After a 4-month hiatus, I sent an update to my newsletter email list. The following blog post is a shorter version of that update. It reflects how my family and I are currently navigating unemployment.
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In June, I launched this newsletter (Edit: and this blog the month before) with big hopes of writing regularly, sharing reflections that might support you on your journey with life and money. But, as it tends to, life happened. Four months later, I’m returning to this space to write, reflect, and keep journeying alongside you. 🙃
In this (dare I say) relaunch, I’ll share a few personal and business updates, some resources, and a bit of my thinking about this very strange moment we’re all living through in the United States.
A personal update. In my day job at Princeton University, things took an unexpected turn this summer. After a busy stretch of work, I learned in July that my position was being cut and I was being laid off. For the first time in my career, I joined the ranks of the unemployed, alongside so many others navigating similar uncertainties.
As nonprofit layoffs go, I know mine could have been much worse. I was paid through the end of my contract in November, with a 30-day payout, so while my last official day was in October, I will receive my final paycheck through November.
There’s a lot more I could say about this transition, but below I’ve shared some of the key steps my wife and I took to secure our finances and stay afloat while I search for what’s next.
Layoffs and Financial Planning
There’s no script for financial planning after a layoff. Everyone’s situation and the context they’re living in are unique. Still, two guiding questions can help create a principled framework for decision-making:
- What’s the minimum amount of money I need to meet my monthly expenses?
- What parts of my life bring joy, balance, and groundedness—and which of those are non-negotiable?
4 Steps my wife and I took with our finances after the layoff news:
- Assessed our essentials. We listed and totaled our fixed monthly costs to understand exactly what we need to cover basic expenses.
- Paused contributions. For now, we’ve paused our monthly contributions to retirement and college savings (Roth IRA and 529 plans).
- Built up our emergency fund. Because I was notified in July but paid through November, we redirected extra income into our high-yield savings account. That account now holds about four months of living expenses.
- Protected what brings balance. We revisited our budget to identify “non-essentials” that are essential to our well-being, like family outings, mental health care, and the occasional meal out. We trimmed these costs but didn’t eliminate them entirely.
Taking these steps helped us replace uncertainty with clarity. We now have a clearer sense of our timeline and resources, which, in turn, allows me to approach the job search process with more calm and strategy.
It’s not easy being unemployed. But a bit of planning and finding some level of financial clarity during these uncertain times motivates me to keep moving forward.