Now that I covered the non-financial side of my departure from my last job, I will cover the financial side as much as I can. Every place is different. Each time is different but I hope I can offer you something here for your next transition.

The first thing is that I was leaving around the holidays. Holidays are paid vacation days, so I made sure that I was going to save up as much vacation time as I could so I could receive a payout on those days from my company. Not every place does it, but a lot do. I took every paid holiday that was available to me, except the floating holiday that I get to use on January 1st every year. That would have been another 8 hours of vacation saved for me to receive as cash, but I didn’t want to ask my boss to approve it and then let me take the day as a 2007 vacation day. That would have been ethically shady. Either way though, I had two days for Christmas Eve and Christmas, two days for New Year’s Eve and Day, and two days post-Christmas. In two weeks, I only worked 4 days. Not too shabby.

The second thing is that I was leaving before bonus season and I had to gauge what bonuses would be like. Would they be a paltry sum or would they be the maximum amount available? Word on the street was very quiet. I couldn’t tell, so I assumed that meant they weren’t going to be that good. I weighed the opportunity cost of waiting with the present value of a higher salary. No, I didn’t do the firm mathematical calculations, but I decided the present value of a higher salary was going to be worth a lot more to me, as well as better benefits with the new firm.

The third thing is what to do with your 401k money. I knew I was forfeiting a decent chunk of my corporate match by leaving before fully vesting, but since the match is so low, it didn’t really matter. In a month or two at my new pay rate, I’ll have made that money back. I am going to pull this money out and roll it over into an existing Traditional IRA I have already. Never leave your money behind at your old company’s plan. You usually have 90-days to figure out what to do. By then you can see what your new company has in equivalent investments and roll your money into the new 401k plan, or into an existing IRA (with some restrictions).

Along with that is to double check if you have restricted funds. I just found out that due to some small transfers into an International fund, I cannot sell without a small penalty. I have to wait 60-days from my last purchase/influx of funds to sell without the penalty. C’est la vie. That’s just a calendar item for me in a few weeks. What I needed to do, was stop contributions to that fund entirely, but hopefully the market will do better anyway before I sell.

(more…)

This is a two part series. Part one is the non-financial side of planning an exit from your job. Part two is the financial side.

Exiting gracefully is an art. Don’t look to me for a graceful exit. I have quit in fits and starts. Pique. Spite. Exhaustion. They’ve all played parts in my departures from jobs. This time, I was determined to do it right.

I felt being from a small team, I needed to do right by my manager, whom I had recruited to be my boss. I didn’t want to leave a mountain of work behind for my co-worker, whom we handpicked to join us from our old company. (All three of us are old co-workers.) I would not leave without a month’s notice. It just wouldn’t be fair to leave with only 2 weeks’ notice. Every office is different. Rarely do you owe more than 2 weeks. It all depends. Due to the nature of documenting and transitioning all of my duties, a month probably wasn’t even enough, but it worked out for us.

The inadvertent upside of staying till January was that my boss gets headcount in the 2008 budget so he can replace me. There were rumors that I wouldn’t be replaced, but everyone is certain that my job is essential enough to fill it. But I do recommend thinking a little strategically about when you leave and what you can negotiate with your new employer (if you have one).

I also made a point of thanking my director in person for all that he did for me while my father was ill in 2006. This guy works in a different location and happened to be in DC for some end-of-year meetings. He had gone to bat for me in front of management and got me a 4 10-hour day schedule to let me return home every weekend. As a courtesy to him, I resigned in person and expressed my gratitude for his generosity with my schedule and the latitude he gave me to get projects done. Everyone appreciates autonomy at work. I sure do.

Sometimes, it’s hard to stay focused when you’re departure date is far off. I know there were days when it was tough. But stay a high-performer right until you leave. I was still working till the bitter end on things because I left after the 1st of the month and there was a ton of stuff that triggers on the 1st of the month. I fretted over it getting fixed. I got a few calls and emails about it and did what I could from memory to help. You should remain open to giving a little help to your old team for the work you did. Not so much that it interferes with your new job or creates some ethical conflict, but enough that everyone still thinks well of you after you are gone.

