🪂 Layoff Survival: Severance, Runway & Bridging Job Loss

Turn a job loss, furlough, voluntary exit or sabbatical into a survivable, calmly managed financial event — by knowing exactly how long your money lasts and how to make it last longer. It maps to Layoff & Career-Gap Financial Survival. The course is organized into 12 modules, ending with a final exam (pass mark 80%). It is independent, free exam-preparation training — not an official or accredited review course.

What you'll learn

• The First 72 Hours: Stabilize Before You Strategize
• Calculating Your Runway: How Long the Money Lasts
• Sizing the Emergency Fund & the F-You Fund
• Understanding & Negotiating Severance
• The Tax Trap: Final Pay, PTO Payout & Severance
• The Health-Coverage Gap: COBRA vs ACA vs Alternatives
• Modeling a Pay Cut, Furlough or Bridge Job
• Extending Runway: Spending Triage
• The Side Hustle Bridge: Stopping the Bleed
• Planning a Deliberate Sabbatical or Career Break
• Relocation & Big Levers When Cuts Aren't Enough
• Putting It Together & Final Exam

Learning objectives

• Calculate your real financial runway — how many months your cash covers essential spending after income stops.
• Size an emergency fund and a larger "F-you fund" tuned to your job risk and obligations.
• Understand, value and negotiate a severance package, including what is and isn't legally owed.
• Anticipate the tax treatment of final pay, PTO payout and severance to avoid a withholding shock.
• Compare post-employment health-coverage options (COBRA vs ACA marketplace vs spouse plan) on true cost.
• Model the budget impact of a pay cut, furlough or lower-paying bridge job.
• Extend runway deliberately through spending triage, side income and relocation.
• Plan a sabbatical or career break with a re-entry buffer so the gap doesn't become a crisis.