Rich Pilot
 

Rich Pilot?

Sounds kind of crazy, but years ago Flying was a very profitable job. Remember the Cadillac a year theory? The theory is, as an airline pilot you should make enough to buy a new Cadillac each year. How much is a 2006 Cadillac?

Rjetdrivr

I grew up in a Pan Am Family...Also new Eastern and National guys too...They made good money, but it was their time off were they made the real bucks...And it was more like a new airplane every year instead of a car...lol...I'll say it again...You will not get rich working for someone else...Cheers

Business Owner
 

He is right. You will never get rich working for someone else. Especially as a pilot.

SKyHigh

It was never a Cadillac a year. It was a Cadillac a month. Delta guys just about had it a few years ago. A 777 capt could make $30,000/mo. That is just about what an (entry level) Cadi costs. Will we ever see those days again? Ah, that qestion has been asked and answered many times before on the pages of this forum. No need to repy SkyHigh.

Yes...You will see 30K+ a year but not in the PAX flying world. The money and benefits will be in the cargo arena.

-LAFF

Now a days the nicest airplanes at the airport are owned by business owners and IT guys. In the earlier days most GA planes were owned by pilots and doctors. I agree work for fun!

Rich Pilot.... what an oxymoron nowadays!! :rolleyes:

Uh....that was 30K a MONTH!

I have figure I'll probably never get rich flying but, if I can figure out how to make money elsewhere I'll be alright.

Yup
 

And that is the tricky part. It is easier to learn how to spend less.

SKyHigh

spend less
 

i agree.

if everyone didn't go waste their money on new cadillac's/hummer's/etc they would be able to pay off debt and invest for their retirement (we all know that the company will not do it for you anymore)

materialism is rampant in our society. Hard to imagine what it will be like the next 10-20yrs.

Educating your children on the pitfalls of such decisions is vital. They probably won't listen now.... but hopefully will thankyou for the "talk" later in life.

cheers,

500and2

500and2, I'm going to stalk your posts here....I love your comment about materialism.

You sound like an interesting bird.

please!
 

Ooh, ooh, stalk me too, stock me too. You know I was the founder of the posse of legend on this very forum! I can be an interesting bird albeit an older one. Quack Quack Tweet Tweet. Can you tell us about your knockers? I mean, can you tell us about how you came to be miss knocker?

This post is right on the money, (no pun intended). Who the heck needs a $45,000 SUV and a 3,500 sq. ft. house? It's just crazy. I'd much rather live modestly and attempt to retire early - with any luck I'll beat the AME to making my career decisions for me.

My family is comfortable, warm, fed, and we have our hobbies. What more do you need?

Spend Less
 

Spending less is a great idea however it is no fun when you are forced to. I agree that modesty in lifestyle is key to happiness, but I wouldn't use this mantra to talk yourself into a low paying job without a future.

Spend less but always work to earn more. The full price of a lower middle class lifestyle on the west coast is around 100K per year for a family of four. Don't use minimalist ideals in order to talk yourself into a miserable career at a regional airline.

You owe it to yourself and to your family to constantly strive to provide better for them. There is no shame in working to better ones standards of living. In fact the opposite is true.

Skyhigh

CTS goes for 51k. I'll take just one; I don't need one a year(after all that is what partially drove this industry down....pilots making too much)
As Charlie Sheen's character asked Gordon Gecko in "wall street": "how many yachts can you water ski behind?"

:eek: 30k plus a year? come on things aren' that bad?!?:eek:

Relative to the average joe, pilots do make a lot. Skyhigh has posted before that local cops make more......bull$hit. I don't know where you got your figures for that. lol.Secondly, I can easily compare and boast my paycheck over the nextdoor neighbor CPA, the the store manager on the other side, and many others! Pilots DO make a lot of money relative to the rest of the country.

Few
 

A few pilots do well but those days are rapidly coming to a close. By that statement I would guess that you are either a FedEx or UPS pilot. You wouldn't get a comment like that from anyone at UAL or DAL these days.

Skyhigh

Cop Jobs
 

Hotmamapilot,

Here is one for you. It is for an entry level police job

http://www.policeemployment.com/cityjobs/torrance/

It lists the starting pay at $4860 to $6264 per month.