The exit interview was kind of crazy for me. There was a written questionnaire and face to face interview. I had something sensitive to say, but after talking with a few co-workers, I found out that the paper questionnaire gets sent around to my direct manager and director. I decided to leave the sensitive issue off the paper record, but discuss it with the HR person. Ethically, I could not leave my company knowing there was a larger problem brewing so I told the HR person what was going on and its possible future impact. She seemed to have some idea about it, so I was relieved. Some people say don’t say anything negative in the exit interview. Some people, when frustrated, candidly throw the gloves off and tell it like it is in a truly raw fashion. Strive to stay somewhere in between. That’s the best thing I can tell you to do.

This new gig is going to require a wardrobe adjustment. I got a memo telling me my first engagement is business casual, but that many of the other offices in the building are formally dressed. Well, well. I can take a hint. I’d better buy some pantyhose and full suit outfits.

Luckily for me, when SingleMa and I went outlet shopping, I found a place that has pantyhose in multipacks for cheap and a shop that sells er, women’s suits. I hesitate because these are the kind of outfits that make me think of my mom, church ladies, and women politicos, i.e. dull cuts with shiny buttons. ICK.

This is also a reminder to step up the personal grooming. No more chopping the hair off. I am going to have to get a full on real haircut and invest in a curling iron. The trainer with the blonde hair looked simply fab. Her hair was extremely long like mine, but she finished the ends off with some slight layering and a twirl of an iron. This means less time for sleeping, but worth it for the first month to set a good impression.

Last thing is that I’m going to invest in a manicure. I have this problem during long training sessions. I bite my nails in boredom. Never down to the quick, but I gnaw on them like so many pieces of beef jerky. They’re looking terrible and I don’t want to show them yet at a client site. Also, for some reason, a little flash of polish, even the clear stuff, goes a long way to a professional impression. In the world of consulting, first impressions and appearances count. So off I go to plunk down a serious chunk of change to do this.

I have no fixed budget, but I have a set amount I am going to spend. What’s the difference? The former is something specifically planned that you KNOW you can afford. The latter is something you FEEL you can afford without knowing if you really can. At this point, my budgeting is simple. I only spend what I have in cash. More about that later.

But if you need a quick budget worksheet, Michelle Singletary has one at the Washington Post. You don’t need to log in. The link is direct to a PDF file, which you can read for free with Adobe Reader.

It’s fairly comprehensive. I admit, I hate budgets and I usually use the budgeting tools in Quicken to help me, but I am starting some financial counseling volunteer work and so I’m reposting this primarily as a quick link for future reference. I will make a permalink for it on the sidebar one day.

I’m still crazy busy with training, but in a good way. I’m surviving with the help of a lot of caffeine.

I’m in training, so I’m struggling to have anything to write at all this week. I am brain-fried from powerpoints and all too-energetic presenters.

I’ve been reading Millionaire Mommy Next Door. I keep meaning to blogroll her. I don’t read all the time, but I do think her data driven analysis is convincing. She’s smart and reasoned with her contrarian strategies, especially on homeownership. I’m ready to start renting again, but that’s because I hate my HOA.

J.D. at Get Rich Slowly, because he’s an old pal of mine. His car is setting him back a ways, but it’s coming out of his emergency fund.

Paidtwice at I’ve Paid For This Twice Already. I feel like her blog needs an exclamation point at the end of it. As if to say, “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!” It’s very mommy-oriented though, just so you know. Lots of links to family resources. I wish I could say that I partake of them, but I’m still ‘happily single! YAY! *claps hands*’ to quote the corporate trainer. I swear, that’s the best thing I learned all week. To be happy I am single. (Though technically, the trainer is divorced or some other sort of unmarried.)

And finally, GRACEful Retirement. A very different perspective from the under-30-OMG-my-student-loans-are-killing-me category of PF blogs. A late saver, but a mother thinking about college saving and getting by. This is not to say that the Under 30 blogs are bad. There’s just a lot of them and Grace is coming from a very different perspective.

Free Money Finance coincidentally posted an article on shorter commutes by Penelope Trunk, on the same day I said that a shorter commute is one reason why I switched jobs.

