Taxes are *withheld *heavily, but it’s not actually taxed at a higher rate. Your advice is good, though, in that you won’t get all the cash in hand.
It also suggests something else to check. If you happen to be one of those people who gets more than necessary withheld from your check, to make sure you don’t owe taxes or to get a refund, change your withholding to get more cash in every check. You may also want to reprioritize from retirement savings to more liquid savings.
Figure out what’s involved in getting COBRA to extend your health insurance. You will typically be entitled to 18 months of COBRA. COBRA is extremely unforgiving of late payments. If your employer goes out of business and/or completely cancels health insurance for employees, you will not have the option of COBRA. Keep your eyes on the political news for health insurance and unemployment related aspects of stimulus plans.
Do a great job in your current position, taking any opportunities to cross-train that may come up. Don’t work so much overtime that your standard of performance deteriorates. That may not be an issue so much for the OP if layoffs will be 100% seniority based, but it could make or break people in most jobs.
If you interact with people from other companies/ agencies in your job, KISS SOME BUTT. Companies/ agencies that buy from or sell to your employer are some of your best hopes for a new job.
If you plan on using social networking like LinkedIn to get a job, set up your profile and connect to people now, so that you won’t come across as yet another desperate unemployed person who just discovered networking.
Help any unemployed friends in their job searches. If worse comes to worse, you may have built up some good karma and/or learned from their experiences.
If possible, get on any committees that are being formed to get employee input about reorganization, restructuring, etc. It can be one way to save your bacon or at least see a little more clearly when/where the axe is going to fall.