38: Navigating the Financial Rapids of Unexpected Unemployment

I know I spend a good amount of time on LinkedIn. It's one of my preferred social media platforms and unfortunately, I see every single day that people have their little green open to work banner and you know, again, these are highly skilled people who have been professionals within their fields for decades and they're getting let go left and right. So we wanted to do an episode to help you navigate, or to help your friends and family navigate what to do if you were to get laid off. Welcome to the Sugar Daddy podcast. I'm Jessica.

And I'm Brandon.

And we're the Norwoods, a married millennial couple here to help you build wealth so you can live the life you've always dreamed of. Brandon is an award-winning licensed financial planner with over 10 years of experience and millions of dollars managed for his clients all over the US. Don't worry, we leave all the intimidating finance mumbo jumbo at the door Stick with us as we demystify the realm of dollars. So it all makes sense. While giving you a glimpse into our relationship with money and each other, we are so glad you're here. Let's get started.

Hey babe, what are we talking about today?

Today we are going to talk about what to do if you've been laid off, and it's not a fun conversation, but it's better to have a plan in place and to hopefully not need it than to need a plan and not have it. And in today's landscape, unless you are working for yourself, you are not guaranteed a job. And we all know businesses change priorities, change businesses, de-invest to reinvest however they want to name it. Your job is not safe. It doesn't matter how good of an employee you are, how many projects you executed at the highest level. If the business is pivoting and they don't need you anymore, they will let you go. So it's better to have a plan in place. And I know I spend a good amount of time on LinkedIn it's one of my preferred social media platforms and unfortunately, I see every single day that people have their little green open to work banner and you know again, these are highly skilled people who have been professionals within their fields for decades and they're getting let go left and right. So we wanted to do an episode to help you navigate, or to help your friends and family navigate what to do if you were to get laid off.

Yeah, and part of the financial planning process is maximizing your income, and so your income being a big part of how the plan proceeds and whether or not you're able to achieve the goals you want to achieve. So, therefore, you do want to plan in place in case you know the income that you were planning on coming in doesn't come in for a certain period of time.

Yeah. So we're going to keep this nice and brief. We're going to hit on what we think are the most important things to do and consider if you've been laid off, but if at any point you think that we missed anything, please let us know so that we can add more information to our show notes or even do a part two. So, to kick it off, I think the first and most important thing you need to do is to process what happened. This is your time to be what was me, to be angry, to be upset, be disappointed, feel your feelings, know that your feelings are valid and you have to just sit in the suck and you need to give yourself some time honestly, to grieve the situation.

Yeah, I agree, and I would also say, especially for men, because we are the ones that tend to not process our feelings and just push everything down deep inside, and you need to process your feelings. I think properly processing your feelings is going to allow you to move on to the next step where you can actually, with a clear mind, move forward with a plan.

Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the other things to do in this moment is, once you've processed your anger and your disappointment, reflect on what it is that you liked or loved about that last career and what you didn't like, because this is a great opportunity for you to potentially pivot. Maybe you were going into the office, but you really would love a remote job. Maybe you're in a global role and now you want to only work within the US hours of business instead of being on late night calls. Do you want to still manage a team or do you want to be an individual contributor? There are so many things that go into making us happy at work that I think it's really important to reflect on what you want that next role to honestly look like and not just to jump for the next thing that comes your way because it might not be the right fit.

I like how you said an opportunity, because you took a situation that you know for most people is negative and it seems negative and you kind of framed it in a different light as far as opportunity. So if there was, you know things about your job that you didn't like and that you actually want to change, but maybe you were too scared to change, use this now as an opportunity to make that change. So I like that thought process.

