Layoff to Launch

Runway Worksheet

Companion to the lesson "Your runway number"

1. The Division

Line	Worked example (assumptions labeled)	Your numbers
Spendable cash (checking + savings)	$8,400	$
Severance net (what cleared, minus a haircut for the tax true-up)	$5,600	$
Unemployment: weekly amount x weeks left in eligibility	$400 x 26 = $10,400	$ x = $
Partner share (only if a partner's income reliably covers part of the budget; subtract it from the monthly number instead of inflating the pot)	handled on budget side	$
Total resources	$24,400	$
Survival budget (monthly, from "What a month actually costs")	$4,300	$
RUNWAY (total resources / monthly budget)	about 5.7 months, call it five and a half	$ / $ = months

Worked-example figures are illustrative arithmetic, not a claim about your market. What can honestly join the formula: a cash signing situation you can document, expected tax refunds, the sellable second car, anything with a date and an amount you would bet the household on. Optimism is not a line item.

What is not runway: retirement accounts, home equity, available credit. If it cannot pay October's mortgage without a penalty, a sale, or a loan, it is not a month of runway. (Exception worth knowing: separate from service during or after the year you turn 55 and the just-left employer's 401(k) allows penalty-free withdrawals; not old 401(k)s, not an IRA; the tax still applies. Last-resort valve, not a plan.)

2. Dated Recompute Log

Recompute every two weeks, the same day, from live balances, not from memory. Calendar it as a recurring appointment called "the number." Fifteen minutes.

Date	Cash + severance $	UI weeks left	Total resources $	Budget $	Runway months	What moved and why

3. Where It Lives

Number written where you will see it: ☐ whiteboard ☐ fridge ☐ note above the desk. Dated:

Then tell whoever shares the budget, tonight. The number is not a verdict; it is a schedule for decisions, and a schedule shared is a household rowing in the same direction.