Leaving or Lost Your Job?
- Ensure you update all your email addresses. If you have used your work e-mail address for benefit plans or news sbuscriptions you want to continue with, be sure to go up to those accounts in advance and change your work email to your personal email address before leaving your company.
- Optimize your last 401k Contribution. 401K can provide a unique opportunity to get money into your Roth retirement account you may not be able to do outside of your 401k if you are up against contribution limits. If you are expecting a final bonus or severance payout, go up to your 401k admin portal and change your contribution percentage if you want to increase or maximize the opportunity to put more funds into your Roth 401k. Note: This will only apply to payments prior to your last date of employment. Subsequent payouts are not eligible for qualified plan withdrawals.
- Use your Flexible Savings Account (FSA) Balance. Whether leaving intentionally or being terminated, use your FSA balance before leaving. Unlike HSA (Health Savings Accounts) which are portability, FSAs are linked to your employer and end once you leave your job. Oddly, while you paid for healthcare insurance at the start of the month and your healthcare coverage may continue through the end of the month, your FSA ends the day your job ends. Even if you have not fully funded your FSA account, as it funds over the course of the year, you can still use your entire allotted annual balance through FSA store items on Amazon, Costco, Walmart or the FSA Store.A little corner case: If you have a balance remaining under the amount you have funded, you may be able to turn your FSA back on under Cobra to use your funded, unused balance.
- Your the time off to reset. Every change event in your life can be used as a chance to reset. Think about what ideal career change you want, take the opportunity to vacation before your next job, etc. A mental and physical reset can be good... personally and professionally. Take time to smell the flowers! Or do that passion project you've always been meaning to do! As they say, one door opens and another one opens.I'm not a big "hey, my situation's worse than you guy", but in this instance maybe I can help share and give folks who feel a little blue some perspective. In the last seven months, I have experienced passing of both my mother and father within a week of each other, taking my father to the ER and sitting with him at 1am the night before my mother's funeral (sounds surreal right), a severe bout of Covid lasting 4-6 weeks from my mother's funeral (yes, it can still happen in 2023!... Paxlovid for sure saved me), two family weddings including the 'love of my life' stepdaughter, a second severe bout of Covid from one of the weddings, foot surgery for myself, now fighting long covid symptoms (breathing, fatigue, brain fog), assuming executorship of two estates, etc. A bit of a war with some joy mixed up in between with barely a full vacation day. And of course, then job loss. All within a few months. So yes, a pause and reset, and some time off, can be a good thing! In the end of the day, it's only a job and there are a lot of them out there. Stay positive.
- Don't just respond to job postings. When you apply for a job, hunt down the hiring manager or senior manager in that department, and contact them as well to let them know your interest.
- Network, network, network. Network with colleagues old and new. And join any alumni networks from former employers and schools, if there is one.
Please reply with other tips and suggestions for others who are either looking for change, or who have been laid off.
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