You know, I'm all about the mindset shift in 2024 because your mind is powerful and again, yes, it sucks. Sit in the suck, but then change your mind and the silver lining is you get to determine what that road looks like. Moving forward, you get to make the changes of maybe what you didn't like in your previous role and apply them to your search in this new role. So, absolutely, I think it is an opportunity. The second thing that is important is to look at your benefits. Did you leave with a severance? Do you have insurance that is going to expire in two days, two weeks, two months? What does that look like? Especially if you you know, let's say, your insurance takes care of your whole family, right? In our case, for example, if I were to lose my job, that's not just on me, but that's oh. Now we don't have insurance for a family of four. So, understanding what your maybe exit package looks like Are you getting one more paycheck, two more paychecks, three paychecks? Are there commissions coming your way? Bonuses Are you going to get paid out for unused PTO, unused sick leave? Really understand what it means to no longer be with that company and make sure that you understand those benefits. One important call out is that in most cases, you still have access to your HR people within that company, even once you've separated, especially if it's just a few days or a week or two after so utilize your resources. If you still have access to the portal for a certain amount of time, make sure you understand what your separation really entails and what benefits are still coming your way.

Yeah, because when it comes to the insurance aspect, depending on when, depending on during the month, the date that you are let go will make a big difference and maybe when your benefits end. So, as we said before, you know it sucks to be let go, but you know you need to reach out to your HR, as Jess said, and find out all the specific details and write them down. As far as like she said paychecks that are coming in, but like, more importantly, like she said, the insurance aspect, because, especially if you're someone that relies on your health insurance because maybe you don't have the best health or you have medications or doctors that you see on a regular basis you want to know these things because you don't want to go into an appointment thinking that your insurance is still in place and the next thing you know you're hit with a giant bill because you don't have insurance. And normally when you separate from a company, they do offer you something called Cobra, but I would say nine times out of 10, when someone is let go, the cost of Cobra is not something that they can foot while they're being let off and they don't have an income coming in.

Right. So typically, if you are separating from your company, you will get an exit you know package and exit interview and exit opportunity with your HR professional. Utilize that packet, that time and ask questions Okay. Number three is file for unemployment. Okay, so first we want you to sit in the suck. That's really important process, those feelings. Number two understand the benefits that you still have or are coming your way, or which ones will no longer be available and when. But the third is file for unemployment. You are paying into unemployment right now as an employee. This is not the time to be prideful, to not want to use the system. I mean, people come up with all sorts of things. Go get that unemployment and it's going to be different from state to state. So go to your, go to Google, type in unemployment for your state, make sure you're on the government website and then you're going to need to look into what kind of paperwork do you need to fill out, what kind of documents are you going to need, and also understand that those benefits are not going to kick in two minutes after you hit submit. So you do not want to sleep on this. You want to make sure that one of the first things you do is file for unemployment because it's going to take time to process.

Yeah, it's going to take a few weeks and especially depending on you know, for example, when you were laid off, if the economy was down and it was massive layoffs across, massive across on the various companies, they're going to have a lot more people filing and it's going to take a lot longer to do it. So the sooner you do it, the sooner you can start to receive the benefits.

Yeah, do not wait on that. Do not if you are by nature a procrastinator or you're just thinking, oh, I'll put it off. Don't put it off. Think about, any time you deal with a government agency, how long it takes to get things done. Okay, like, imagine yourself walking into the DMV, but for your unemployment benefits.

Yeah.

Get it done today. Okay, you do not want to wait on that.

I'm still waiting to be able to go to the DMV to get like the official ID that I can use for plane flights.

Oh yeah, your real ID. Yeah, still waiting, and yeah, we've been at this new address for almost a year and getting a DMV appointment. Okay, we're getting off track here. The fourth thing is to look at your finances. Obviously, there's now a halt on your income, so if you don't already know what's coming in, what's going out, what are your necessary bills? Right, the ones that are not going to stop you're still going to have to pay your rent. Keep your lights on, keep your heat on, keep the water running. Make sure that you understand that. If you don't know it right now, write it down so you understand what money you will have to spend. This is also a good time to look at available credits, what your debts are you know, and make sure that you are ready to cut expenses. That's going to be another section. So what did I miss about the budgeting?

Well, here with the budgeting aspect is hopefully you've listened to some of other podcasts and you have an emergency fund. This is what the emergency fund is for. Hopefully, you have somewhere between maybe six to 12 months worth of your expenses and your emergency fund, so in the event of you getting laid off, you will be able to cover your bills. This gives you the runway that you can make sure that everything's paid for while trying to find employment elsewhere.

