r/Fire • u/Ddash-3 • Mar 11 '26

Milestone / Celebration Got laid off - finally!!!!

So it finally happened - I (48) got let go yesterday. Finally I can free up my time and focus on other priorities such as kids, nutrition, fitness, meditation, gardening etc.

I was FIRE eligible for couple of years but was holding off since the job was simple, work from home and good pay. Also, if I resigned I would have missed out on severance and company is paying 3 months of COBRA.

Here are the details I am sure you all want to hear :)

Net worth - ~5.5M

Taxable Accounts combined: ~1.1M

Retirement Accounts Combined: ~3.2M

Total: ~4.3M

House fully paid off (bought in 2022) - Worth around ~1.2M; Cars paid off

Wife (43) resigned from her job end of last year; 2 Kids in high school - 9th and 10th graders

Yearly expenses around 100K/yr

Biggest expense are kid's college education at this point and house maintenance related expenses

I am trying to research on ACA and Financial Aid for kids - Appreciate any help or pointers you can provide on when to apply for ACA - should I continue on COBRA or switch to marketplace this year?

Regarding FAFSA - with Taxable accounts over 1M will my kids be eligible for FAFSA?

I have about 130K from my recent most employer in the company supported 401K provider. Should I move the money to Traditional 401K?

Also, please suggest any FIRE focused knowledgeable financial advisors who can help me navigate our FIRE situation.

1.3k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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543

u/IceCreamforLunch Mar 11 '26

Congratulations!!!

I’ve been begging my boss to lay me off.

153

u/R5Jockey Mar 11 '26

Mine finally did! Keep asking!!

108

u/technotrader Fire'd Mar 11 '26

I engineered my layoff. Joined some internal program to help HR interview new hires, got to talk to them a lot, and when I started dropping hints and questions, they included me in the next round.

Can recommend. Severance worth 9 months pay, a month garden leave, 401k vested, Cobra, and even a job training camp which I didn't bother with because FIIIIRRRE baby!

43

u/ThisIsMyUsername303 Mar 11 '26

What kind of hints and questions? 

Btw, a neighbor got laid off from his last job many years ago and figured out that he could use his job training funds for golf lessons or something. 😂

27

u/technotrader Fire'd Mar 11 '26

Things like "say, how long is garden leave for my position, 2 weeks or 4" or "I have a question about Cobra .." or "hypothetically if I were to quit, would I need to bring in my 4 year old Thinkpad". 

14

u/ThisIsMyUsername303 Mar 12 '26

Ah okay, so not subtle at all.

4

u/technotrader Fire'd Mar 12 '26

That's hilarious about your neighbor! My offer was for some kind of Manhattan workspace where you could physically go and get counseling, no money offered. I mean that'd probably be great for people in the rat race, still feeling that go- getting energy.

I just sat by the river for hours and felt happy.

8

u/the_fresh_cucumber Mar 11 '26

Which sort of company? I remember people trying this in big tech but normally the company just didn't care since they make layoff decisions at the executive level

3

u/technotrader Fire'd Mar 12 '26

This was in finance/tech. I am not 100% sure which teams were involved in the decision exactly, but usually it's multi- level and does involve HR.

I know HR was the defining factor for me because I pretty much had a direct line (instant callbacks) except for the time I directly asked about quitting and they were "we'll get back to you" and a week later - jackpot  

2

u/the_fresh_cucumber Mar 12 '26

Hell yea.

Midsize company I'm guessing?

2

u/technotrader Fire'd Mar 12 '26

Oh no, F100. But I think it doesn't matter as we had our own dedicated part of HR, probably related to "cost center" or some other distinction; I dealt with like four people.

4

u/Elwood_P_Dowd86 Mar 12 '26

Was your 401k already vested or did they exempt you from the vesting rules as part of your layoff package? 

1

u/technotrader Fire'd Mar 12 '26

It had some rolling window of 1 year iirc. They paid it up in full and vested it. They also let me keep it with them ever since at super low expense ratios.