So if you have a bad commute, you are probably not very happy. And you should know that a bad commute spills over into all aspects of your life. Raymond Novaco, a psychologist and professor at the University of California, Irvine, found that bad traffic on the way home makes for a bad mood in the evening. This is true regardless of age, gender, income, and job satisfaction.

This was very true for me. I spent the last few months struggling with my office relocation so I could make it to hockey games on time or other events downtown. DC PF Blogger happy hour planning has been a b*tch to say the least. But it’ll be a lot easier with my new gig.

Honestly, I like to be prompt when meeting friends or going to an event. I know most of the times I am late to something it’s because either I didn’t want to go or traffic. It’s rarely anything else. I have the worst road rage feelings in my car on my way in and out of work. It makes me feel ugly and I find it very hard to unwind. I don’t want to talk to anyone for about 15 minutes after arrival. I need to rest alone, or sulk in my beer a few feet away till I’m ready to perk up.

People are very rude non-signalers in the DC area. They also drive faster than I like. Since I like to drive fast, this is really bad. If I’m going 70 mph already, I’m being passed as a slow poke at 80-90 mph. I move out of the fast lane all the time for some yahoo going crazy faster than me.

Truthfully, I think my commute in terms of time will be about the same because of overflowing buses, but I will get enjoyable activities back like walking (in the SNOW. Ok. That’s a yuck, but a winter hike can be fun!), reading, listening to music. Reading is a big thing to me and I am psyched that the bus will drop me off 2 blocks away from the library and I can hoof it home the rest of the way with a New Arrival. I love reading and I am excited to put the library back into my schedule.

Think about the cost of your commute in terms of dollars and psychic dollars. I know I’m saving money on gas, tolls and insurance by switching to the bus (which is potentially reimburseable). I cannot wait to knock down my car insurance to ‘pleasure’ insurance!

If you have a spare pair of eyeglasses, please consider donating it to this exhibition in London.

Most of my prep school friends were Jewish and a few of them had family members who were Holocaust survivors. It would mean a very lot to me.

I think this would be a fitting way to get rid of my last pair after my eye surgery is completed. So far so good. My final pre-op exam was on a spare day off and I am still looking at three days off for surgery and recovery. I’m excited.

Since I’m largely in training this week, I am in class and off the computers. I don’t even have time to check email as I wasn’t even issued a computer till the second day of training and I have a house guest from Seattle for a few days. (The host of the omakaze dinner at Mashiko. Of course we went to a sushi dinner! It was pricey but we also had happy hour 99 cent single pieces of nigiri. I might have to blog about that.)

To elaborate a little more about my job and what I hope it will be:

1. I wanted to reduce my carbon footprint. I know it sounds cheesy, but I will be able to commute via public transport for my first engagement with this consulting firm. I find that pretty exciting to get a portion of my life back so I can read or knit while commuting. My corporate offices had moved in the last year and the new drive was killing me, especially when it takes two hours to drive past Tyson’s Corner at Christmastime. I wasn’t going to do that again next year. If you want to know more, listen to this Diane Rehm show episode about Happiness. The number one thing that destroys happiness is a long commute to work.

2. I hope that I can stay and grow with this firm for the next 5 to 10 years. I really loved my team at my old company, but to stay there for 5 years would have meant a transfer to the Midwest in a place where I would only have co-workers for friends at the start. (One of the reasons I spent so much on holiday presents for my teammates was because I knew I was leaving and I wanted to give them a token of my appreciation for their friendship over the last 4.5 years through the thick and thin times with our previous totally sh*tty employer to the awesome team we built at the new place.)

3. I am excited that there are great benefits with my new company. My old firm doesn’t even compare. Tuition, training, health insurance, 401k plan, corporate social clubs, everything. Discounts on cars, cell phones, computers, EVERYTHING. I bet I can join a warehouse club at a discount even. Hm. Must look into that.

4. The money is great. It’s a 6% raise over my total compensation from my last firm, but I know that I am more likely to become a 6-figure employee with the new employer. Whereas my old employer wouldn’t give my senior manager a 6-figure salary, though he deserved it, they’d never give me one as a technical minion. It’s actually more like a 16% raise over my base salary, and though I am losing my bonus money for 2007 and a tiny bit of 401k vesting, the present value of money on the checks between January 1 and bonus season payouts have more value. No, really. I can do the math on that since we were notified that we weren’t going to make our targets to get the full 10% bonus. So why should I have waited till bonus season.

