Wait, sinking fund? Surely my emergency fund is enough? Or do those mean the same thing? This may be your first thought if you're hearing the word “sinking fund” for the first time. If you've already saved an emergency fund, good for you, only 47 percent of Americans have enough savings to cover a $1,000 emergency, according to Bankrate. But realizing you might need to save even more to be fully prepared for a job loss can feel daunting.

In updating documentation and sending out goodbye emails, I started to realize just how much stuff I had accumulated in my time at this job. Some of it were things that I wanted to keep for posterity - those "Exceeds Expectations" and "Outstanding" reviews made me feel great, okay? - and others that I would need in case anything went wrong with my job transition.

Did you notice this guide says prepare, not what to do? That word choice is deliberate, and it is the whole point. When you still have a paycheck, you hold the one advantage nobody scrambling after a layoff has, which is time. You can study the market calmly, see where your skills actually fit, and close your gaps before you ever need to send a single application.