Some advice from Yahoo Finance in case you get laid off....

[Postman]

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/144694/What-to-Do-If-You-Get-Laid-Off?tickers=BAC,SNE,YHOO,RTP,%5EDJI,%5EGSPC,spy

Negotiate your exit package (assuming you get one) just as you negotiate a job offer. And take a day or two to consider the offer; the HR department may be in a hurry, but you don't have to be.

Make sure you secure continued healthcare benefits via COBRA.

If you have borrowed against your 401(k) and lose your job, you typically have 90 days to repay the loan.

Don't stop spending money but definitely "reallocate your expenses" on things like a Blackberry and interview attire that can help you stay in touch and land the next job.

....I wonder how that sage advice would be fitting in for the Chicago Factory Workers, et al slave wage workers?

[Starks]

1. COBRA Commander has control of my 401(k)?

Where are the G.I. Joes when you need them?

[JNelson6563]

2. Practical advice...not.

Just the costs of COBRA alone would devour unemployment benefits. Oy.

Julie

[sufrommich]

3. Has The Onion taken over Yahoo Finance? nt

[calico1]

4. I've never known any laid off person who can

afford COBRA.

[sellitman]

5. Cobra is costing me $1200 / MO

My savings are going down faster than you can imagine. If I stop payment my son who has a medical condition won't get coverage later.

You think you could do me a favor and get Congress to bail me out?

[calico1]

13. I am sorry about your son.

That really sucks.

COBRA is like insult to injury. You are laid off but COBRA's cost is astronomical.

[sellitman]

16. The good news is my son will be ok.

We didn't know that earlier in the year.

That kind of worry makes being out of work seem like a mild bump in the road.

It's all perspective I guess.

Thanks for the concern. :)

[AndrewP]

6. I work in payroll, and you are 10000% correct.

Personally, if I get laid off I'll concentrate on eating.

[sarcasmo]

17. Or a new freaking Blackberry, totally out of touch.

[undeterred]

7. Exit package?

:rofl:

Exactly what do you have left to negotiate with at that point? And how many people actually get anything when they are laid off? If they offer you anything, don't be a moron.

[L0oniX]

8. The illegals are moving back to Mexico because they don't have blackberries?

Hell ...you can't even find a job for $10 an hour anymore.

[MadinMo]

9. Somehow I don't think negotiating an exit package will be

an option for this hourly worker, or any other hourly worker. More like "don't let the door hit you on the way out."

[soleft]

10. I have 8000 loan on my 401 K

If I get canned I'm screwn.

[greguganus]

12. They should change the name now to 201K. Down ~50%. n/t

[greguganus]

11. Must be for white collar lay-offs. How many blue-collar workers get exit packages?

...or will need a blackberry?

[tandot]

14. "..."reallocate your expenses" on things like a Blackberry..." Is that a joke???

A regular cell phone won't do? You have to shell out money to replace your cell phone with a Blackberry?

Who wrote that piece of crap? The inventor/manufacturer of Blackberry?

And don't even get me started on Cobra. If you are out of a job, you can't afford it.

[Subdivisions]

15. WTF? Is everyone white collar now or what? Negotiate

an exit package? I get a goddamned last check (for the hours I worked) and a boot in the ass! What negotiate?

[Selatius]

18. The person who wrote the article is painfully out of touch with Main Street America.

His advice works for white collar jobs on Wall Street and jobs where you have to wear a suit to work, but it doesn't fly out in the steel mills and manufacturing plants.

[arcadian]

19. Exit package: I won't scrape a magnet against every hard drive in this place if you give me my money...

n/t

[readmoreoften]

20. Best. Post. Ever.