What You Stand to Lose

What will you lose financially—aside from your salary, of course—when you leave your day job? I’m trying to make a kind of global checklist to help those of you who are planning to leave your job, so that a month later, you won’t say, “D’oh! I forgot about that free gym membership!”

Here’s what I’ve been able to come up with. I know that some of these are totally irrelevant to many people—some of them are irrelevant to me—but that’s part of the point: every job has something that other jobs don’t offer, and I want to get everything.  So please add a comment telling me what I’ve forgotten.

Medical insurance
Paid vacation
Paid sick days
Paid personal days

Pension plan with employer contribution
Employer's match on Social Security

Child care

HRA

Gym membership

Use of IT department
Use of company car
Travel miles on personal account from business travel
Cell phone

Outside opportunities associated with your job*

Bonuses (associated with holidays, job performance, etc.)
Credit union

Discounts:

• on employer’s product**
• on public transportation
• at local stores and services
• on tickets at musical, sports, etc. events sponsored by employer
• on life insurance (and other kinds of insurance)

I know I haven't thought of everything, so please help: What benefits will you lose when you quit your day job?

A future post will address what you'll save when you quit, so start thinking about that too!

*For example: I teach Italian, and I work on the SAT Subject Test in Italian every year. More fun than it sounds like, and it pays, but only active high-school and college instructors can serve on the committee, so it will disappear once I've left the job. You might serve on the board of another company, do consulting work, etc.

**In my case, the university pays 70% of the tuition of the children of all employees—not just faculty—wherever they go to college. I know; it's been sweet.