As someone who literally wrote the book on how to negotiate a severance package, I love severance case studies! The second rule of FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) is simple: never quit your job—always try to negotiate a severance. If you’re planning to leave anyway, why not attempt to create a win-win scenario and walk away with a financial cushion?

Both my wife and I successfully negotiated severance packages in 2012 and 2015, which allowed us to retire early, write, and raise a family. We haven’t returned to full-time work since.

Now, in a major development, the Trump administration is offering severance packages to all federal employees who voluntarily leave by February 6, 2025. The goal? To rapidly shrink the U.S. government and cut costs.

A memo from the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s HR agency, also states that all federal employees will soon be subject to “enhanced standards

Keep reading this article on Financial Samurai.