Yeah, and so many people are scared to use their emergency fund. But this would actually be an emergency right. It's not the cute boots that you saw at TJ Maxx. This is actually the emergency right. So if you have money in your checking account, you've got things set up on auto draft etc. You know, make sure that you're managing any auto drafts. You don't want to be overdrafting, but this is absolutely what an emergency fund is for and you should be relieved to have it in the event that you need to dip into it.

I would also say here, as far as from the expense cutting standpoint, any type of debts that you currently have that you're paying on, reach out to the providers and see if they can provide any flexibility. So, for example, you know, for most people that have student loan debt, it's based upon income. So if you don't have any income coming in, calling into them and getting adjustment could be very key in regards to making sure that you have enough money to get through the period until you find employment again. So don't shy away from those you know scenarios where you're reaching out to. If you have credit card debt or, like I said, student loan debt, call them. More than likely they will work with you finding out that you were unemployed.

Yeah, they would rather get $5 a month than no dollars, and you don't want to have a default or have something that could have been an easy phone call impact your credit negatively.

Exactly, don't want to lose your job and also damage your credit score. Right.

You don't want to do that. You don't want to do anything that you're going to want to do. After figuring out your budget, looking at you know what kind of runway you have, your emergency fund, et cetera is. This is the time to cut unnecessary expenses, right? Do you really need Hulu and Netflix and Spotify and Apple music and the fancy gym membership and the meal delivery service and the fancy yoga membership? Those are all great things to have, not saying you should stop working out or taking care of you know, your mental health or or anything like that. But maybe you can go to the $10 planet fitness instead of the $190 orange theory, right? So this is the opportunity to really go bare bones and cut back on those luxuries really are what they are.

Yeah, the idea is that you want to be able to sustain a certain lifestyle for the period of time that you're going to be laid off, and by sustain a certain lifestyle, I mean that you want to take care of your needs.

Needs, not wants.

You want to make sure that you don't have any issues paying your mortgage or your rent, you don't have any issues paying for gas, food utilities. Those are the things that you are going to want to focus on, and I'm not saying that you can't have any of those wants in there, but the idea is that you do want to be very much well aware of how much is going out. You know, cost wise for those wants and cutting back, especially if need be. I think it's much easier to cut back in the beginning and then maybe make some adjustments and say, hey, you know it's not as bad, maybe we can add a few more things to these back in, rather than waiting until like it's a you know dire for you to cut back.

Yeah, absolutely. It's also a good time If you do have a side hustle have had one in the past is that something that you can ramp up Right? Let's say you're a dog walker and now you are not working eight to five. Can you walk more dogs? Can you watch dogs at home? Can you house it Somebody's dog? I mean, you're making birthday cakes and cupcakes. Is that something you can now put on your Facebook neighborhood page and say, hey, if you've got any upcoming celebrations, here's some of my work that I've done in the past. Reach out to me for rates. Whatever it is that you've done in the past to make money, is that something that you can now do while you have a little bit more time? Understanding, of course, you're going to be spending time applying for jobs, hopefully interviewing, et cetera, so don't overextend yourself. But is there something that you can do in the meantime?

Also, depending on what your career is, this could be an opportunity for you to maybe do some freelance work. There's a lot of websites out there for various needs that people have. If you're able to fill that need, you might be able to put a good amount of money away by filling that void for other people.

Like Fiverr, upwork places that, yeah, you basically sign yourself up as a contractor and then people reach out to you for all sorts of things.

So think about the things that you're currently doing in your career and how you might be able to monetize those outside of that job atmosphere.

That actually leads to my sixth point, which is all about your network, is how you get work. This is really when we need to make sure that the resume is up to date, LinkedIn is up to date, that you have opened yourself up for work on LinkedIn, and then that huge impact is going to build at that end as well, the things you do need to be pudding, being specific with your network. So these are your friends, your family people on LinkedIn. You know telling them hey, I was recently laid off. Here's what I'm looking for in my next role. Here are my skills and qualifications, projects that I've worked on, certifications, etc. Can you help me find my next role? People are willing to help when they know what you are looking for and how you're qualified. What I see all too often on LinkedIn is been laid off from work. Would love any leads.