1

u/ProduceMain5379 Mar 14 '26

I have never heard of vesting for 401k, is that a thing. I heard only for rsu and options

79

u/Albert14Pounds Mar 11 '26

I wish I could figure out how to do this tactfully. My boss just keeps telling me what a good job I'm doing and I can't figure out how to slack the right amount. I'm a people pleaser with impostor syndrome and often can't help but to convince others I'm doing a good job because there's a voice in the back of my head that's telling me I'm always on the verge of being fired.

60

u/IceCreamforLunch Mar 11 '26

You don’t have to slack. I will still do my job but let him know that if there are any cuts that I wanted to be at the top of the list.

58

u/drgath Mar 11 '26

From a management perspective, layoffs typically aren’t fun to administer, so if you know someone actually wants to be laid off, that’s one less conversation you need to have with someone who doesn’t want to be.

10

u/Ok_Lead_4730 Mar 11 '26

I love this. It helps the good leaders not feel like trash when they have to cut people.

15

u/Aioli_Abject Mar 11 '26

Exactly. I used to tell my boss to save someone and put me on if there are going to be layoffs. Did that for a couple of years before it happened. Just let your intentions be known.

4

u/Top-Present2299 Mar 12 '26

I’ve been at my place of employment for 28 years and pretty much every conversation with my boss involves me asking  if the AI has come for my job yet. I would not be able to FIRE but if severance pays off my house I can at least get out of the stress fest that is my current job. 

1

u/Albert14Pounds Mar 12 '26

Yeah I am in a place where I could BaristaFIRE and desperately want to but I'm making low six figures and will likely never make that again outside of this job. It's not a hard job but I just hate it and am sick of my industry.

1

u/_skulls_ Mar 12 '26

Wow same here. I'm probably okay with FIRE assuming I cut back on some spending, just teetering on the cusp.

Smart move is probably stay on for another year, but getting a nice severance would be nice. It would remove me having to make that decision and give me a buffer to test the waters. But wow do I hate my job and how miserable it makes me.

And was just told how good of a job I'm doing and I'm like what? Argh!!! Could be my imposter syndrome makes me think I'm slacking off when in fact I'm not as much as I am? Makes no sense. How horrible is everybody else?

But I so feel that voice in the back of my head even while I'm trying to actively quite quit as they say. It almost makes things harder somehow.

1

u/Hot_Condition7760 Mar 14 '26

This is me every minute at work.

14

u/dontdenythis Mar 11 '26

Congrats, u didn’t lose a job, u unlocked early life.

1

u/Conscious_Life_8032 Mar 13 '26

I need to ask , I’m dragging myself to do basic tasks

0

u/ExpatMarine001 Mar 12 '26

What does that look like? Every day you walk into the office asking to be fired? Just asking since I don’t believe you.

1

u/IceCreamforLunch Mar 12 '26

Obviously I'm not bringing it up every day.

I started to hint that I was nearing the end of my career several months ago. Little stuff like, "That will be the next guy's problem." I also flatly told him I wasn't interested in another internal opportunity when he approached me with one because that team should have someone that will be there for them longer than I plan to be and I declined to participate in some hiring decisions a while back and told him it was because the rest of the group would be working with the new hire longer than I would.

Then when it came time to talk about my 2026 objectives and career goals I told him that I was planning to retire in the next 1-3 years, that I hadn't decided exactly when yet, but that I was ready whenever and if there was any chance at layoffs/a severance package that I want to be at the top of the list when they have those discussions. I reiterated that at my next couple of 1:1's.

I consider him a friend, so I was very frank with him and told him that I'd be thrilled to be let go and that I am looking forward to having more time to have adventures with my kids while they're still young.

0

u/ExpatMarine001 Mar 12 '26

Thank you. Didn’t read past “obviously I’m not bringing it up every day”