Guidant Financial Group Blog

Unfortunately, lay-offs.

Financial professionals now have some new drinking buddies in GM auto workers. The auto giant announced today that it will be closing four North American plants that manufacture SUVs in the next two years (see GM Shifts Focus to Small Cars in Sign of Sport Utility Demise).

Just as the financial industry was wounded by the mortgage crisis, the auto industry is starting to nurse the bruises caused by escalating gas prices. GM’s chairman and chief executive announced that the motor manufacturer is going to shift its focus to more fuel-efficient vehicles, thus eliminating the need for plants dedicated to building the brontosauruses of the road.

While GM has not yet indicated whether workers at the plants marked for shut-down will be transferred to other locations, the air smells of lay-offs.

As many of our clients know, being laid off can be both an end and a beginning. Many may find themselves considering self-employment as opposed to the often tumultuous life of an on-again off-again manufacturing worker.

Fortunately, many auto workers will leave GM with 401(k) plans and pensions that can be used to finance a new business. Guidant’s 401(k) small business financing solution can help anyone with money in a tax-deferred retirement account use those funds, without taking a taxable distribution, to start or purchase a business!