Changing Jobs Checklist
Changing jobs can affect your health insurance, retirement account, workplace insurance, paid leave, beneficiaries, tax records and household budget. Use this checklist to review the important pieces before access to your old employer systems disappears.
Employer plans and employment rules differ. Use your employer's plan documents and appropriate government resources for specific deadlines, eligibility rules and benefit options.
Job transition review
Check items as you review them.
Your old employee portal, work email and benefit systems may become unavailable quickly after employment ends. Before leaving, identify the personal employment and benefit records you are permitted to keep and store appropriate copies securely.
Work through the transition in stages.
You do not need every answer immediately. Start by identifying deadlines, coverage changes and records that may become difficult to access once the old job ends.
Save the records you may need later
Start with information that could disappear when access to employer systems ends.
Know when old coverage ends and new coverage begins
Avoid assuming that coverage dates automatically line up.
Review the workplace retirement plan
Leaving the employer usually does not mean you need to make an immediate retirement-account decision.
Check what protection ends with the old job
Workplace life and disability coverage may not continue automatically after employment ends.
Review final compensation
Understand what is still expected from the old employer.
Check benefit accounts with special rules
Health and dependent-care accounts can follow different rules when employment changes.
Review who is connected to your benefits
Job changes are a good time to confirm beneficiary and dependent information.
Do not automatically copy your old elections
The new employer may offer different plans, contribution levels and options.
Review the first new paycheck carefully
A new employer means new payroll elections, withholding and deductions.
Adjust the financial plan to the new paycheck
A salary increase does not always mean take-home pay increases by the same amount.
Close the transition cleanly
Make sure old-job loose ends are not left hanging indefinitely.
Make sure important personal records are no longer trapped inside an employee portal.
Keep only records you are permitted to retain. Do not copy confidential company files, proprietary information, customer information or other employer-owned material.
Connect the job change with the rest of your financial life.
Use official information when deadlines and benefit rules matter.
Employer plan documents should be your first source for plan-specific details. Federal agencies also provide guidance on health coverage, retirement plans, taxes and employee benefits.
Finish the items that depend on your old employer access first.
Then work through the new job one benefit at a time. The goal is not to rush every decision. It is to make sure health coverage, retirement, insurance, records and household finances do not fall through the gap between two employers.