In the present dynamic environment where almost all the corporate are focusing on technological advancements in order to increase their productivity which is the main reason behind layoffs, which have become a common phenomenon these days.
Further Reading: SIP Calculator
Apart from this, there are many other reasons for employees getting laid off. These include a poor performance by an employee, downsizing of operations, or at worse company getting shutdown.
Most of you might be aware of the Jet Airways fiasco which is not less than any nightmare for its employees. The pain and anguish which they went through cannot be explained or felt by any one of us.
It is usually said that if you want to become successful in your life then you should not only learn from your mistakes but also from other people’s mistakes.
In this article, I am going to talk about how you should plan and prepare yourself if such an unfortunate event occurs to you.
Also Read: Is it safe to invest in liquid funds?
Use your emergency corpus
One should always have an emergency corpus in place which should be equal to an individual’s 3 months’ salary or 6 months expenses. It should include expenses like your daily essential needs, loan EMIs, children’s school fees, etc. Having an emergency corpus is a must in the present scenario as you don’t know when your company will go for restructuring and you will end up losing your job.
If you have your emergency corpus in place, then you will be able to cover at least 6 months of your expenses and also will get a job in 6 months. However in the rare case, if you don’t get a job then you may think of using your future savings as well.
Hence it is always a good idea that one should build an emergency corpus before time in order to avoid any future disruption.
Reduce discretionary expenses, vacations
In the absence of any regular income after being laid off, one should try to control their discretionary expenses like going out for a dinner or movie, vacations etc. However, it is advisable that you should completely avoid these expenses until you get a new job.
Buy a new personal health insurance cover
If you and your family were covered by your previous employer and you haven’t purchased personal health insurance for your family then you must buy it as soon as possible. Buying health insurance is necessary as you don’t know when things might turn otherwise.
Pause regular savings
The first and the foremost thing which one should do is to stop his ongoing investments for the now which may be in the form of SIPs, etc until you get a new job. The reason being that it takes around 30 days to cancel a SIP and you cannot afford to invest for the time being.
You can again start making investments once you get back your job.
Further Reading: hbr.org
Don’t dig into your future savings
We all generally save and invest for our future goals like retirement, child marriage, etc. But due to the occurrence of such unwelcomed circumstances, one might be even compelled to dig into their future savings. However, one should refrain himself from doing this and should keep his future savings apart, unless and until all the doors are closed and you are left with no other option.
Pay off your credit card bills/future usage of credit card
If you are a holder of credit card and have pending credit card bills then you must pay off these bills with immediate effect. The reason being that if you rollover your bills then you will be paying penalty for each rollover along with the high-interest rate.
For example, you have an outstanding credit card bill of Rs 25000. And suppose your credit card company charges 3% p.m. as interest and a penalty of Rs 750 on this amount. So what this means is that you would be paying Rs 1500 extra every month for no reason. And hence paying off your credit card bill should be your topmost priority.
Also one should minimize his credit card usage till the time situation doesn’t come under your control.
Look for alternate income
Till the time you don’t get a new job, you should look for other sources of income. You can start working part-time, or can find any other work related to your field. By doing this, at least you would be able to cover some of your household expenses or bills.
Home Loan EMI’s
If you have availed home loan facility and now finding it difficult to pay off your monthly EMI’s due to job loss then you may request your banker to grant you an EMI holiday. Banks may consider genuine reasons and may give you an extension after charging some penalty.
The other option you have is that you can lower your EMI by increasing the tenure of your loan; however don’t forget to convert it to the original tenure once your financial condition improves.
Further Reading: India Today
Withdraw money from your PF
Most of the individuals are not aware of the fact that they can withdraw their PPF corpus completely or partially if he or she is unemployed for a continuous period of 2 months. So if you are running short of funds then you may consider withdrawing your EPF balance.
