Wealth management

When the job disappears, a financial plan can be a lifeline

Higher education is facing unprecedented headwinds. Federal research cuts, declining enrollments, and budget pressures have eroded the job security that university employees once took for granted. The trade publication Inside Higher Ed tallied up more than 9,000 job cuts in 2025 alone—and noted even that number is likely an undercount.¹

For faculty and staff who’d been counting on steady university employment until retirement, a sudden layoff can feel like a financial catastrophe.

That’s what happened to Sarah, a 56-year-old lab assistant at a major research university who’d spent 30 years building her career and her retirement savings. When Sarah received a layoff notice due to university cutbacks, she was devastated, both emotionally and financially. She’d been planning to work until at least 65, when Medicare eligibility would kick in. Now, nine years ahead of schedule, she faced an uncertain financial future.

Not sure what to do, Sarah turned to her TIAA Wealth Management advisor, Melissa Shaw, for guidance. “She was emotional,” recalls Shaw, based in TIAA’s Palo Alto, CA, office. “She’d worked there more than half her life—it was essentially her first job out of college.”

The financial reality of academic life

Academic careers often follow unconventional paths—years of graduate training, postdoctoral work, or adjunct positions before landing a tenure-track role—which can leave professionals with retirement savings gaps and financial plans built around assumptions of long-term, institutional employment. When a layoff comes unexpectedly, the financial disruption can be profound, particularly when comparable positions are scarce and job searches can stretch on for months or years. It’s in moments like these that thoughtful, personalized financial guidance becomes essential.

In Sarah’s case, the first step was taking inventory. Sarah had $600,000 in retirement savings, $40,000 in cash, and owned a condo worth $900,000 with a $300,000 mortgage remaining, according to Shaw. Her expenses ran about $7,000 a month, with $4,000 going toward housing costs. Before the layoff, she’d been earning $135,000 annually.

Shaw ran comprehensive financial planning scenarios to answer Sarah’s most pressing question: Could she afford to retire now if she couldn’t find another job? The answer was sobering: no. “The life goals analysis showed 0% probability of success if she retired immediately,” Shaw says. The good news? TIAA’s analysis offered some potential solutions.

The modeling showed two paths forward for Sarah: reduce her expenses to $5,000 monthly for the rest of her life or find a new position earning at least $90,000 annually and work until age 65. The expense reduction was nearly impossible—with $4,000 monthly going to housing alone, she’d have only $1,000 for everything else. But the $90,000 salary target? That gave Sarah something concrete to aim for.

“She was relieved,” Shaw says. “She wasn’t sure if she could replicate her previous salary after 30 years at one institution. Knowing she needed to earn $90,000—about 30% less than before—gave her direction and some breathing room.”

Shaw also helped Sarah navigate immediate concerns: applying for unemployment benefits that would provide $2,000 monthly, understanding her severance and paid time off payout totaling $16,000, and enrolling in COBRA health coverage at $1,200 monthly. Together, these gave Sarah about five months of emergency expenses covered, buying her time to find the right opportunity rather than accepting the first offer.

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