I had a random thought today on what would happen if I were to lose my job.
How long would I be able to support my family? What’s my contingency plan? What are my commitments and which ones could I sustain?
My emergency fund has just been accessed for all the set up fees in preparation for the baby, as well as the hospital fees of delivery.
With all my current commitments, we could comfortably survive on current savings for around…2 months. We’d run into trouble from the third month mainly because of the housing mortgage.
That’s a pretty sobering realisation.
Although lay-offs are not as rampant in Malaysia where employees are over-protected, there are situations where redundancies, realignments and terminations happen rather quickly. And in the current economic climate, nothing is sure, especially in light of the uncertainties and instabilities in Europe and the U.S.
There are no guarantees in life and it’s smart to draw up a proper contingency plan and then execute it.
Firstly, build up the emergency fund so that the family can sustain without any income for six months. Do anything it takes to get up to this level such as going on a spending freeze and cutting back on anything expenditure you can.
Secondly, build up your network and contacts so that if anything were to happen, you could access them to inquire about vacancies. In some situations, if you have built up a strong reputation and credibility in your work, or have impressed the current company’s customers, sometimes people will just leave you their card and ask you to get in touch with them anytime you want to explore a job elsewhere.
Thirdly, if your job is not too heavy, you can set up a freelancing service which you work on outside work hours. Of course, while you are working full time, you will be rather selective with the projects you take on but if you’re much freer, you can ramp up your freelancing activities for income.
Fourthly, set up a business on the side. Invest time, money, effort and your skills into the company to build it up so that it starts generating profits for you. Aside from having funds from profits, if the company is built up well, it may even accommodate you going in full time to ramp up the business activities.
Finally, keep learning and picking up skills and capabilities which are in demand in the industry you are passionate to work in. This will make you much more marketable and ready for any of the options above.
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