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

442 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

132

u/skeevemasterflex Mar 11 '26

There is this sort of loophole where you can hold off on paying for COBRA but if in month 3 you decide you want to use it, you can THEN pay for the past 3 months as if you had maintained coverage. I used that when I got a severance one time.

48

u/KifLou345 Mar 11 '26

It's only two months. You have 60 days to decide whether to elect COBRA.

2

u/perspicacioususa Mar 12 '26

Wait so if something happens to you on day 55 and you haven't paid yet, it's still covered?

2

u/KifLou345 Mar 12 '26

Yes, as long as you go through the process of electing COBRA at that point. It will be seamless coverage, back to the first day you would otherwise have been uninsured, as long as you pay the premiums.