Originally Posted by Gunfighter

TLDR: love direct real estate ownership, choose syndication with caution, alts are great if you have liquidity after maxing your tax advantaged accounts.

After hitting your "number" an allocation to alts can be a fun way to swing for the fences or just try outperforming the market. If you are well ahead of the curve toward your number and have liquidity after maxing out your tax advantaged accounts alts have a place as well. Alts are illiquid for years. The secondary market is brutal, in fact some alts buy secondaries at a steep discount from people who need liquidity. Often times though after hitting your number wealth preservation and sequence of returns becomes a driving metric. Rather than aim for the 10% market average with the potential for big fluctuations, (U)HNW investors often aim for lower but more predictable returns. Some alts fall into this category. Startups have an incredibly high failure rate, for that allocation a VC fund that backs multiple businesses is a way to chase the dopamine. My allocation was a little more conservative by choosing an offering that is funding acquisition entrepreneurship rather than startups. Oil and gas is another intriguing alt, but I haven't made any private placement investments there.

Direct ownership of real estate is my preferred investment. It's tough to go wrong with cash flowing real estate acquired with long term fixed rate debt. I got burned in a few MF syndications that were acquired with low interest variable rate debt, another was a loss because the syndicator was a bad operator, and another was a fraud. Many worked out well and continue paying distributions. I should have known better and the experience has shaped my underwriting criteria. If you have 50K to invest, a rental house is probably a better choice than a syndication. You control the asset, get better financing terms and have potentially better tax benefits. Once you have enough to get into NNN commercial investments you can make a choice between direct ownership or investing in a few syndications. A syndication adds counterparty risk that isn't present in direct ownership and you generally lose access to 30yr fixed rate debt available in rental houses. If you can devote the time and acquire the skills required to be a value add real estate investor the returns are amazing. When a direct owner, be sure to account for the value of your own time. This is a trap that can lead you down the path of building a job vs an investment.

The best advice is to choose the asset allocation that suits you rather than aiming for what the masses declare to be the "best". Trip likes finding value stocks, that suits him well. Most pilots are better suited to VTI or Bogleheads 3 fund. That's most of my brokerage investments. I like real estate investing and development. Most pilots can't tolerate the decade plus it takes to scale a real estate portfolio. Choose what fits you best and be grateful your problem requires looking for places to put your money instead of where to find enough to pay the bills.

Originally Posted by tennisguru

I do the exact same thing. For anyone who might not know, the bummer is Optum is now charging the $20 transfer free. If you leave less than $20 in the account with the transfer it will be denied. So you need to leave at least $21 in for it to go through. The good news is it is very easy to make that $20 back with the multitude of better investment options at Fidelity.

Originally Posted by Trip7

There is a way around it but the caveat is you can only do it once a year. It's called the 60 day rollover. You can withdraw from Optum to your personal checking account then once the funds settle you can transfer from your personal account to Fidelity HSA. I did it this year after a month of waiting for Optum to transfer my money.

Don't take my word for it. Research HSA 60 Day Rollover

Originally Posted by Gone Flying

this is tired advise from an era where many pilots
1) were cut from the same mold, many had little real world experience outside the military and flying for airlines.
2) had not had a reason to look outside aviation to gain financial independence.

the lost decade forced many pilots to become experts at something outside aviation. Many left altogether and came back with a lot more knowledge in another field.

the post 2014 hiring also changed demographics substantially. I’ve flown with several pilots who left established careers as lawyers, accountants, financial advisors, ect to become pilots. We also have access to infinite resources with the internet now and many pilots have taken it upon themselves to learn a new way to generate income/ wealth.




agreed. Some bad advise out there for sure. But I’ve flown with several pilots who have made enough in another field that working here making what we do is just their fun money.

Originally Posted by Trip7

There is a way around it but the caveat is you can only do it once a year. It's called the 60 day rollover. You can withdraw from Optum to your personal checking account then once the funds settle you can transfer from your personal account to Fidelity HSA. I did it this year after a month of waiting for Optum to transfer my money.

Don't take my word for it. Research HSA 60 Day Rollover

Originally Posted by Gunfighter

/S You cheap MFer. 6 figure job, 7 figure portfolio and found a way to save $20. /S

You find value in some of the most obscure places.

Originally Posted by tennisguru

I do the exact same thing. For anyone who might not know, the bummer is Optum is now charging the $20 transfer free. If you leave less than $20 in the account with the transfer it will be denied. So you need to leave at least $21 in for it to go through. The good news is it is very easy to make that $20 back with the multitude of better investment options at Fidelity.

Originally Posted by Trip7

There is a way around it but the caveat is you can only do it once a year. It's called the 60 day rollover. You can withdraw from Optum to your personal checking account then once the funds settle you can transfer from your personal account to Fidelity HSA. I did it this year after a month of waiting for Optum to transfer my money.

Don't take my word for it. Research HSA 60 Day Rollover

Originally Posted by Apejackson

Thanks for pointing out the ability to do this. I have been transferring almost the entire account to Fidelity every other month sometimes every month. It was extremely frustrating with the amount of time it took for the transfer to go through. Then I went to transfer again and saw the “penalty” had been applied to my last transfer. I was just going to go to one transfer a year to “keep the cost low” (yes, I know it’s hilarious given our income level) but this option makes me feel better not having MY money out in the ether for over a month.

Originally Posted by Apejackson

Thanks for pointing out the ability to do this. I have been transferring almost the entire account to Fidelity every other month sometimes every month. It was extremely frustrating with the amount of time it took for the transfer to go through. Then I went to transfer again and saw the “penalty” had been applied to my last transfer. I was just going to go to one transfer a year to “keep the cost low” (yes, I know it’s hilarious given our income level) but this option makes me feel better not having MY money out in the ether for over a month.