Never quit your job, get laid off with a severance instead. Most people quit because they are too scared to negotiate. Let me share the best severance negotiation strategy as someone who negotiated his own severance and wrote a book on severance negotiations!
I'm here to teach you how to negotiate a severance package so you can have a financial runway to do what you really want to do without burning any bridges.
How To Engineer Your Layoff is newly updated for 2020 in its 4th edition with new case studies, insightful recent data points, and even more resources and material to help you leave your job with money in your pocket.
Since publishing the first edition in 2012, I've received lots of feedback from readers who've successfully engineered their layoffs to work in a new field, spend more time with their family, or travel.
I've incorporated many of their successful strategies in the 4th edition and included new insightful viewpoints from managers who've had to lay people off.
Ask yourself the following questions:
What if I could take a six-month break and travel the world for free?
Wouldn't it be wonderful to spend more time watching my kids grow up?
Wouldn't it be great to connect more with my aging parents?
How awesome would it be to have free startup capital for a new business idea?
How great is it to never set an alarm clock again because every day is Saturday?
Will I look back on my life and regret I didn't do certain things?
My book will empower you with important employment knowledge that shockingly few employees understand. You'll learn how to build the right relationships at your firm to negotiate the best severance package possible. My book will also help squash any guilt you may have about leaving your colleagues behind. I strongly believe your life will change for the better.
Best Severance Negotiation Strategy
If you quit or get fired, know that you are not eligible for any remuneration from your employer. They won't give you paid health care benefits (COBRA) nor will you be able to participate in your state's Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification (WARN) program which typically pays two to three months of salary.
Furthermore, quitting makes it difficult for you to receive unemployment benefits because the logic is that if you quit, you don't need the money!
Everybody Eventually Moves On
Unless you plan on working until death, you will eventually leave your firm. Thus, it is important to know your company's retirement policy (pension, early retirement age where you can quit and have benefits, etc) so that you know your worst case scenario backstop.
If you want to take matters into your own hands like I did and leave sooner, then my book will absolutely help you make a better transition. It's all about arming yourself with knowledge to level the playing field with your employer and saying good-bye on YOUR terms.
Applicable To Everyone, Not Just American Employees
How To Engineer Your Layoff transcends state and country labor rules because it is a book about negotiations and building the right relationships. To get laid off, every single employee has a manager and a legal/compliance/HR department they must deal with. The desire for performance, harmony, and collaboration is similar across all organizations.
My book highlights the main concerns companies have when letting people go and why companies will gladly pay you benefits upon your departure if you show you understand their concerns. The last thing an employer wants is a disgruntled employee coming back to the former workplace and causing harm.
* Promotion special – For a limited time only enter coupon code “saveten” in your shopping cart to get $10 off instantly! If you run a business or are a sole-proprietor or freelancer, you may be able to deduct the cost of purchase. Please check with an accountant.
Robust Research For The Book
My book is a step-by-step guide that gives you the framework and the guts to navigate the sensitive process of severance negotiations. The first edition took me two years to write due to the immense amount of time researching the process, testing the framework, advising multiple candidates, and implementing my own layoff.
The second edition took another year to write, and expanded the book from 100 pages to 150 pages with new success stories and never before used strategies.
The third edition took an additional six months to update and write and expanded the book from 150 to 180 pages with 3 new chapters, additional case studies, updated strategies and resources, and recent data.
And now the fourth edition is live! I updated it during the global pandemic in 2020 with new case studies, updated resources, and even more insightful data points.
I’ve literally spoken to over 100 people who have either successfully engineered their layoff, or who are managers or HR personnel who have helped engineer other people’s layoffs.
Don't Be Like Most People Who Quit
One acquaintance quit his job only to discover a week later that his entire staff got let go with two weeks of severance per year worked. Not only that, this person wasn't eligible for unemployment valued at $21,600 a year here in California and missed out on 12 months worth of health care by his existing firm.
Although he knew his company was in trouble, he became impatient. If he had read my book, he would have learned how to carefully craft a plan to not only stick it out for the layoff round, but probably negotiate a severance package.
Despite being constantly abused at work, a friend insisted that quitting her job was the “honorable way to go.” She couldn't wait to get started on her entrepreneurial activities and felt confident she would succeed in the enormously competitive field of internet marketing.
Ten months later, she admitted to exhausting her entire life savings of $35,000 because the business was struggling to get off the ground.
If she had engineered her layoff, her severance package would have served to protect some of her savings. As an employee with five years of service with the same employer, her severance package would likely have included at least three months of salary and health insurance premiums.
My Personal Story
Coming out of college, I wanted to start my own company. Instead, I got sucked into the corporate world. After 13 years of working on Wall Street, one of the most brutally competitive industries on Earth, I had enough. I wanted out, but was too afraid to leave a multiple six figure paycheck.
Negotiating a severance package in 2012 was exactly the catalyst I needed to build Financial Samurai full-time. I started this site in 2009 and it has since grown to over 1.5 million organic pageviews a month because I just love what I do.
