Nobody Files an Exit Interview for Your Money
What if the most irreversible money decisions of your career all arrive in the same two weeks, while you are least able to think about them?
This is the third and final episode in a series on where good financial habits stop being enough. Today I walk through a job change as the moment the whole balance sheet gets handled at once, on a deadline.
I start with money I forfeited myself when I left a corporate career to start this firm. Then I walk through the four pieces that have clocks attached. Unvested equity you leave behind. Deferred comp that can pay out all at once. A rollover decision made in the first busy week. And the reachable cash that determines whether a gap between paychecks is manageable.
This week a single page with four things on it, done before you are anywhere near a decision, so that if the call comes, the deadline only applies to the paperwork.
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1 Big Idea to Think About
A job change forces the whole balance sheet to be handled at once, on a deadline, by someone also managing an emotional decision. The pieces that hurt are the ones with clocks attached: unvested equity, deferred comp payouts, and a rushed rollover.
1 Way You Can Apply This
Before you are near a decision, put four things on one page. Unvested equity and its vest dates, deferred comp and its payout schedule, your 401(k) balance and where it would go, and months of cash you hold outside a retirement account.
1 Question to Ask
If I left my job this year, what would I forfeit and what would come due, in numbers I have never actually added up?