Here is the short and the long version. Rejecting a severance package almost never unlocks unemployment benefits you could not otherwise get. And accepting one almost never signs them away. What decides your eligibility is not whether you took the check. It is why you left, what your agreement says about why you left, and how your state treats the money once it lands.

Going through a layoff in your 20s, 30s, or 40s is stressful, don’t get me wrong. You may have little savings in your 20s or be responsible for a whole family’s expenses in your 40s. But a new type of worry pops up when you get laid off in your 50s or 60s. Am I ever going to work again?

Chime, Cash App, Venmo, Dave, Betterment: some of the most popular “banking” apps in the country are not banks. They are financial technology (fintech) companies that sit on top of a real, FDIC-insured partner bank. That arrangement is legal and extremely common, and for most people it works fine. But it changes what “FDIC insured” actually protects, and (as the 2024 Synapse collapse showed) it can leave people locked out of their savings even when a real bank is holding the

Lately I have been seeing a flood of ads for new banking apps that break from the traditional accounts of the past. These are accounts where you earn points toward rewards, get savings rates double the national average, or use an app that makes banking fun. They are all intriguing options if you have been using traditional (and boring) banking, and the allure of higher rewards and free accounts can make anyone want to sign up. What these accounts do not come with is a warn

"When something looks too good to be true, it usually is" In most cases, that does hold true. Nothing in life is ever free, so no one is going to just hand you a check for money without asking for something in return. Normally that is true, but in trying to find out what happened to an old IRA of mine, I stumbled across MissingMoney.com.

If you have landed on this article, chances are you are grappling with a pretty major decision right now: To vacation or not to vacation: that is the question. You have everything planned out. Hotels confirmed, flights booked, and you (or you and your family) are already jazzed about getting out of town for a little while. Then the worst happens. You get the dreaded layoff call.

Even if you have stumbled across this post and are not facing imminent job loss, this advice applies to anyone working today. American society has very few safety nets for job loss relative to those in other highly developed countries, and it will be on you to weather the storm. A cash cushion is the single most powerful tool for turning a financial shock (a layoff, a car repair, a medical bill) into a manageable inconvenience rather than a crisis that follows you for years.

If you don't have a robust emergency fund and have been informed that you are being laid off, it is going to be very tempting to cash out your 401k account and use that to keep the lights on. But it is important that you explore every option. Rash decisions about moving retirement funds around can have ramifications that last a lifetime.

Every month I would find myself trying to align the monthly transactions to what I was doing but it wasn’t coming out exactly right. It was a nightmare.

In uncertain economic times, many people look at a closet full of luxury goods and feel a quiet sense of security. “If I get laid off, I can always sell my designer bags and watches,” is the story we are conditioned to believe, especially once luxury items get labeled “investment” pieces. It feels reasonable. Those pieces cost thousands of dollars, so surely they can be turned back into thousands of dollars when you need them.

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.