That is all. Really, are there any other better reasons to change jobs? Someone asked me about changing jobs and the job hunt. Hang on. I’ll get to that later this week.

EDIT: Contest update. I forgot a deadline. As I am super busy, you have until Saturday, 1/12/2008, 6pm EST to enter by leaving a comment.

Today, January 7, 2008, Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge turns 2 years old.

What a long strange trip it’s been. Some of it good. Some of it bad. But always interesting.

What’s happened?
- I went from Blogger, to my own domain with the help of Flexo.
- This blog has grown from a few of my friends reading it to over 140 daily subscribers, many of whom are strangers. (Or just plain old strange for wanting to read about me. Take your pick.)
- I got Dugg a few times. I’ve been Stumbled Upon, scraped, copycatted, and otherwise flattered by the Interwebs.
- I saved up $8,000 over two years to fix my teeth, costing me about $12,000 total. I have one more permanent crown to put in, and that will cost me $1,000, which I hope to pay in cash.
- I am saving $5,000 for laser eye surgery, which I hope will happen later this month.
- I got serious about saving money in my 401k plan and socked away about $25K in two years.
- I got serious about saving money in an emergency fund and still have some money left in it. (A high of $4k, a current low of $1.6K)
- I paid cash for a motorcycle, my newest hobby.
- I’ve made a ton of friends through blogging.
- I made a decent chunk of change through blogging, but recognize that it’s still only a labor of love and will likely never replace my day job.
- I helped my parents buy new windows for their home.
- My dad had a stroke and retired from work.
- I negotiated a crazy raise for myself last year.
- I have learned to carry more cash on me.
- I don’t feel crushed by my debts, but positively focused on what I can do to change my situation.
- My net worth has tripled, but my consumer debt has quadrupled.
- Last, but not least, I start a new job today with a major international consulting firm.

I’m sorry I have written sooner about my job change, but I’ve been holding onto that last little tidbit for over a month and it’s a major consideration with my goals for this year. I didn’t want to share the news till the time was right.

I really want to thank each and every one of you that reads this blog. I feel a lot of encouragement through your comments and the traffic you send this way. I know I’m bratty, spoiled, bitchy, quirky, boring, but somehow y’all still find it interesting enough to stick around and I appreciate it a lot.

In honor of the day, I’d like to have a little blog contest to give away a copy of Debt is Slavery.

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment. I’ll try to select randomly from the entries but I can tell you now that the Money Blog Network guys are not eligible to win. Sorry guys! All your traffics are belong to us!

That’s the headline of a Michelle Singletary article from Sunday helping you set and keep goals.

Honestly, one of the best things you can do is make your goal very visible. Michelle writes about putting up a whiteboard. I’ve heard of writing it in dry-erase marker on your bathroom mirror. I used to keep post-it notes on the mirror so I could see my goals every morning as I brushed my teeth. I had a friend in high school who had a label-maker sticker on her dashboard that asked her if her lights were still on. I drained and jumpstarted so many batteries, I probably should have done that too.

Other suggestions for making your goals highly visible and a daily reminder:

1) Change your cellphone banner with your savings goal number.
2) Hack your software’s splash screen to ask you what your goal is.
3) Put a list on your mirror.
4) Make a daily reminder on your time-management software to review your list (Outlook, UGH.).
5) Write it in masking tape and put it on your shirt upside down, so when you look down at it, it’s right side up for reading.
6) Tell a friend. (Ok, perhaps not a daily reminder)
7) Write it on a card and put it in your wallet next to your driver’s license or regularly used ATM card/grocery card.
Make your screensaver a marquee with your goal.
9) Put a post-it note near your front door knob so you read the goal every day as you leave your house.
10) Take a sharpie and write it on the front of your credit card.

I especially like the last one best because I have found that with gift cards that go unused, it’s best to look up the balance, and then mark it on the front of the card so I can use the darned thing up eventually. I see nothing wrong with writing “HAWAII VACATION” on the front of a credit or debit card to remind me that maybe, just maybe my Hawaii vacation is more important than a cute pair of shoes on sale.