Flight Planning your Finances

When flight planning, do you begin with the departure point, or your destination?

How about planning for retirement, even if it's a few decades away?

Did you start when planning for retirement when you started flying, or will you begin right before you turn 65, when you're grounded by federal law?

Airline pilot unions do an amazing job with retirement seminars. But other than signing up for the company 401k or other retirement programs, there is little to no education on what to do with your money.

Do you roll the dice with a pre-selected investment strategy? Do you manage the account your self or get help?

One area to start is to work the numbers backwards. Where do you want to be at the end of your flying career? Start a Point B. You already know where your starting point.

Do you want to retire with $3,000 a month income?

$10,000 a month?

$20,000 a month?

Is it all going to come from your 401k, or defined benefits plan? Or will a portion of that come from passive income built up during your aviation career?

It's vital to know your number and ideally, you can plan to create passive investments that will pay for your living, so when your income takes a dip - like it did for so many in 2020 - your lifestyle doesn't have to take the same ride.

Passive income is earned when your money works for you, rather than you working for money. The most popular vehicles are rents, royalties and dividends.

The SideHustleNation reports that there are 4 ways to create passive income:

1) Buy Cash-Flowing Assets

2) Build Cash-Flowing Assets

3) Share or Sell Assets

4) "Reverse" Passive Income

Buying Cash Flowing Assets usually requires money to invest in things like real estate, businesses and stocks that pay dividends.

Building Cash-Flowing Assets take time to create and market, but, if set up right, can generate passive income for years.

Sharing or Selling Assets includes renting or selling items you've already collected or own.

Reverse passive income features cutting your current monthly expenses. But this supports a scarcity mindset rather than an abundant one.

Investor Warren Buffett explained: “If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.”

As pilots, we work for our money. Instead, find ways for your money to work for you so that you can fly because you want to, not because you have to.

The idea is to have your investments to pay for your living.

In his “Coffee with Carl,” attorney Carl Zoellner with Anderson Advisors explains the benefits of passive income. Click Here

You can start building wealth by taking inventory of your current assets that generate, or may generate regular income in the future.

Then decide how much monthly income you want. You can work the numbers backwards.

It’s advantageous to decide your target, then fill in the blanks, or the vehicles that will get you to your destination.

To find out more from Carl and his associates, Click Here