Why the long face? I have the opposite viewpoint... My kids, after decades of me telling them to be the best, have all been self-motivated high achievers. One's going to med school, one's going to Harvard Law. During my past nearly 20 years at the Q, I was able to work at the hottest company, and the financial benefits allowed us to own our house free and clear, put two kids through colleges without the need for financial aid, allow us to grow my investments outside of engineering, letting my wife start her retail business years ago that is doing well, and left us with a nice sizable retirement cushion both in 401k/IRAs and after tax accounts. Of the late, I've been spending more time with my wife and more time with my hobbies, both on the track, and in the gun club. Well, I should say that has happened long before this entire layoff thing. But with a pending layoff, it will give me more time to do other things I've always wanted to. I do have a few old contacts thats were asking me if I was interested in joining their startups, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to commit to working long hours, so as an alternative, maybe I'll just be a part time consultant for them. I think I'm about to take about a 2 month vacation in Europe since the exchange rate is so ridiculously low, but my wife who is so passionate about her business doesn't want to take an extended downtime....