Ep 26 | What to Do If You’re Laid Off

Getting laid off can feel like the rug’s been pulled out from under you. Whether you’re in it now or just want to be prepared—this episode is here to help you navigate the financial side of a layoff with clarity, calm, and confidence.

Priya Malani shares the steps to take right away, how to assess your runway, and ways to make this moment a powerful reset instead of a setback. If you've been hearing phrases like “restructure” or “budget realignment” at work—or you're already navigating a job transition—this is the episode to press play on.

Tune Into This Episode to Hear:

• What to do before you officially part ways with your employer

• How to get clear on your runway and take stock of your financial options

• Why using your emergency fund is not a failure—it’s the plan

• Ways this unexpected pause could become an opportunity to realign your career and goals

Follow Priya Malani:

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THE STUFF OUR LAWYERS WANT US TO SAY: Stash Wealth is a Registered Investment Advisor. Content presented is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to make an offer or solicitation for any specific securities product, service, or strategy. Consult with a qualified investment adviser (that's us) before implementing any strategy. Investing involves risk, including the loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. There…we said it.

Transcription

I wanna be clear that this isn't about going into a scarcity mode. It's just being smart about what's coming in and what's going out. Get clear on what you need and give yourself permission to spend on that guilt free.

Hey guys, Priya here. Welcome back to the F word. Today I am talking about what to do if you get laid off or you suspect it might be coming.

If you're navigating a layoff right now, or just wanna be better prepared for whatever comes next, know this: this situation does not define you.

If you've recently heard words like company restructure, budget realignment, or we're going in a different direction, you're not alone.

We've seen a wave of layoffs across tech, finance, media—industries filled with high achieving professionals who never expected to be in this position.

And if you're feeling a mix of panic, shame, or what the f*ck do I do now? This episode's for you.

I am gonna talk about what to do immediately, how to stabilize your finances, and how to use this moment—yes, even this moment—to financially reset. Let's get into it.

So, uh, and I'm not a therapist, but this feels like something they would say: start by taking a breath. Just pause before you do anything. Definitely before you panic. Do not panic, okay? That's not helpful.

But the pause is about pausing to take inventory. To evaluate what you do have going for you. Because so many times we miss what's right in front of us. So unless you take a second to just pause and take a look at what's going on around you, you won't be able to make the best choice.

That can be reaching out to your network and having contacts that could be valuable towards your next step. Um, it could be understanding what your financial inventory looks like. Where can you pull from to stabilize this period in time? 'Cause that's what it is.

And maybe, just maybe—I was actually just talking to somebody who said this—you already have runway that allows you the freedom and more time than you even dreamed of to play offense instead of defense. So do not scramble. Do not make decisions from place of fear.

I also just wanna call out that these are the exact times that your emergency fund is for. I cannot tell you how many times, even clients who we walk through this, will be hesitant to touch their emergency fund because it's almost as if they think of that as a backup to the backup.

No. This is your backup. Your emergency fund is exactly for life's curve balls. And a temporary moment when you're out of work and not receiving income is exactly that.

Okay. So there are a couple things that I want you to do strategically before you actually sever ties completely with your employer.

The first thing you need to do is you need to ask about severance. They may not bring it up, but you should ask. You also need to know whether or not your health insurance will be covered—uh, temporarily, usually, uh, partially, fully. So get that information. That's really gonna be helpful as far as what your next steps may look like.

Okay. The next thing you're gonna do is you're gonna file for unemployment. Even if you have savings. Even if you have runway. You should file for unemployment. That's the safety net you earned by working.

And this last one is something I've already brought up, but audit your cash reserves, right? So. What do you have available to you? Do you have equity in your home that you can pull from? Obviously, your emergency fund—that's your first line of defense. We've talked about this.

