you go.
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If you are planning to use COBRA for medical, it is very expensive and slow to start. It is retroactive to when you leave but there can be hiccups. Mine took almost 6 weeks to kick in.
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Before leaving see if your Dr. will proscribe 90 day supplies of your meds, perhaps a different prescription such as 4 pills per day instead of 2, to have enough on hand should there be delays.
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Cash is your friend, accumulate as much as possible before leaving.
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Plan on rolling over your 401K. Aon Hewett is good to work with, but you can't move the money until SF tells them you are gone and there can be a delay with this. I already had an out company I was working with on a roth ira. You can contact them before you leave and they will send you roll over kits. I had both a 401K and a roth 401k to roll over so I set up multiple accounts and spread the money over a diversified portfolio. You will need account numbers as well as the roll over companies address to provide Aon Hewett. Do not take the money directly - they will most likely send a check to you made out to both you and the roll over co. There are tax penalties if you just take the money.
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If possible, leave on good terms. You never know when or if you will run into some of your co-workers again. Also, if someone has been a big help to you, thank them. Again, it may be a networking thing down the road.
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give 2 weeks notice. In my case they took my stuff almost immediately but paid me the 2 weeks - more money is more money...
Letters of reference with Non SF email address's cut and paste internal email address to wordpad and print them
About 18 months ago I realized what I once considered a career is now nothing more than a job.
My family has since taken no family vacations, cut out needless spending, I have increased my focus on continuing education, saving PTO, and am ready to leave SF at any time.
We managed to add 4-5 months of income to our savings over that time.
I am not an impacted employee, heck I am one of the roles they need more of, but the family friendly company I loved working for is gone. SF Executive has set the tone, and that message is employees are nothing but a number to them.
If/when the opportunity arises my family will move on to either a job with leadership I believe in, or anything with higher pay.