Thrived Through a Layoff

“Marie” is a lovely woman who works at a tech company and earns about $200,000 a year.

She’s single and had a net worth of almost $800,000 when we started working together.

She’s been wonderful to work with! She asks insightful questions and quickly implements nearly every recommendation.

Progress

The following moves were right for her but may not be right for you! None of this is financial, tax, insurance, legal, or other advice.

Investments

Some of the many investment changes she made include:

sold single stocks and diversified into low-cost funds,
increased her cash reserve to about six months of expenses,
rebalanced her portfolio in alignment with her risk tolerance and capacity, and
chose the right location for her assets.

Title: 'Are my assets in the right location?' in yellow on top. Photo of a brown wooden desk and a black chair in tall grass at the top of a hill. On the desk are a laptop, two books, and a glass of water.

Cash Flow

She’s also improved her cash flow:

moved her cash reserve to a high-yield savings account,
sold an unused motorcycle. and
started earning cash back with an Amazon Prime credit card.

Title: 'Is your cash starving?' in black on top. Photo of two hands opening a wallet with a single dollar bill.

Taxes

She contributed as much as she could to her:

pre-tax 401(k),
after-tax 401(k), and
Health Savings Account.

Title: 'HSA Triple Tax Advantage' on top. Below it are three green checkmarks with 'Lower tax on the front end', 'Grows tax free', and 'Pays medical expenses tax free' under each. Dark blue, light blue, and silver waves are in the corners.

Real Estate

She owns a house and:

started saving home improvement receipts,
replaced her roof, and
applied for a HELOC to fund future remodels.

Title: 'Is a home an investment?' in white on top surrounded by a green border. Below it is a photo of a nice suburban home with green trees and a blue sky behind it.

Protection

For home and auto, she was able to:

increase her coverage limits,
raise her deductibles, and
lower her premiums.

She also added a $1 million umbrella policy.

Title: 'Shop Auto Insurance!' in pink on top. Below it is an Auto Insurance Quote form with a silver pen resting on it.

Estate Plan

She signed up for her new employer’s legal assistance plan and is working on:

powers of attorney,
living will,
account titling,
primary and secondary beneficiaries, and
last will and testament.

She also realized her net worth may exceed the estate tax exclusion for Washington state of $2.193 million.

Title: 'Who should be my beneficiary?' in black on top. Photo of brass arrows pointing in different directions on a dark background.

Life

She stepped into an interim Director role and performed admirably.

Unfortunately, she:

didn't get the permanent position and
was seen as a threat by the person who did.

Her grandfather was ill and lived on the other side of the country. She took a leave of absence to support him and the rest of her family.

Since she was laid off when she returned to work, she decided to:

accept a severance package and
go on COBRA until she started a position with another company.

Title: 'Work can wait.' in black on top. Below it, two older hands hold a younger person's hand on either furniture or a blanket.

Summary

“Marie” has thrived!

These are just some of the many steps she’s taken.

Title: "Thrived Through a Layoff" on top. Below it is a table with the categories of "Investments", "Cash Flow", "Taxes", "Real Estate", "Protection", "Estate Plan", and "Life". Below each heading are four or five action items.

Next Steps

Learn more about her story:

Thrived Through a Layoff

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