It's termination day. Garden leave is over, and severance is coming.
Rest
We're one week shy of the anniversary of Hurricane Helene, and all I have to say is "it has been a year." Between coordinating all the contractors, putting so much of my own labor into the rebuild, living in a construction site, plus managing my day job, for over seven months straight, I didn't realize how exhausted I was---physically and mentally. Part of my mental load came from guilt that I wasn't putting in enough at work, wasn't able to focus the way I should---ultimately leading to more hours to make up for it, which exacerbated the exhaustion. I'm so grateful for this period of time, to peacefully exist in the world.
Almost every afternoon since the layoff, I've taken a two-hour nap. Some afternoons, it's stretched to four or five hours. And surprisingly, I'm still getting seven to nine hours of sleep at night. It actually feels like a recovery.
I just finished reading Retire Often by Jillian Johnsrud (a fabulous human I met at FinCon years ago). In chapter 1, she covers focuses for a mini-retirement, one of them being Recover from Burnout. "It narrows our vision. All we can focus on is the next step or two. It's survival mode." Throughout the book, the relevant pieces hit hard.
So I've let myself just sleep.
Travel
I had already booked a week-long trip to New York City in November, and I've been making a list of all the things I want to do and see. Yes, there is a spreadsheet. The anticipation is half the fun.
Last weekend, my cousin got married, so I flew up to Pennsylvania for his wedding. With the layoff, my husband stayed behind (dog-sitting, car parking, an extra flight...) and I spent the weekend with my extended family. It was nice to catch up with everyone.
We're still keeping watch for storms (it's high season now), but if we're all clear next week, I'll book a trip to Michigan to spend a weekend with a friend. Fingers crossed!
It's Just Money, Honey
We made immediate spending adjustments two months ago, canceling/modifying the easy stuff. I'm slightly annoyed with myself over how easy it was to reduce some of our spending---because if cutting the spend was this easy, it probably wasn't necessary to begin with.
To be fair to past me, since landing my new six-figure job in 2019, I've been maxing out my 401k, my HSA, and my Roth IRA, while paying more toward the mortgage through our refinance, and tucking a small amount away in a brokerage. But all things being equal, in my next role/salary, the responsible thing to do will be to up my taxable brokerage contributions until my spending is squeezed, getting back on track toward a "reasonable" spend. But then I think about all of the books...
The fault lies partly with "We anti-budget" and partly with "We need new financial goals." If I'd been doing a specific budget each month, I'd have noticed the growing surplus, because it is money that didn't have a budget line item. And if I'd had more concrete financial goals, I'd have been saving the surplus toward those already. Instead, the residual has been trickling out like a leaking faucet, rather than actively directed toward priorities. It's not a ton, but we probably could have spent two weeks on a social-media worthy vacation. Future me will do better.
Due to increasing my 401(k) contributions after the notice of the layoff, less cash has hit my checking accounts. Perfectly fine, since the goal is to reduce spending anyway. And due to marginal vs. effective tax rates, it would cost about the same (including the IRS penalty) to pull cash out next year if I did actually need it.
We already know the important numbers. Over the next couple weeks, we need to figure out our new income split based on my severance, cash, and estimates for returning to work. We also need to talk about long-term goals and what might shift. The important part is being on the same page.
This week, I intend to get my 401(k) rolled over to my IRA. The recent market gains in my portfolio (8% in barely three months?!) confuse me, and all I can think is, I'm glad I don't try to time the market. The growth doesn't really feel sustainable, and market indicators... well, I'll leave that for the economists.
We still haven't quite finished the house projects, in part due to delays with materials. But cash for the final payments is earmarked.
Taxes!
I've spent a lot of time researching taxes, trying to understand how my layoff impacts this year and next.
- The severance gets a flat tax withholding, so I'll be working with my CPA to get that refund ASAP come January.
- If I start a new job this year, we will be bumped into a higher tax bracket, potentially impacting Roth IRA contributions. I'm looking at moves to offset.
- If I remain unemployed next year, we might be bumped into a lower marginal tax bracket (or be able to strategically get there through deductions), which potentially provides an opportunity for Traditional-to-Roth Conversions. These would help offset future potential RMDs, which is a topic that deserves a dissertation.
Job Hunt Update
In the last two months, I've put out about 90 applications. 70 were already rejected, and about 20 of those were rejected within an hour. While it makes sense that some recruiters are on top of their game, most of these rejections surely came from AI screening---and when I realized that, my heart dropped.
What a scary world, where AI writes resumes, then screens them out, leaving no human connection. Who is even getting hired? As a society, we've completely lost the plot, and I don't like this game.
Ultimately, I'm overqualified for a lot of the roles I don't mind doing, and the recruiters know it. From a practical standpoint, it's in a business's best interest not to hire someone overqualified, because often they'll jump ship the second something better (or better paying) comes along.
On the bright side, I've applied for new roles that I am legitimately excited about, and I've had multiple interviews so far. Nothing has stuck quite yet, but there's traction.
For now, my hunt continues.