Know how many months' worth of living expenses you have on hand, so you don't have to rush. If you end up with, "Oh wow. Look, between everything that I've done so far, I have about six months' worth of my reserves built up"—cool. You don't have to jump into the first job you get immediately. You have some time. You've bought yourself some time. And that is a beautiful thing.

Okay. The next thing I encourage you to do is audit your expenses. When we're receiving income, we're not thinking too hard about day-to-day lifestyle. But when you're in a situation where you don't know when your next paycheck is coming in, you wanna take a look at, okay, what's going out?

Now that nothing's coming in, where can I cut back? Um, there will always be a few spots you can cut back. Probably not everything, especially if you have more complex situation—maybe someone dependent on your income, kids, a significant other, whatever that looks like for you.

Um, so if you have high fixed expenses, it's even more imperative to cut where you can. And this should be a joint effort. If you're a dual income household, this shouldn't just be on you. You guys need to come together and you should see what can we come back on until we're back in a dual income situation.

I hope I don't need to say that. I hope you guys are working as a team, but that's another conversation for another day.

Now, just because your income is paused doesn't mean your entire lifestyle needs to be paused as well. So you can still have fun, especially if you have built up those reserves.

So step one: ask about your benefits and what your employer is willing to do.
Step two: audit your cash reserves and understand how many months you've bought yourself.
And step three: audit your expenses so that you're super clear on what can be cut to extend your runway.

Okay, next up: stabilize your spending. So if you don't already know your magic number, go back to one of my previous episodes where I walk you through how to get your magic number, which is the lifestyle you can actually afford.

So if you don't know your magic number, this is the time to get one. The easiest way to back into your magic number is to use reverse budgeting. With reverse budgeting, you wanna add up your fixed expenses. These are the things that you can't turn off very easily. Income has shifted, but this stuff still has to get paid, right?

Your bills, your utilities, your cell phone, gas, groceries—so add up your fixed expenses and know what that number is.

The next component of your magic number is your negotiable goals and savings. So, realistically, you're probably gonna temporarily pause these. These are things like saving for a trip next year, saving up for any of your other sub-savings that you might be doing—whether it's short-term goals or things that are happening throughout the year.

Um, pause that and that will help update your magic number to reflect your new situation, which is that you no longer have a paycheck coming in.

So: fixed expenses, locked and loaded. What is that goal number that you've been saving and putting money away? We're gonna pause that. And then what you're left with is your spending cushion.

So after you audit your expenses, you actually might be left with more than you think. And you might have bought yourself a couple extra days, weeks, or even months of runway.

We are gonna talk a lot more about mindset in another episode, because money mindset totally impacts your ability to achieve your financial goals.

But I wanna be clear that this isn't about going into a scarcity mode. It's just being smart about what's coming in and what's going out.

Get clear on what you need and give yourself permission to spend on that guilt free.

Again, revisit any subscriptions—things that you've set-it-and-forget-it. I'm not saying cut down to rice and beans, but you do wanna plug any unnecessary holes in your bucket.

Sometimes things are leaking out and you don't even realize it. That happens all the time. I'll find something and I'm like, "Oh my God, I didn't know this automation was still turned on." Like, I'm not even using that. I just canceled my Pure Bar membership because, let's be honest, I was not going. I go to the gym in my building and I was still spending money.

Now, if fitness is part of your personal wellness, I'm not saying cut it off. But cut off things that you're not using.

Okay? Now it's time to plan and prepare for your next step with intentionality, right? Because you're so clear on your new situation and how much time you have before you have to make that next move.

This is actually the fun part, 'cause this is where you get to pause and reflect, right? Like, you get to take a second and reevaluate where you wanna take your career, what the job market looks like.

Is this time to push yourself into a new position that maybe you were struggling with a little imposter syndrome and didn't feel like you were ready for? Now might be the time.

And don't worry about the layoff playing into your story. There's a million ways to spin that. Um, and it wasn't your fault. So if anything, this new employer is so lucky to have picked up a resource that was otherwise obligated.

