Thanks all for the feedback re: Delta hiring
In regards to asset classes, there is no wrong asset class nor right asset class. All of them can make or lose you money, that is the nature of any and all investments. If anyone else is telling you different they're stupid or lying.
Leverage is both good and bad. When it's good it juices performance, when it's bad it juices losses, a double edged sword if you will. In this respect it is not good nor bad, it just depends on what your risk tolerances are. I personally love leverage and employ it whenever possible (responsibly of course).
As far as asset classes for pilots, as stated in a previous post, I think real estate is the most viable and as many have mentioned there is depreciation, inflation adjusted income, tax advantages etc., and in general a passive income stream.
Equities (from someone that has seen the great times and horrible times from an institutional perspective) has much more volatility than real estate. Real Estate by nature has some intrinsic value, equities can go to zero. Real Estate can always be redeveloped, rented etc. Equities however have unlimited upside. AAPL from where it started to where it is now? Solar stocks back in the early 2000's? Financials on the down swing and then back on the upswing? Volatility and leverage CAN be your friends but to trade equities, derivs or fixed income you need to be there every day in front of the screens and even then you are at a disadvantage compared to larger institutional players.
As a pilot you are away roughly half the month or more, while flying it is doubtful you can call in orders or execute on your phone while at 35,000 ft. Real estate as a while is more macro driven (on a portfolio level) and tends to react slower so you could potentially sell an investment, yes you might realize a loss, but that is driven on more how you manage the sale as real estate itself is like an OTC market. One of the main drivers of real estate as an investment class in the US are the tax advantages. Once you layer in tax advantages most real estate funds outperform equity funds. To give you an example, most Real Estate CRE funds target 15% to 25% returns with much less volatility than comparable sized equity funds.
As far as NJ for your first multifamily / CRE investment, I would do some research on tax implications but would also focus on landlord friendly states (TX,FL). NJ as a state and each individual town is very tenant friendly. You have to read each town's bylaws to completely understand eviction and rent stabilization statutes as well as relevant recent case law. TX and FL however have a lot of land and vacancies are often longer than in high population MSA's. There are pluses and minuses, you have to figure out what risks you are comfortable with and which ones you are not comfortable with.
In regards to the use of leverage in real estate, if you are uncomfortable with leverage (a personal preference for some) I would say buy 1 or 2 properties with leverage and see how they operate with plenty of cash on the sidelines so you are comfortable with the asset. You can pay down the loan at a later date or simply buy another asset. Use the cashflow from all the assets to pay down 1 asset at a time. Your holding entity needs to be formed correctly to allow this and please speak with a tax professional before doing so, but essentially use the cashflow to pay down assets and then use the cashflow to keep buying properties. You might have 1 or 2 assets with high leverage which you are constantly paying down but on a portfolio level you are very low levered.
In regards to real estate ETF's - you don't really get all the benefits with ETF's. Depending on structure etc. you don't really maximize tax benefits etc. which are a huge component of the asset class.
As far as single family or multi family, large institutional players have already been active in the fix and rent out segment of this market for some time. You are competing with the Blackrocks etc. but you just don't know it. Zillow is contemplating entering the fix and flip / fix and rent market using their pricing algo's as the backbone (which I don't really see working because their values are way off, but then again what do I know?)
Thanks to anyone that listened to this entire rant.
And now back to aeronautical charts and airspace classifications.