- Health insurance. Your company was paying it. Now you've got to pay it yourself. You'll typically have access to your benefits through the end of the month that you were employed. Then, it's on you to enroll in COBRA or Covered CA or the equivalent. Health insurance is NOT an inexpensive proposition. To continue getting the same coverage I was enrolled in through my employer, I will now need to pay $810 each month, out of my own pocket (and that does not include vision or dental). My plan is to become employed very quickly, so I'm going to opt out of the insurance-that-could-be-a-down-payment-on-a-car option and go with something far cheaper (with fewer bells and whistles). HOWEVER, I am going to maximize my benefits while I still have them. Sooo, I got my cavities filled, my eyes examined, picked up new frames/lenses as a result, and moved up my appt with my dermatologist. It's SMART to position yourself for wellness so don't ever feel weird about leveraging benefits that are already yours to use.
- Commuter benefits. I was on a commuter plan through payroll that deducted $255 from each check to help me cover my parking costs downtown. At the time of separation, I had @$350 in my account that I WASN'T going to have a chance to use. Well, there was no way I was walking away from MY MONEY. So, I read all the fine print regarding what those funds could be used for, how much time I had to use them, etc. The only viable option for me was to bill back the days that I parked in the garage and paid cash. I cross referenced the recorded transactions through Zenefits with my own calendar and filled in the blanks. Then, I used a professional receipt template and submitted a very official account of the days I was seeking reimbursement. In exactly one week, those funds were in my bank account. Hallelujah.
- Out of pocket expenses. When you leave a job, be sure you've accounted for ALL of your out of pocket expenses and get them into accounting for reimbursement. A colleague of mine (I won't name her) had been sitting on a YEAR'S WORTH of unsubmitted receipts that amounted to nearly $10K. When she realized the company wasn't doing so hot, she dedicated an entire weekend to getting them in order and submitting them to finance. Lucky for me, I was already up to date on mine because I'm pretty fastidious about that kind of stuff. But, I made sure my gym and cell phone subsidies were up to date.
- Company shares. If you have them, and you have any faith that the organization you just spent a year or more of your life working for may actually succeed, it's in your interest to exercise your option to purchase shares. I have 3500 shares and the strike price is something like .32. I would be silly to walk away from those. So, I have every intention of buying them within the 90 day window I have to do so. Yes, it's an outflow that comes at an inconvenient time, but could pay out long term. I say, take the risk! And, again, I anticipate being employed within that window so it shouldn't be impossible for me to allocate that money.
That's a pretty succinct roundup. I hope it proves useful to you. I found it reassuring to know I could take good care of myself during an otherwise semi-stressful time.
Here's to the next best thing!
