Preparing for job loss, from panic to planning
I’m hoping my experience will help others, it’s certainly eye opening to take a hard look at your spending even without job loss looming. I’ll cover my plan of attack here then go into more details in future posts.
Lesson # 1: Plan for job loss before you need to! (Don’t be me!)
Planning for job loss:
Savings - experts say you should have enough money to cover your expenses for between 3 and 9 months. Until recently I wasn’t close to this. Thanks to the fantastic run in Steem I have a cushion. Selling my Steem during this downtime was painful, but the comfort of knowing I have my immediate bills covered was worth more than the potential upside. Dumb luck saved me this time and I still hold a lot of steempower. :)
Evaluate and adjust your spending - Overall I’ve lived within my means. My largest expense is my home, for now nothing will change there. My next largest expense...surprise it’s food! We are a family of 1 adult and 2 children. I spend far too much on food, much of it eating out.
Options for help - Determine what help is available to you. This varies by company and location. Health insurance options in America are tumultuous at the moment, I’m just beginning my journey here.
Emotional Support - Having friends and family to provide emotional support is helpful. I also don’t want to worry my children but they need to understand it’s our job as a family to adjust our spending during this time. I’m confident with a positive approach I can turn saving money into a “game” so they can understand and participate without being stressed.
Income - Finding other sources of income is an obvious priority. If you’re reading this, you already know one of my ideas. I’ve updated my resume and am actively applying for jobs too.
Exercise - Yes, exercise. Exercising will make you feel better, more confident, and help you maintain your health. Go for walk.
I’m sure I’ll find more as I go through this journey. I’ll update you in future posts!
TLDR: Plan for job loss now
I am just living to make ends meet with things such like this blogging and I am surviving nonetheless @mynewsteemit
Looking forward to seeing more of how things roll out for you on the job front. I'm in Canada so while we do have good health insurance our job market isn't the strongest and there's limited options. This post is great from an awareness point of view to expect a possible unexpected turn of events. Upvoted and following you. Thanks and wishing you the best of success going forward.
I've heard that taking some time to fully depressurize from the event helps too. Maybe just a few days at most. The planning can come later when you're in a better mental space to do so.
It can be disturbing and chaotic, but sometimes losing a job is the best way to change some things that you didn't enjoy anyway.
Here's hoping you find a better fit somewhere else!
Thanks, it all happened Friday and my immediate response was to get my resume done and apply for a job. I think I wanted to get pointed in the right direction. I will take some time to think things through. I have 90 days before I'm out of work so I'm very fortunate to have some time to plan.
@mynewsteemit, best of luck to you! I have been in that sort of situation... actually twice in 12 months... 1st time the company just announced it was going to close, overnight... found another (really good) gig and 5 months later they were sued so they laid off 70% of their people.
Like many, I had no viable "plan B" and certainly not enough cash to live for several months, especially the 2nd time.
Your suggestions are good... I was saved by "living cheap" (NO going out/eating out) and by pounding temp agencies for a while till I could find something permanent. Actually, though, that second sudden layoff prompted me in the direction of eventually becoming self-employed.
I'm sorry that happened but I'm glad you are pushing ahead! What did you end up doing to be self employed?
Well, this was quite a long time ago... I was in IT related work, but I was always good at writing, so I went to several temp agencies and let them know I'd gladly take short term gigs as a technical writer... and the taught myself all the basics of technical writing in a week. It was a good field... most companies don't actually want to have a tech writer on staff... don't need it enough, but there was demand for someone willing to work as a contractor. So I did that for a while... started to get a few referrals, then struck out on my own... writing anything from online help systems to radio advertising scripts.
Now, what needs to be told with this story is that I accepted (and incorporated into my life) that it would been a 70% pay cut, for a while... which mean moving from a house in the burbs to a 1-bedroom apartment and other cost cutting measures. But it's hard to put a dollar number on independence and peace of mind.
Job loss is tough.. Definitely need a back-up plan. Always be ready to make money somewhere else.
nice article and good to read...resteeming, and following from now on buddy
It is always a scary spot to be in, but if planned for correctly you can make it through ok. Always have a safety net!
Thanks for sharing your journey with us. I can tell you have had a rough time, but I'm glad it turned out OK! You got a big account on Steemit, and I'm sure that you will be alright from here. Thanks and take care
Love your perspective on this. I personally want to use steem as a cushion as well. My first goal is to cover my weekly gas money. The next step would be to cover my weekly lunch expenditures.
If I can do both of those I'd be happy but I know so much more is possible. Lets see how we all benefit from the steemit platform. It can change many people's lives.
Thank you for sharing!