Poll: FIRE and unemployment benefits

[REWahoo]

Whether or not you used unemployment benefits prior to FIRE isn't relevant to the question. The intent of the poll is to determine if drawing unemployment part of your FIRE financial plan.

[youbet]

Hmmmm....... kind of hard to plan for it ahead of time since you'd have to have prior knowledge that you'd be laid off to begin your RE.

I didn't plan on it for FIRE. But when I found out I could collect it, I did. It was a windfall I spent like a drunken sailor for six months and admit I did miss the bi-weekly checks when they stopped! I still continue to play with all the toys we bought though!

[HFWR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Whether or not you used unemployment benefits prior to FIRE isn't relevant to the question. The intent of the poll is to determine if drawing unemployment part of your FIRE financial plan.

If there's a happy coincidence of me being downsized at the appropriate time, hell yes...

But it's not really part of "The Plan".

[dex]

How can you ge unemployment benefits if you voluntarily quit?

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dex How can you ge unemployment benefits if you voluntarily quit?

So I'm not the only one trying to figure this out, eh?

[lazygood4nothinbum]

hadn't thought of unemployment either but some suggested i milk the company for a while until they fired me.

i had enough problems in my life at the time.

i transition better with a clean break.

[Goonie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR Strictly speaking, you're supposed to be actively looking for, and be available for, work to draw unemployment...

I have a friend that got laid off at least once a year for about 2 months at a time.....until the last time it happened and he retired and collected unemployment for 6 months. IIRC, he had to make 3 contacts a week looking for work, and he definitely didn't want to find another job.

The first time it happen it happened, I told him to go places where he didn't have the proper qualifications for the job openings available. From then on he had fun with it! He was a grunt factory worker, and he filled out applications for retail manager positions, various 'medical' positions, several 'experienced' chef jobs, and all sorts of other jobs that required either formal education and/or x-years of experience. He spent about 30 minutes a week 'job seeking', to collect his monthly 'rocking chair' money.

He never got hired anywhere, and is still happily retired even after the unemployment checks quit coming in.

[youbet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goonie I have a friend that got laid off at least once a year for about 2 months at a time.....until the last time it happened and he retired and collected unemployment for 6 months. IIRC, he had to make 3 contacts a week looking for work, and he definitely didn't want to find another job. The first time it happen it happened, I told him to go places where he didn't have the proper qualifications for the job openings available. From then on he had fun with it! He was a grunt factory worker, and he filled out applications for retail manager positions, various 'medical' positions, several 'experienced' chef jobs, and all sorts of other jobs that required either formal education and/or x-years of experience. He spent about 30 minutes a week 'job seeking', to collect his monthly 'rocking chair' money. He never got hired anywhere, and is still happily retired even after the unemployment checks quit coming in.

In Illinois, there is no specific requirement for a number of job search contacts per week that I can recall. I simply put my resume on Monster.com and set up an auto-sort so that they emailed me a list of potential jobs every day. Once or twice a week, I clicked on one of the job prospects and a resume was automatically forwarded to the employer. Monster sent an email to me verifying that they had forwarded my resume. I saved the email from Monster in case I needed to verify I was looking for a job. Total weekly time = about ten minutes! (Once I had it set up) I had no fear of actually being contacted to interview because I was 58, well beyond the age where you can actually find a job!

Your friend actually visiting employers and interviewing was massive overkill unless he was finding it entertaining. I had better things to do such as playing with the new toys I was buying with the unemployment checks!

I was RIF'd along with several others and we all did it like this. No one was ever audited, although we had our appropriate evidence of a job search if we had been.

[Goonie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by youbet Your friend actually visiting employers and interviewing was massive overkill unless he was finding it entertaining.

This was back in the early to mid 1990's....not a lot of job hunting by computer going on back then. Besides, he's never had or used a computer.....hard to imagine ain't it. I don't think he ever had any interviews, he just filled out the application and handed it back to them....never got called.

[zoey]

I had planned to work at least two more years before retiring, but was laid off. I'm eligible for unemployment and have filed. However, I've pretty much decided to retire and only work part-time at some point. Since my nest egg is on the small side, unemployment will help get us by along with emergency savings, and severence pay for the next four years. At that point I'll be 59 and may start to draw from our retirement accounts.

[whitestick]

I'm a bit perplexed. Can you draw unemployment, if you RE and draw pension, and have some investment income (STCG)? Had never thought about it being possible. MegaCompany didn't RIF, but offered ERO to just go away.
Also, how does that get impacted, if you go back to work for the same company for a few months as a contractor, and then try and file unemployment. Would not be contracting directly for MegaCompany, but rather a third party, and not even on their payroll for benefits, just FICA and SS. Actually does that answer my question, even though it was only for 3 months, does the fact that the job runs out, then kick in the ability to file for unemployment?
This is really a new idea, that I hadn't thought of before.