So here are a few questions that you can ask yourself:
Do I wanna pivot industries?
Did I actually like what I was doing?
What would make this next chapter feel like the upgrade that you're ready for?

Might take a little meditation. You might need to sit with yourself on this one. But this is the perfect time to reevaluate and reposition yourself—not only for career satisfaction, but frankly for financial stability and growth opportunity as well.

When our client, Vanessa, was laid off through a company reorg, she did the most incredible thing. She had a six-month runway—her first line of defense—and she used the time and the money to actually spin up her consulting business. Now she's making way more money than she was making corporate.

She's her own boss, and she's completely changed the trajectory of her financial opportunity. It was actually really incredible to watch.

But like Vanessa, we've worked with lots of high achieving 30-somethings who used this exact situation—who used their layoff as the push they needed to freelance, launch something new, find a role that actually aligns with their lifestyle. Maybe even change cities.

The world is your oyster and you need to look at it from a more optimistic perspective.

You're a badass. Act like it.

All of this subliminally points to the fact that having a plan in place for your money can afford you the opportunity to take advantage of a moment like this, right?

Like, it doesn't matter how much money you have. No matter how much money you have, if you have a plan in place, you're gonna have a lot more control over your next step.

The next thing I wanna talk about is—earlier I mentioned that you were going to evaluate your expenses and cut out anything that was non-essential, and maybe even pause your saving. So I wanna talk about that for another second because it's a little bit more nuanced than that.

I definitely don't want you to stop everything until you've evaluated it. So don't abandon your plan completely. You might just need to adjust it.

If you've had a plan in place and you've built yourself a runway, then going cold turkey on your mid- and long-term goals may not need to happen.

You might need to adjust your savings numbers, but you should take inventory and take the time to make that a decision, not just a default.

Getting laid off doesn't mean you need to get off track. And in fact, if you use this opportunity like we're talking about to reposition yourself for even more upside, then not only are you not off track, but you've actually put yourself on a new and more powerful course. So reassess, reroute.

When we have clients in this situation, here are the three things that we do:
Short-term savings gets activated, right? Like, that's your emergency fund—your first line of defense.
Long-term goals that are not retirement get recalibrated. So temporarily, those numbers might shift a little bit. It's just temporary. You will play catch up.
And finally, investments: stay invested unless absolutely necessary.

So I keep saying first line of defense: your emergency fund. So what's your second line of defense?

Your investment account is your second line of defense—not your retirement account. That's beyond, 'cause there are penalties and tax consequences to touching that money. But if you have an account that you're saving up for down the road, that is your second line of defense. And you don't usually wanna touch that in a panic.

Right? One of the biggest mistakes that I saw really, really rich people make when I was working on Wall Street was not having a cash cushion—was not having an emergency fund.

Because if shit hit the fan or a curve ball was thrown their way, they would have to go after their investment account for liquidity.

And you never wanna take money outta the market haphazardly. So what the emergency fund being your first line of defense really does for you is it gives you time to methodically move money out of your second line of defense—that investment account. Make sense?

Again, you shouldn't touch your investment account unless it's absolutely necessary. Don't panic sell your portfolio. Think of it as your last resort. It's there if you need it, but you have a plan in place and you've done other things to equip yourself to not have to mess with that strategy.

Above all, going back to the very first thing we talked about: stay strategic. Right? Look at the numbers, tweak the plan, and move forward strategically—not emotionally.

Sometimes I feel like the financial world makes it seem like you have to be perfect all the time. Like people who are financially savvy are just somehow magically all put together. Yeah, no, that's BS.

What actually matters is how you recover and reset.

I really hope this episode gave you a little bit more peace of mind and some tactical ideas for how to navigate this opportunity.

If you've got a sec, please share it with a friend who could use it. And as always, hit follow, like, subscribe—all the things. We're trying to grow the show and we really appreciate your support.

Thanks again for listening to the F word. See you next time.