What, what are we supposed to do with that?

I don't. I don't know what you're doing. Let's be honest.

We have good friends. Do I exactly know what they do for a living? Not necessarily.

Yeah, I could have five friends all with project manager titles and they all do five completely different things in five completely different industries. You need to be specific. You need to tell us you know what kind of role you're looking for hybrid, remote, on site, what field, what your qualifications are. Have you been doing this for the last decade? Then let us know. Do you have 20 certifications in this field? Definitely let us know. I would also say, in this kind of day and age, the easier you can make it for people to help promote you, the better. So, let's say, you see somebody within your network, you know, and they have an opening at their company, having them vouch for you, right, getting your resume on the top of the stack for that recruiter is going to be essential. But if you're asking people to do work for you, we're all so busy, right? So my, my go-to would be hey, brandon, I see that so and so on in your company is hiring. I'm really interested in this job. If I got you my resume, could you send it over to the recruiter? Here's a blurb that you can share to cut and paste, so that you don't have to come up with a statement of why I'm fantastic, and in that paragraph I would write it as if I'm the person asking to pass this information along. Right, brandon Norwood is a licensed financial planner to da, da, da, da, da, or you know. Whatever it is, these are the certifications. Here's my experience within the field. You got to make it easy for people to want to promote you.

Yeah you do all the legwork for them and all they're doing is simply presenting it. And I would also say like, don't do this solely outside of being laid off. Right, that is a huge thing that people miss out on is that they're not constantly networking throughout the course of just every day. You know, even if you love your job, I always say have conversations with people. Don't turn down a conversation because at the end of the day, the idea of working at a company for 30 plus years that's gone. The loyalty is not there anymore. So even if you're you like your company, you're doing well with your company. Don't think that if it doesn't benefit, if it benefits a company more to let you go, that they won't do that. They will. So you should always be looking to make sure that you have other opportunities possibly lined up in that scenario or at least contacts within that field.

Networking LinkedIn is a great place. Make sure your LinkedIn is updated. Make sure you have a business quality photo, you know. Don't have a LinkedIn profile where it's just the little blue man and nobody can see your face, like if there's somebody super smiley in a professional photo versus I can't even see your face. Who am I going to reach out to if I have an open position? The person who I can see, not the person who's a weird built-in avatar, right?

Also, too, is while you're making achievements at your current job, update your resume at that time. A lot of people don't keep a running list of the things that they're doing at their job and then updating on their resume, and then, when it comes time to update their resume later on, they've forgotten about all these things. So you should honestly always have an updated resume. I'm not saying you gotta do it every day, obviously, but maybe once a month, once a quarter keep a running list of your achievements, because the thing is, too is that when you go into an interview for a new job, if you can provide them concrete information about how you excelled, that's a lot different than providing very generic things.

Yeah, absolutely. They want examples. You know you're probably gonna have to pull out some references. So having you know, a little brag folder of people who shouted you out, people who gave you kudos.

Projects you worked on that, you know, turned out phenomenal.

Right, you wanna have all that listed because, again, we've said it before we are day to day in our jobs, in our roles. We're executing. We're just here thinking, oh, I'm doing my job, I'm doing it well, no big deal. But then, when it comes time to actually brag on yourself, you don't remember who was part of that project, what the outcomes were, how you contributed. In your head, you're like oh, that was 18 months ago, I don't, I don't even remember. Write it down. Make sure that you have that running list, because in times like this, you'll be able to go back to it and have it handy and then utilize it as you're looking for your next role.

Yeah, and think about like, for example, if you're in a sales role and they're asking you about your performance, you just say, like you know, I see it in my goals. That's very generic, as compared to you're saying I hit 155% of my goal within the first six months of the year. Very different.

