Your post-layoff plan
The plan you need after the layoff, week by week.
You signed the agreement. Last day has passed. Now the runway math hits, the mortgage call looms, and the question of how to explain all this in your next interview shows up. Coaching-grade coverage of financial survival, career transition, mental health, and family impact for laid-off US workers in the first 90 days and beyond.
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Latest guides
financial survival
Average Severance Package in 2026: What the Data Says, and How Yours Compares
The 2025 cross-industry average was 19.3 weeks of pay; the working norm is about two weeks per year of service. Where tech, finance, healthcare, and federal packages actually land, why equity treatment often outweighs the cash weeks, and what 'typical' means for the package already on your table.
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financial survival
The 90-Day Money Plan After a Layoff: What to Do Each Week
Week one is paperwork with deadlines, weeks two through four are the budget rebuild, days 30–60 are the insurance and 401(k) decisions, and days 60–90 are the recalibration. The order of operations for the first quarter after a layoff, with the clocks that actually expire.
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financial survival
Filing for Unemployment While Severance Is Paying Out: Timing, Reporting, and the Offset Rules
File in week one regardless of severance: eligibility is the state's call, not yours. How lump sums and salary-continuation are treated differently, what to report on weekly certifications, and the no-offset vs full-offset state divide, with the operational steps.
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retirement 401k
What to Do With Your 401(k) After a Layoff: The Four Options, Ranked by Situation
Leave it, roll it to an IRA, roll it to the next employer's plan, or cash out: the right answer depends on your balance, your age, and whether you have a plan loan. The traps: the $7,000 force-out, the 20% withholding snare, and rolling out of Rule-of-55 protection.
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health insurance
The COBRA Election Deadline: How the 60-Day Window Actually Works
The COBRA clock doesn't start when you think it does, coverage is retroactive if you elect late in the window, and the first payment isn't due for another 45 days. The mechanics of the 60-day election window, step by step.
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health insurance
COBRA vs ACA After a Layoff: The 2026 Math Just Changed
The enhanced ACA subsidies expired January 1, 2026, and the 400% poverty-level cliff is back: severance counts toward it. The COBRA-vs-marketplace decision that was easy in 2025 now flips depending on your package. Here's the worked math.
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mental health identity
Survivor Guilt After a Layoff: When Coworkers Stayed and You Didn't
Survivor guilt after a layoff is the inverse problem. The people who kept their jobs are sometimes the ones who feel it. But the version laid-off workers experience is its own thing: complicated, often invisible, and worth naming. Here's what it is, how it shows up, and what helps.
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linkedin resume interview
How to Update LinkedIn After a Layoff: 7-Day Protocol with Screenshots
The first week of LinkedIn changes after a layoff matters more than the next 60 days of activity combined. Here's the 7-day protocol: headline, About section, Open to Work badge, announcement post timing, and the changes most laid-off workers get wrong.
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company layoff recovery
Recovering from a Citi Layoff: Project Bora Bora Context + Deferred Comp Recovery Guide
Laid off from Citi? Project Bora Bora is the named recovery context: Fraser's 20,000-cut $2.5B program is more than 80% complete. Here's the 30-60-90 day framework plus the CAP / Deferred Cash continued-vesting clauses revenue producers routinely miss.
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company layoff recovery
Recovering from a Federal Layoff: VSIP, Deferred Resignation, and the Fork in the Road
Accepted Fork in the Road, taking VSIP, or facing involuntary federal RIF? Federal severance works fundamentally differently from private-sector: four separate paths, $25K VSIP cap, MSPB appeals, FEHB continuation rules. Here's the recovery playbook for the 150K+ federal cohort.
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company layoff recovery
Recovering from a Goldman Layoff: Project Voyage + Dallas Move + Bonus Exclusion Guide
Laid off from Goldman Sachs? Project Voyage is the named context: Solomon's three-year $1.3B cost-out plus the March 2025 Dallas/SLC relocation ultimatum. Here's the 30-60-90 day framework plus the bonus-exclusion proration ask and the Chen-Oster disparate-impact lens for protected-class employees.
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company layoff recovery
Recovering from a Google Layoff: RSU Acceleration + VEP Context Guide
Laid off from Google? Unlike Amazon's RSU cliff forfeiture, Google's plan typically continues RSU vesting through the severance window, a structurally favorable equity treatment. Here's the 30-60-90 day framework plus the Voluntary Exit Program (VEP) context Pichai has used to drive 2024-2026 separations.