There are several more. Read up you might learn something. Next we can go into teacher and firefighter salaries.

SkyHigh

Better average
 

Compared to the "Average Joe" an airline pilot most likely would do better. However if you were to take into consideration all the education, training expenses and wasted years building experience against the actual odds of getting one of the better jobs it is a poor risk.

SkyHigh

I think all professions have pro's/con's..... Police officer salaries have gone up lately..... (supply/demand!!!).... but they surely earn all of it! I wouldn't want to work graveyard shift... or have a rotating schedule. But that's me.

The notion to always strive for better jobs/pay etc is human nature. I think the key is that once you establish a certain "quality of life"... aka... modest home/cars/toys/etc... any excess money received by landing a better paying job should be invested/saved so that you may be financially independent and have the option to retire early if you'd like.

It doesn't matter what career field you've chosen...... money comes in each month and goes out each month.... the decisions you make with that money and how you prioritize your life are what's important.

the crazy high airline pay of yesteryear is over.... with pensions/retirement fading away..... financial education is paramount...

Society will always make you want to keep up with the Jones'......

So, what are you going to use your Tax Return for? New Snowmachine, Jetski, Vacation, Bigscreen TV, College Debt, Car Insurance, Investments, Haven't decided yet?

It would be nice to max out the 401k, IRA, 529 plan,etc and STILL have enough money left over to buy fun toys, but considering that the vast majority of the population that live paycheck to paycheck don't even save for retirement (but still drive new cars, drink starbucks each morning and have gym memberships) .....the first step is to get out of debt and stay out... by not buying things you can't afford.

my .02

cheers,

500and2.... living debt free since 03' when I married my sugar momma ;)

Being a pilot, you probably wont be rich. You will earn enough money to live comfortably but of course without Lamborghinis and Ferrari's. Anyone who is a pilot, likes to fly otherwise they would just go learn for 4 years and make a starting pay of 80,000 a year working in an office fixing computers for 3 hours a day and have weekends and holidays off.

And compared to the average joe, in my opinion, flying is the best job there is.

Check this link for annual household income avgs. seems surprisingly low to me

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Househo..._United_States

Fast foward 13 years.

I think its interesting how pessimistic some people were not that long ago.

We now have narrow body captains making over $30k/month and wide body captains making more than that. More pay raises on the way.

Cheers to the pilots that persevered and landed a job at the legacies.

Almost

Attachment 4847

A few months worth.

Attachment 4848

Widebody captains at Delta can easily make 50,000 a month currently. There were even a few 90,000 months on the 350 last year.

Noteworthy, but extreme outliers.

What's eye-opening is the NB rates available to almost every major NB CA right now. Hope it lasts.

As a career pessimist, I can't help think that these may be the "Good old days.":eek:

Aren’t pilot and “career pessimist” synonyms [emoji16]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

For good reason.

How is that possible?

Americans have been transformed from producers to consumers.... It is crazy how much crap people buy that they do not need and no longer value after a short time after the purchase. Impulse purchases... black friday sales, etc. People have been programmed to buy stuff and get a temporary high from shopping/having something new.

I read a quote saying "you can still be poor making a million dollars a year." If you spend more than you make, you will never be rich. I am trying to get my wife on board with saving money and to not feel the need to spend.

I think everyone should go see a financial planner (especially families) I always hear these figures that something like 60% of Americans do not have $400 in their bank account for emergencies. Like you said, it is all about education.

Spend some time on the Bogleheads website. They have a very active forum that can answer all your financial questions.

Exactly it's not so much what you make it's what you do with it. I know many wide body Captains that can barely make ends meet, because they have too many toys or ex wives.

This...

Learned from working with broke ex-Pan Am pilots, ex-Eastern pilots, Ex-Braniff, etc, etc. 20-25 years ago: It did sink in, the great job and lifestyle can be gone tomorrow.
Sure enough, I ended up on Loss of License and LTD 4 years ago, but all my stuff was paid off, boats, properties, cars, etc. (no ex-wifes, no kids in college)
:eek: