First-year pay financial survival plan
05-09-2013, 09:09 AM
#1
Gets Weekends Off
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Dec 2012
Position: Supreme Allied Commander
Posts: 1,056
First-year pay financial survival plan
*NOTE: I wrote this in a different forum area, and was encouraged re-post it where prospective regional airline pilots might see it.*
-How I survived, and even put money into savings on first year pay-
Viewed per-diem as normal income, not as justification to spend $ on trips to take care of needs. I know thats technically what its itemized for, but its all the same when it hits your bank account, and its about 1/4th of first year pay.
Packed food for trips. Its cheaper & most of the time healthier. Eating out is for when I run out of food. When I do eat out, I do fast food dollar menus or 5 dollar foot-longs that can be eaten later if I don't finish. Dont get the combo meal, skip the price gouge and sugar of the soda and get a water cup. If I really want a soda, I can ask the FA for one. Avoid making Starbucks your drug dealer. Including packed food, I'll spend around $15 on food for 4 days. A lot of FA making less than me exceed that per day.
Avoid having a car payment, if possible. Get from point A-B as cheap as possible. Someday I'll drive a nice car, but for now I'm driving an old, ugly used car thats extremely affordable and is in excellent mechanical condition. (89' Taurus, 60k original miles on it, cost lil over $1k, paid cash 3 years ago, probably has another 5 years of life on it. Liability only) It wont impress the chicks, but hey you fly shiny multimillion dollar jets all day, thats gotta count for something.
Credit cards are for emergencies. That and building credit by making small purchases (gas, groceries) and immediately paying it off. Save debt for things that build equity, like education and a home.
No cable TV, no big purchases on cool toys like iPads, TV's, video game systems, etc, sigh. $45/mo for phone, though non-smartphone with no data, double sigh
. $20/mo for home wifi, (5mbps).
I held out on upgrading on all the goodies at work. ASA headset, $90. Used roller bag, free. Sunglasses, $10 dollars Wal-mart. At 2nd year pay, celebrated by upgrading headset and bag. Bought a used Bose QC15 with a broken mic, had it refurbished, whole thing was under $200. Bought a new luggage works for $260.
Got domicile I wanted. Slept in uncle's basement for two months and a few times slept in my car in employee parking (not fun). Bought a brand new 2011 built home 1500f² finished 2600² total on .25 acre, 170k appraised for 150k. 2.75% no $ down. Total payment with taxes/insurance/escrow $849/mo. That was less than I was paying before for rent and 3 times the size. But thats mostly all due to cost of living for where I moved to.
Married, no kids, wife brought in working part-time $500/mo. Student loan debt from flight training over $200/mo. Total expenses per month $1400-$1500 a month. I brought in net $1600-$1800/mo on first year pay.
I have student loan debt, though maybe not as much as some which helped. I think I did some things right but I wasn't always 100% disciplined with my spending and probably made many mistakes. But then again I felt like I made a lot of sacrifices too, coming off a pay-cut. But I've passed through first year pay and I cant say my spending changed a whole lot, except for some big expenses I'd been holding-off on until the pay raise (home improvement, a vacation).
I wrote a lot more than I planned, I apologize for the length. This is just what I did in my situation, and I realize other people have different lives with different factors. I remember before getting hired at a regional I read some thread on here about how to survive on first year pay and stay out of the red, and that really affected my decisions. One important thing that stuck was to make sure your financially ready and have a plan before you start that first year, that was some great advice I got. Spend lean, let the seniority build, and hopefully we will all be in a better spot.
-How I survived, and even put money into savings on first year pay-
Viewed per-diem as normal income, not as justification to spend $ on trips to take care of needs. I know thats technically what its itemized for, but its all the same when it hits your bank account, and its about 1/4th of first year pay.
Packed food for trips. Its cheaper & most of the time healthier. Eating out is for when I run out of food. When I do eat out, I do fast food dollar menus or 5 dollar foot-longs that can be eaten later if I don't finish. Dont get the combo meal, skip the price gouge and sugar of the soda and get a water cup. If I really want a soda, I can ask the FA for one. Avoid making Starbucks your drug dealer. Including packed food, I'll spend around $15 on food for 4 days. A lot of FA making less than me exceed that per day.
Avoid having a car payment, if possible. Get from point A-B as cheap as possible. Someday I'll drive a nice car, but for now I'm driving an old, ugly used car thats extremely affordable and is in excellent mechanical condition. (89' Taurus, 60k original miles on it, cost lil over $1k, paid cash 3 years ago, probably has another 5 years of life on it. Liability only) It wont impress the chicks, but hey you fly shiny multimillion dollar jets all day, thats gotta count for something.
Credit cards are for emergencies. That and building credit by making small purchases (gas, groceries) and immediately paying it off. Save debt for things that build equity, like education and a home.
