The Layoff Playbook · From ClearCourse

You just got laid off.
Here's exactly what to do with your money in the first 30 days.

12 AI prompts that build your complete post-layoff financial plan — customized to your state, your savings, your situation. No finance degree required.

Get the Layoff Money Map — $39
Educational tool. Not financial advice. Full disclaimer included.
Built from 1,200+ real questions across r/personalfinance, r/layoffs, and r/Unemployment
The cost of figuring it out alone

Most people make $5,000+ in mistakes in their first month after a layoff.

You're supposed to navigate COBRA, 401k rollovers, unemployment, severance agreements, health insurance, debt payments, and how long your savings will last — all while processing losing your job. The default answers are expensive.

$21,600 / year

COBRA on autopilot

Defaults to ~$1,870/month when the ACA marketplace might cost you $70 after subsidies.

30%+ to taxes

Cashing out a 401k

Pulling it early triggers federal income tax, the 10% early-withdrawal penalty, and state tax. A direct rollover avoids all of it.

Industry lockout

Signing severance unread

Non-compete clauses, non-disparagement, and class-action waivers — buried in the agreement you sign in week one.

$10k–$30k

Panic-accepting the first offer

Without a BATNA, a minimum-acceptable-comp calc, or negotiation scripts, you leave significant comp on the table.

You don't need to figure this out alone.
The map

12 prompts. 2–4 hours. A complete financial plan built for YOUR situation.

The Layoff Money Map is a sequence of 12 AI prompts you paste into ChatGPT or Claude. Each builds on the one before. You provide your details — state, savings, debts, skills. The AI produces a plan that fits your life, not a generic checklist.

Prompt 02 · Runway Calculator

How many months until you run out

Three scenarios — conservative, moderate, aggressive — with a specific red-line calendar date for each. Sam's output: cash runs out October 20, 2026.

Prompt 04 · COBRA vs. Marketplace

The $1,800/month decision most people get wrong

Side-by-side cost comparison with real subsidy estimates, state-specific Medicaid flags, and the wait-and-see strategy. Sam saves $21,600/year.

What's inside

All 12 prompts, in the order you'd actually run them

01

My Situation Snapshot

Collects your complete financial picture into one structured summary the next 11 prompts can reference.

02

Runway Calculator

Three scenarios with exact red-line calendar dates. Know when cash actually runs out.

03

Expense Surgery

Line-by-line audit producing a "lean burn" budget you can actually live with.

04

COBRA vs. Marketplace

Side-by-side cost comparison with ACA subsidy estimates and state Medicaid flags.

05

401k Rollover Decision

Leave / roll to IRA / roll to new 401k — with tax math for each path.

06

Unemployment Filing Kit

State-specific filing instructions, benefit estimate, and the disqualifier list.

07

Severance Decoder

Red-flag clause checklist (non-compete, class action waiver) + negotiation scripts.

08

Debt During Layoff

Priority matrix + exact hardship call scripts for each creditor.

09

Health Insurance Deep Dive

All six coverage paths: COBRA, ACA, Medicaid, CHIP, spouse's plan, short-term.

10

Side Income Quick-Start

Skill-to-gig matching with a "get cash in 7 days" action plan.

11

30-Day Action Calendar

Everything from Prompts 1–10 synthesized into a day-by-day checklist.

12

When to Say Yes to the Offer

BATNA analysis, minimum-acceptable-comp calc, and negotiation scripts.

A worked example

Meet Sam.

Every prompt in the Map includes a complete worked example following one person through the full sequence — so you can see exactly what the output looks like before you run it on your own numbers.

Sam's snapshot

  • Age38
  • StateTexas
  • Cash on hand$14,000
  • Monthly burn$4,200
  • Severance8 weeks
  • Dependents1 child, age 6
  • Last dayMay 10, 2026

Sam runs Prompt 02 and learns his cash runs out October 20, 2026 — 5.3 months from today. Not "soon." A date.

He runs Prompt 04 and switches from COBRA to an ACA Silver plan + CHIP for his daughter. $74/month family premium vs. $1,870 on COBRA.

He runs Prompt 11 and gets a 30-day calendar telling him exactly what to do each morning — file Texas unemployment by day 3, request severance redlines by day 5, launch a freelance proposal by day 14.

"The hardest part wasn't the math. It was knowing what order to do things in. The Map gave me the order."
What you get

$39, one time. Everything below, instant download.

12 paste-ready AI prompts

Each with an inputs guide, the full prompt text, expected output description, and the worked example following Sam.

Print-ready PDF manuscript

Cover page, table of contents, full disclaimer, all 12 prompts cleanly formatted for reading or printing.

Notion template

Import-ready workspace with status trackers for each prompt, a fill-in variables table, and a 30-day checklist.

State-specific intelligence

Every prompt involving state law (unemployment, COBRA, non-compete, Medicaid) instructs the AI to look up your state's rules at runtime. California ≠ Texas.

Works with free ChatGPT & Claude

No paid AI subscription required. Free tiers handle all 12 prompts.

Lifetime access

One-time purchase. Run them now for this layoff. Run them again if your situation changes in two years.

Built for this moment

Researched against the questions people are actually asking — right now.

The Layoff Money Map was built in May 2026, during the layoff cycle. Every prompt answers a question that gets asked thousands of times per month — by real people, in real subreddits, with real money on the line.

1,200+
Real questions analyzed
50
State-specific rule sets
12
Prompts. One chain.
Questions

Things people ask before buying.

Is this financial advice?
No. Every prompt includes a clear disclaimer. These are educational templates that help you organize your information and understand your options. They don't tell you what to do with your money.
Do I need to pay for ChatGPT or Claude?
No. The free tier of either works for all 12 prompts. Claude's free tier is especially good for the longer prompts that paste multiple prior outputs.
How is this different from just asking ChatGPT myself?
You can ask ChatGPT "what do I do after a layoff?" — and you'll get a generic, surface-level answer. The Map is a structured 12-prompt chain where each output feeds into the next, with state-specific research instructions and compliance guardrails built in. A casual ChatGPT question won't produce a 30-day calendar with your state's actual unemployment URL and a side-income plan matched to your skills.
What if I live outside the US?
The prompts reference US-specific systems (COBRA, ACA marketplace, 401k, state unemployment). If you're outside the US, most prompts won't apply to your situation. We're working on country-specific versions for later in 2026.
What if my state has different rules?
That's by design. The prompts tell the AI to look up your state's rules at runtime. A Texas user and a California user get different unemployment benefit estimates, different COBRA timelines, different Medicaid eligibility, and different non-compete enforceability analysis.
Can I get a refund?
Digital products are final sale — once downloaded, they can't be returned. If you have a delivery issue (broken link, corrupted file), email us within 24 hours and we'll fix it.
How long does it take to go through all 12 prompts?
2–4 hours, depending on how thorough you want to be. Most people do Prompts 1–3 in one sitting (the urgent stuff), then knock out the rest over a long weekend.

Don't figure this out alone.
Get the map.

$39 one-time. Instant download. Start with Prompt #1 and you'll have a complete financial picture in 15 minutes.

Get the Layoff Money Map — $39
PDF + Notion template · Instant download · Free AI tools work
12 AI PROMPTS PRINT-READY PDF NOTION TEMPLATE LIFETIME ACCESS