There’s no other way of putting it; getting fired from your job absolutely sucks. It sucks because you feel like you fit in well in the office, but it mostly sucks because there’s a sense of ‘back to square one’ about things. After all the effort you put into finding a job, you’ve now got to start all over again, albeit with a bit more experience behind you.
However, as well as all this, the worst thing about being let go is that you no longer have a source of income. You don’t get paid anymore, which means your finances are stagnated. Bills can ramp up quickly, leading to bad debt that spirals out of control. It can all go from bad to worse very quickly if you’re not careful.
As you can tell by the title, I want to talk about remaining financially stable after you’ve lost your job. It’s not easy, but it’s also not impossible. There are a few steps you should follow that should help you maintain your financial stability, and avoid falling into a debt trap.
Find Out Why You Were Fired
The first thing you should do is find out why you were fired. For some people, this may be clear and obvious. For others, being let go could’ve come as a real shock. You go to work one day, get called into the office and are suddenly fired. In scenarios like this, you really need to get a clear and formal reasoning for your firing.
Why? Because it can help you see if you’re entitled to things like compensation, or if you can maybe take legal action. Regardless of the reasoning, you should move onto step two.
Seek Legal Guidance
Step two is a pretty big step as it’s very broad. Now, it doesn’t matter what you were fired for, you should always seek legal guidance straight away. Speak to a lawyer, and they will help you figure out if you’ve been given a severance package that abides by the law. In some cases, even if you were fired for good reasons, you still may be entitled to certain compensations. So, legal guidance helps you figure out if you’ve been financially accounted for or not. You’ll be surprised at how much money a company is legally entitled to give you when they let you go. The cash you claim through pursuing the matter legally can help you stay financially stable as you look for a new job.
However, seeking legal guidance is extremely important if you feel like you’ve been wrongly fired. There are many examples of people who’ve been let go for outrageous reasons than just aren’t fair. Let’s say that the business you work for is doing things that you don’t agree with, and you tell your boss that you’re not okay with it and refuse to take part in those practices. You’re so appalled by what you’ve seen that you go ahead and report your boss to the authorities. Then, the next day, you come into work, and your boss fires you. In this scenario, you’ve clearly been fired for being a whistleblower, and that’s not allowed. If you visit here, you’ll see some attorneys can help protect whistleblowers from wrongful termination. So, if you’ve been fired already for reasons similar to this, then you know you can seek legal guidance to gain financial compensation and protection.
This is one of the most common examples of wrongful termination, but others include race/gender-related disputes. Many people claim to be fired because of their race/gender, which is so clearly wrong and illegal. If you think you’ve been wrongly fired, then seek legal guidance to get the financial compensation you deserve, and possibly even get your job back.
Create A Strict Budget
Now, if you’re in a position where you seek legal guidance and have enough evidence to pursue a case that wins you lots of compensation, then you should be financially stable. However, if you speak to a lawyer and they say you’ve got no case and the company gave you all the compensation you deserve when they fired you, then you should start thinking about budgets.
Create a strict budget as you look for a new job, to help curb your spending. Figure out how much money you need in your account to pay for bills. Once this is done, build a budget that helps you spend as little money as you can. Cut down on all your lavish spending, and start saving wherever possible.
By doing this, you will put yourself in a position where you should have enough money to cover all your essential payments for the foreseeable future. Prioritize these above everything else, and you’ll avoid late payment fees that lead to a mountain of debt.
Look For Work
Ideally, you should start looking for work right away. Even as you’re going through all the legal mumbo-jumbo, a lot of your time should be devoted to finding more work. The quicker you find a new job, the sooner you’ll have a regular source of income again.
Even if you’re in a situation where you get a massive payout because of a wrongful termination dispute, that will only last for a certain amount of time. Eventually, you still need money coming in every month. So, get searching for a new job as soon as you can! Your resume might need updating, so get started on that. In my eyes, if you’re using this termination as a chance to reconsider your career, then I suggest looking for part-time work instead. This can be a little job that ties you over and keeps the money coming in until you’re ready to decide what your next career move will be.
It’s so easy to fall into a dark place when you’ve been fired from work. Hopefully, this advice will help you get on the right track and avoid falling into debt. Remember, it’s always worth seeking legal guidance just to ensure you’ve been fired legally and have been given everything you’re entitled to. Then, it’s all about creating a money-saving budget that focuses on paying your bills and finding a new job as soon as can be. The less time you spend out of work, the better.