No cable TV, no big purchases on cool toys like iPads, TV's, video game systems, etc, sigh. $45/mo for phone, though non-smartphone with no data, double sigh
. $20/mo for home wifi, (5mbps).I held out on upgrading on all the goodies at work. ASA headset, $90. Used roller bag, free. Sunglasses, $10 dollars Wal-mart. At 2nd year pay, celebrated by upgrading headset and bag. Bought a used Bose QC15 with a broken mic, had it refurbished, whole thing was under $200. Bought a new luggage works for $260.
Got domicile I wanted. Slept in uncle's basement for two months and a few times slept in my car in employee parking (not fun). Bought a brand new 2011 built home 1500f² finished 2600² total on .25 acre, 170k appraised for 150k. 2.75% no $ down. Total payment with taxes/insurance/escrow $849/mo. That was less than I was paying before for rent and 3 times the size. But thats mostly all due to cost of living for where I moved to.
Married, no kids, wife brought in working part-time $500/mo. Student loan debt from flight training over $200/mo. Total expenses per month $1400-$1500 a month. I brought in net $1600-$1800/mo on first year pay.
I have student loan debt, though maybe not as much as some which helped. I think I did some things right but I wasn't always 100% disciplined with my spending and probably made many mistakes. But then again I felt like I made a lot of sacrifices too, coming off a pay-cut. But I've passed through first year pay and I cant say my spending changed a whole lot, except for some big expenses I'd been holding-off on until the pay raise (home improvement, a vacation).
I wrote a lot more than I planned, I apologize for the length. This is just what I did in my situation, and I realize other people have different lives with different factors. I remember before getting hired at a regional I read some thread on here about how to survive on first year pay and stay out of the red, and that really affected my decisions. One important thing that stuck was to make sure your financially ready and have a plan before you start that first year, that was some great advice I got. Spend lean, let the seniority build, and hopefully we will all be in a better spot.
05-09-2013, 05:46 PM
#6
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Nov 2011
Position: Volleyball Player
Posts: 3,982
Originally Posted by saturn
-How I survived, and even put money into savings on first year pay-
.
05-09-2013, 06:30 PM
#7
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: May 2009
Posts: 474
Originally Posted by saturn
*NOTE: I wrote this in a different forum area, and was encouraged re-post it where prospective regional airline pilots might see it.*
-How I survived, and even put money into savings on first year pay-
-How I survived, and even put money into savings on first year pay-
Looming pilot shortage major concern for US regional airlines
US regional airlines are increasingly concerned about a potential pilot shortage that could curtail their growth or even force carriers to decrease capacity.
FULL ARTICLE
Unfortunately, you won't be able to read it because in order to access the article, you have to pay for ATW's premium service. It doesn't sound like that is in your budget
05-10-2013, 12:50 AM
#8
Gets Weekends Off
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Dec 2012
Position: Supreme Allied Commander
Posts: 1,056
Originally Posted by globalexpress
Wow. That sounds like a great way to live. Congratulations are in order. I can't imagine why my Air Transport World daily e-mail update coincidentally had this article available for reading today:
Looming pilot shortage major concern for US regional airlines
US regional airlines are increasingly concerned about a potential pilot shortage that could curtail their growth or even force carriers to decrease capacity.
FULL ARTICLE
Unfortunately, you won't be able to read it because in order to access the article, you have to pay for ATW's premium service. It doesn't sound like that is in your budget
Looming pilot shortage major concern for US regional airlines
US regional airlines are increasingly concerned about a potential pilot shortage that could curtail their growth or even force carriers to decrease capacity.
FULL ARTICLE
Unfortunately, you won't be able to read it because in order to access the article, you have to pay for ATW's premium service. It doesn't sound like that is in your budget
Originally Posted by JamesNoBrakes
So all you need is a basement, no friends, no hobbies and the domicile you want. For god's sake, you slept in your car? Who cares about money at that point, safety is far more important. That's not a success story. That's a "I was lucky I didn't crash a plane" story.
Like I said, just sharing how my experience was, I'm not saying its what YOU should do/have done. The point was I was given a very meager income, and I only spent the money I had. I didn't evaporate my savings, I increased it. I lived in a basement for 2 months while I searched out and inked a new home so I could start to build equity for the same price I'd pay for an apartment. No friends? If having friends costs money, maybe you need new friends. No hobbies? Instead of skiing I'd get go sledding or snowshoeing. Instead of going the the movies, I'd wait for it to hit redbox. Instead of golfing all day, I'd go fishing. Hiking, mountain biking, running, rock climbing, camping, playing b-ball. I had a lot of fun that year doing a lot of things that either cost nothing or very little. It doesn't mean I didn't want to do things that were pricey, I just knew I would some-day, and I could wait until then.
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