Very different. Yeah, absolutely. So obviously, there are probably more things that you could do, but I think these items are really most important to get you started in the process of making sure that you're maximizing benefits, utilizing your network so you can get work, and making sure that you've taken time for yourself to process. So we'll run back through it one more time. The first thing that everybody should do is take time to process, be mad, be disappointed Again, sit in that suck because it does, and you need to take time to actually feel that. Then reflect on it and think about what you want your next role to look like and what your requirements are, because, again, it's an opportunity potentially to pivot, to be with a better company, maybe a startup and a company that you've been long admiring, et cetera. So use it as an opportunity and change that mindset. Number two was look at your benefits. Understand what your benefits look like. When is your health insurance expiring? Are you getting a severance? What benefits are gonna be made available to you? What resources maybe does HR have that you can tap into? Make sure you understand all of those things. Three file for unemployment. Again, this is going to take a little while. This is not a boop. Hit the submit and magically you're getting a check the next day. This will take time. It will vary from state to state.

But it does take several weeks for most scenarios.

You are paying into unemployment right now as a working employee, so do not feel embarrassment or shame or any other feelings that are negative about you tapping into unemployment when you need it.

Yeah, this isn't you abusing the system. This is you using a social service that's provided to you.

Absolutely. Number four is looking at your cash flow, looking at your emergency savings, which should be in a high yield savings account. Looking at your budget money going in, money coming out and then cutting unnecessary expenses, your subscriptions, your luxuries in life. And then are there any side hustles that you can promote or ramp up a little bit? If you're doing one cake a weekend, well, can you do five cakes a week now? I don't know what does that look like for you, but think about it. It's a great opportunity to make extra money while you're collecting unemployment and looking for your next opportunity. And then the last thing is update that resume, update your LinkedIn, make sure you communicate with your network to let them know specifically what you are looking for and what you bring to the table. This is the time to brag on your achievements, your licenses, the opportunities that you're looking for. Send an email to your family and friends and be humble and let them know and be vulnerable and let them know hey, I was laid off. Now. This is what I'm looking for. Attached is my resume. These are the things that I'm looking for in my new role. I'm in this industry. These are my certifications, these are my accomplishments. If you have anybody that I should be speaking with that you can connect me to. Please do that. Here's a paragraph about me that you can feel free to send to your network, because one of the amazing things is, as we get older, as we grow in our careers, as we get quote unquote better titles, we're moving up the corporate chain. Our friends are doing the same thing, so they're going to have more leverage. Their network has been growing over the last couple of years as well, but it's just like Prince Charming, right? He's not gonna just come and knock on the door. Your friends are not just gonna be like hey, I've got this amazing job open. Are you interested? If they think that you're still going to work every day. You have to communicate with people what happened, what you're looking for, what you want and what's important.

I'm just laughing at the Prince Charming reference, because in Cinderella didn't he knock at the door?

Did he knock at the door?

Going around to find the person who fisted the glass slipper.

Yeah, but that was after she already had the slipper on.

I'm just saying.

I mean, I meant it in like did he show up before the shoe came off? And he did not. I'm just messing, I know, so hopefully this episode is helpful. Hopefully you won't need this episode, but in the event that you do, or know somebody that this would be helpful for, please share it, as always. Also, I did look at our reviews and I think our last review was from September 2023. So if you are a listener and you have not yet subscribed, hit five stars and left a written review. Please do that. It's the fastest, cheapest, freest thing that you can do to help us is to leave a five-star review and a written review on Apple and on Spotify, because it helps the algorithm put our podcast in front of other people.

So please do that. This is infinity. This isn't to stroke our ego. It helps the podcast show up on more people's phones.

Yeah. So if you love the podcast, you're an avid listener. Please do us a favor and hit five stars and leave us a written review. It means so, so much to us. We want to get this valuable information in front of as many people as possible.

Only if it's a good review.

I said five stars.

I'm just making sure.

All right, Until next time. Thanks everybody. Don't forget Benjamin Franklin said an investment in knowledge pays the best interest. You just got paid. Until next time. Thanks for listening to today's episode. We are so glad to have you as part of our Sugar Daddy community. If you learned something today, please remember to subscribe, rate, review and share this episode with your friends, family and extended network. Don't forget to connect with us on social media at the Sugar Daddy podcast. You can also email us your questions you want us to answer for our past the sugar segments at thesugardaddypodcastatgmailcom, or leave us a voicemail through our Instagram.

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