[youbet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by whitestick I'm a bit perplexed. Can you draw unemployment, if you RE and draw pension, and have some investment income (STCG)? Had never thought about it being possible. MegaCompany didn't RIF, but offered ERO to just go away. Also, how does that get impacted, if you go back to work for the same company for a few months as a contractor, and then try and file unemployment. Would not be contracting directly for MegaCompany, but rather a third party, and not even on their payroll for benefits, just FICA and SS. Actually does that answer my question, even though it was only for 3 months, does the fact that the job runs out, then kick in the ability to file for unemployment? This is really a new idea, that I hadn't thought of before.

Generally you can't collect your pension and unemployment at the same time. Passive investment income is OK..

Generally work as a contractor doesn't count towards qualifying for unemployment

[DallasGuy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by youbet Generally work as a contractor doesn't count towards qualifying for unemployment

You can collect unemployment as a contractor if you were employed through a contract company on a W-2 basis. In other words it was as if you were working for the contract company even though you actually worked somewhere else. As long as your contracting company paid in unemployment taxes for you, you can collect benefits once the contract ends. I've actually done this before. Also, I never received any benefits from the contracting company other than them paying 1/2 of my FICA.

If you work as a contractor on a 1099 basis (where you pay your own taxes and FICA, etc) and contract directly to a company, you probably can't collect unemployment benefits.

[2B]

I will certainly take advantage of unemployment benefits if I am trapped in my j*b when my company decides it's time to retire. I'd consider it my severence check since the company I work for won't be doing anything beyond that.

Right now business is great so a layoff isn't likely in the near future. When I decide it's time, I won't slow anything up hoping to get laid off.

[youbet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DallasGuy You can collect unemployment as a contractor if you were employed through a contract company on a W-2 basis. .

That would be an oxymoron.

We're just playing with terms, so no matter. But, generally, when you are employed and receive a W2, you are considered an employee, not a contractor. The fact that your employer sends you to various other businesses to perform your duties is moot.

But, yes, if you're employed and receiving a W2 and your employer contributes to the unemployment insurance system of your state, you'd be eligible to collect unemployment benefits. It's just that you wouldn't be a "contractor" in the normal sense of the term.

[DallasGuy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by youbet That would be an oxymoron. We're just playing with terms, so no matter. But, generally, when you are employed and receive a W2, you are considered an employee, not a contractor. The fact that your employer sends you to various other businesses to perform your duties is moot. But, yes, if you're employed and receiving a W2 and your employer contributes to the unemployment insurance system of your state, you'd be eligible to collect unemployment benefits. It's just that you wouldn't be a "contractor" in the normal sense of the term.

I agree that we're playing with terms. I've been a "contract worker" for the last 13-14 years even though the companies I worked for paid me on a W-2. I never actually worked for the company that paid me but worked for a 3rd party....that's why I consider myself a contract worker. And all of the companies that I contracted through considered me a "contract worker". If you've contracted much at all you'd quickly realize that there are generally 2 types of contractors....ones that contract directly to a company on a 1099 and ones that contract through another company on a W-2 (at least that is the general understanding of all of the other contractors and contracting companies I've ever worked with). It could have something to do with the industry I'm in too...information systems. Other industries might look at contractors differently.

[2B]

The company I work for take up space at has both kinds. I get paid directly from the company I work for but if we don't have a client to bill my time to I won't be around for long. I get benefits and look like an employee. There are also people here that get no benefits but a higher hourly rate. They are usually the people with retirement medical benefits from another company, a spouse with good medical coverage or (gasp) over 65 and on Medicare.

[unclemick]

1993 - I was layed off. Planned to retire 2006. Took unemployment.

Replanned - haven't worked full time since. Did one year temp 95/96ish.

Discovered this forum after that fact and became a 'high class ER' instead of unemployed, a slacker, etc, etc.

heh heh heh - 1998 - took a small age 55 pension and became officially early retired - by their method of figuring.

[growing_older]

If I make my plan work and save the pile I need, then leave my job, I'm done. No unemployment for me and certainly no deliberate action to make them fire me so I can qualify. I'm not inclined to play games with the system.

On the other hand, if I somehow get downsized inches short of reaching my goal, I would definite apply and use the benefits to cover the gap I had intended to fill with the last few months of work. I do understand this is a program for people looking for work and I would in fact be looking for work in earnest, but it would be for the kind of work I wanted for the timeframe I wanted. This whole thing is a pretty unlikely scenario, but I can't see me taking a rotten job if I'm that close to FI or RE. I'd hold out for something I'd really enjoy (which I would take if I found) or if I didn't find it then just let the benefits bridge the gap and be done.