Leaving Intel - A financial checklist for final pay, equity awards, benefits, and retirement accounts

Leaving Intel can cause several financial decisions to arrive at once. The first objective is not to act quickly; it is to identify the deadlines, elections, and transactions that could permanently change your compensation, benefits, equity, taxes, or retirement options.

Preserve your records: Before access changes, download pay and bonus records, benefit elections, every equity grant agreement, ESPP statements, SERPLUS elections, Fidelity retirement-plan statements, and any pension or retiree-medical records.

Map every deadline: Confirm the official separation date, final payroll, bonus-period eligibility, healthcare end date, COBRA and insurance elections, equity vesting and option expirations, ESPP refund timing, and any SERPLUS payment schedule.

Pause before moving retirement assets: Review vested balances, outstanding loans, Roth and after-tax sources, Intel Stock Fund cost basis, potential NUA treatment, and any legacy pension or minimum-pension interaction before requesting a rollover or distribution.

Begin with the documents that control. Separate a voluntary departure, involuntary separation, and qualifying retirement; then obtain written treatment for each award and benefit. Intel's public retiree materials state that unvested RSUs are generally cancelled on the last day worked while stock-option vesting may accelerate when specific retirement criteria are met. Each grant's agreement, expiration date, and updated E∗TRADE record must control the decision.

Intel's public departure guide states that bonus eligibility can depend on remaining on payroll through the applicable bonus-period end date. Medical and dental coverage generally ends at month-end, while disability coverage can end on the last day of employment. A departure before an ESPP subscription period ends generally results in a refund of that period's contributions without a stock purchase. Fidelity access continues after departure, but distributions, loans, Intel stock, and SERPLUS payments should be evaluated before transactions begin.

Planning principle: Preserve every available option until you understand which decisions are irreversible.

What ends - and when? Confirm payroll, bonus, medical, disability, life insurance, HSA/FSA, sabbatical, system-access, and claim-submission dates.

What equity changes? Separate vested from unvested awards and document each grant's cancellation, acceleration, settlement, withholding, and option-expiration rules.

What should remain in place? Compare leaving retirement assets at Fidelity, a rollover, outstanding-loan repayment, and - if Intel stock is held - an in-kind NUA strategy before initiating transactions.

What arrives in the same tax year? Coordinate final pay, separation payments, bonus income, equity settlement, ESPP refunds, SERPLUS distributions, retirement-plan transactions, and multi-state tax exposure.