My lump sum severance provided for over five years of living expenses, and truly changed my life for the better.
Without a severance, I don't think Financial Samurai would have grown to what it is today because I would have been too focused on monetization. The severance package I negotiated gave me the freedom to work when I want, where I want, and do something I truly enjoy every single day.
Here is a video by Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon.com which embodies my thoughts:
What's Included In The Book
* 20 Detailed Chapters With Recaps Of Key Points
* Separation Agreement Negotiation Tips
* Negotiating A Severance Package When You’ve Got Another Job Lined Up
* How To Negotiate A Severance Before You’re Even Hired By A New Firm
* Helpful Insights On Your Employment Rights
* Reasons Why You Should Engineer Your Layoff
* Reasons Why You Should Not Engineer Your Layoff
* Case Studies Of People Who’ve Succeeded In Getting Paid To Leave
* Why And How I Engineered My Own Layoff
* Advice On Costly Mistakes To Avoid
* A Framework On How To Develop Multiple Income Streams
* Advice On Life After Separating From Your Day Job
* A Worksheet To Determine Whether You’re Ready
* A Detailed Checklist Covering All The Steps You Should Take
* Bonus Chapter For Managers And Employers
* Resources And Recommendations
* Reference List Of Featured Posts
* Over 180 pages of life-changing advice (up from 150 pages in the 2nd edition)
–> Special promotion – For a limited time only enter coupon code “saveten” in your shopping cart to get $10 off instantly! If you run a business or are a sole-proprietor or freelancer, you may be able to deduct the cost of purchase. Please check with an accountant.
Who Is Financial Samurai?
* Sam worked in finance for 13 years at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse, received his MBA from UC Berkeley, his undergraduate degree from The College of William & Mary, and launched Financial Samurai in 2009, one of the most trusted personal finance sites with over 1,500,000 page views a month.
* Sam ran a multi-million dollar business where he actively participated in the recruitment and retrenchment process. Sam has interviewed hundreds of candidates and was a manager for the last five years of his career.
* By the age of 28, Sam became a millionaire and became a multi-millionaire by the time he engineered his layoff in 2012 at 34.
* Given Sam is financially independent, he is less influenced by money. He is also beholden to no one. As a result, Sam provides more unbiased, edgy, straight from the gut views on personal finance.
* Sam successfully negotiated his own severance package and has helped over a dozen people 1X1 to successfully negotiate their own.
* Financial Samurai has been featured in the world's leading publications such as The LA Times, Bloomberg, The Sydney Herald, The Wall Street Journal, The Consumerist, and Business Insider.
Testimonials From Readers
“I bought this book for my sister who was then able to negotiate a $50,000 severance. Two years later, I used this book to help me negotiate an $80,000 severance during the middle of a pandemic! What’s more, I got a month off to relax, and my new job pays much more. This book was the best investment I have ever made.” – Pam
“If your book was printed on lead plates, it would still be worth its weight in gold.” – JB
“My wife is happy and astonished thinking that I’m the only person she knows that would find instruction on getting laid off, and then actually following through with it successfully. I can hardly believe it myself!” – Doug
“HTEYL helped me get out of an unbearable work situation. My company was losing money, moral was very low, and my boss was like Jekyl & Hyde! Not only am I now much happier working at a new startup, I was able to take six months off and not have to worry about anything financially due to my severance package.” – Encore Career
“When I was in college, I wanted to be a violinist and music teacher. When I graduated from college, I became an administrative assistant instead. It was a thankless job that became more unrewarding when I was promoted to sell the company's software. Thanks to Sam's book, I managed to negotiate a severance package worth roughly ten months of living expenses! I'm now a violin teacher and couldn't be happier!” – Musician
“I was just about to quit my job before I stumbled across HTYEL. Thank God I didn't quit! Thanks to Sam's guidelines, I was able to get laid off in the last round of employee reductions. I received six months of health care insurance, two months of salary, plus another three months of severance. I'm now off to explore North Africa with my girlfriend who is a teacher during summer vacation!” – Justin
“Finally, a book that teaches us how to break free from the corporate grind and make money in the process! I've been working at my job for over 15 years and was becoming a zombie. I no longer had the motivation to do anything beyond what I was supposed to do. I've saved up a good amount and How To Engineer Your Layoff was just the right push I needed to finally take a break and not feel guilty!” – Michael
“After the birth of my baby girl, I just couldn't stand leaving her all day at home with the nanny while mommy went to work. I have an MBA and thought I wanted to work all my life. HTEYL gave me the impetus to negotiate a mutually beneficial separation package without burning any bridges.” – Sherry
A Couple Success Story Articles From Happy Customers
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Thanks For Your Purchase!
Engineering your layoff takes time and planning. There is no magic bullet, but there is this incredible resource to help you walk away with an important financial safety net. Success requires action. Once you are armed with knowledge, everything becomes that much easier.
Sincerely,
Sam Dogen
