True that. I grew up working on a farm since I was 9yrs old for my dad. We never made alot but they've put two kids through college where one is a pilot and the other a soon to be VP of IBM. They own a 2300sq home in the center of our town. My dad has a 22' fishing boat and a bayhome waterfront to park it under. Fishes 2-3 times a week. Whole family has traveled the world. Average yearly income has never been over $100k. We worked hard, didn't spend when we didn't have to, and invested what we could save, paid for our home in cash, don't owe anyone anything. It's called using your head. Not making payments on something now adds up a hella lot in 10yrs. A little belt tightning in the beginning makes life much easier once the ball is rolling. Without all these monthly payments(rent, cable, electricity ect.) I have just as much spending money as my friends who are engineers ect.

I admire the way your family does things, toiletduck. The only thing I can think of that our family owed money for was a house. We never owned a new car or bought a big screen TV. We lived rather simply with little to no debt. Parents only have one credit card between the two of them and almost never use it except for emergencies or an occasional dinner. I learned to appreciate the value of money through living simply. I don't have a single credit card, no cable TV, and a micro electric bill ($11 a month). Oddly enough, I enjoy a greater financial freedom than my friends who make six figures a year.

On another note, I have a tremendous amount of respect for farmers. Without their hardwork, we all starve! You have some valuable survival skills to resort to if money ever becomes worthless. You will not go hungry. :)

Sky failed in aviation because of some bad choices.

Feel free to take career advice from him...based on his track record.

He'd be a Capt at SWA by now....if he'd only applied.

TD, I couldn't agree with you more. 1Seat, the same applies to you. Skyhigh, I've said it before. You preach the fast track (PFT and whatnot) but your dream FAILED because you bailed on Horizon and the hope of a fast track with National.

I came from nothing. My mom raised three kids single, and when dad was kicked out she had a job paying less than min. wage by the time health insurance was deducted. She works two jobs at 50 because she wants more for us. I've worked my ass off since I was 14. Nothing comes easy in life and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Don't knock trailers. Mine's twice the size of any of my buddy's apartments, the cost is nearly half as much. :)

Hey
 

I didn't apply because I didn't want the job. What is so hard to understand about not wanting a Baltimore base and 9 legs a day?

SkyHigh

Prepared
 

Sounds like out of all of us you are the best prepared for life as an impoverished pilot.

By the way I also have lived in trailers, truck canopies, garages and the like. I never was to happy about it though.


Aim Higher.

SkyHigh

Past
 

The thing I keep getting stuck on is that most of you are quoting events that happened in the PAST. Today and tomorrow especially 50K means nothing. Your parents might have been able to raise 20 kids on what seems like pocket change now but what we are talking about is the FUTURE.

Even you single-engine ">100K". I am sure that you bought your house, car and everything else back when it was much cheaper. Of course you were able to make it work on less. The key word here is inflation. If I were to use your logic I could say that my parents bought a new house in a suburb in LA in 1970 for $23,500 and only paid $223 a month in payments. Why can't people today make in on $6,000 per year? Well they must be wasting money. :rolleyes:

SkyHigh

The thing is, you'd be commuting down to OAK from SEA now and not doing 9 legs a day. And you'd be halfway to holding captain there.:(

Even so
 

Even so. We all have dreams in life and never for one second did I ever think that SWA would be a good place for me. I also have never been interested in long haul international flying either. 9 legs per day or one 12 hours leg? I am in the middle. There isn't enough money in the world that would make those jobs sound interesting or fun at all.

SkyHigh

then why don't you go work at wall mart and give up flying. Pilots fly because they love it, not for the money. That is when you have a carer and not a job.