Made Redundant? The Financial Planning Moves That Matter Most
Last Wednesday, around 350 Meta employees in Ireland learned their roles are being cut as part of the tech giant’s global drive to slim down and lean further into AI. For many, it will have arrived as a shock email before a morning coffee had cooled. Behind every one of those headline figures is a household, a mortgage, a school run, a pension pot, and a sudden, urgent set of financial questions.
If you’ve been made redundant, or you’re worried you might be, the worst thing you can do is nothing. The best thing you can do is treat the next two weeks as the most important financial planning window of your career.
- Understand exactly what you’re being offered
Your redundancy package is not just a number on a letter. Statutory redundancy in Ireland is tax-free, but ex-gratia payments above that can be sheltered using reliefs such as Basic Exemption, Increased Exemption, and Standard Capital Superannuation Benefit (SCSB). For higher earners, SCSB is often the most valuable, and the most overlooked. Get the calculation done properly before you sign anything.
- Decide what to do with your pension
A tech-sector exit often means walking away from a substantial occupational pension. You generally have options: leave it where it is, transfer to a PRSA, or move it to a Personal Retirement Bond. Each has different implications for charges, fund choice, retirement age access, and tax-free lump sum entitlements. This is not a decision to make in week one, but it is a decision that will quietly shape the next thirty years of your life.
- Rebuild your cash buffer before anything else
Before you think about investing the lump sum, think about runway. A realistic goal is six to twelve months of essential outgoings held somewhere safe and accessible. State Street deposit rates, demand accounts, and short-term State Savings products all have a role. Liquidity buys you the freedom to take the right next job, not the first one.
- Protect what insurance was protecting
Employer-provided life cover, income protection, and health insurance often disappear the day you leave. Replacing them as an individual is more expensive and medically underwritten, but going without them, particularly with a mortgage and dependants, is a far bigger risk than most people appreciate.
- Get tax advice before you spend a euro
How and when you receive the payment, whether you take a pension lump sum now or later, and how you draw down savings in a low-income year, all of these interact. A short conversation with a qualified adviser can be worth tens of thousands.
The bottom line
Redundancy is rarely something people plan for, but it is something that can be planned through. The Meta announcement is a reminder that even the most secure-looking roles in the most prestigious companies are not immune. A clear head, the right advice, and a structured plan will turn a difficult moment into a financial reset, not a financial setback.
If you or someone you know has been affected, get in touch for a confidential conversation.
