A Culmination of Lessons Learned

[Andrew M.]

The past few weeks have been a proverbial roller coaster; financially, culturally, economically, and financially. As with any crisis, there are always lessons to be extracted if we can maintain our emotional bystander status. For context, here is some background information.

I am an airline pilot for one of the world’s largest airlines. Ever since the beginning of my career in late 2011, the airlines have been on an upward trajectory, following suit with the rest of the global economy. In airline-speak, when the times are good, d*mn are they good. When the times are bad…yikes. Less than three weeks ago I received the largest profit sharing check of my life due to a flood of socio-economic factors and adherence to a people first, growth mindset by my company. Good times were had by all.

As the slightly unstable Mike Tyson once said, ‘Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.’ Well, here we are lying on our rear-ends looking up at the ceiling, starry eyed, trying to piece together what just happened. There’s no better time to take a look and see how fit we are to get back up and at it.

It’s no secret that the airlines are in a world of hurt at the moment. As the CEO of American Airlines famously said in 2017, ‘We’ll never lose money again.’ Here we are, richer than we’ve ever been, and most airlines (if not all) are hemorrhaging cash at such a rapid rate, many will not be solvent within two months from today without external aid. Labor groups will suffer. It doesn’t seem likely, at least at the moment, that anyone will be losing their jobs. But up to a 2/3 pay cut, which is far more likely, will sure punch you in the face. I worry deeply about my co-workers that couldn’t save for a rainy day even when the sun was shining.

Real estate investing is the same as any other undertaking in life. It’s not the outcome that matters, it’s the energy, time, focus, learning, and understanding we gather in the meantime that is the gold at the end of the rainbow. It’s times like these that I cringe even more at the ‘how can I invest in real estate with zero money TODAY’ crowd. People, real estate investing isn’t a darned popularity contest or social media attention grabber. What you’re really meaning when you say that is this: “I don’t want to learn the fundamentals of personal finance. I don’t want to save money to be able to invest correctly. I don’t want to learn the self discipline that will give me the solid foundation that I can eventually invest life-changing sums of money and accrue massive amounts of assets. I simply want to do the bare minimum today because I only do what’s fun and easy!” How far has only doing the bare minimum at ANYTHING gotten you in life?

Right here, right now, this is a stress test of our past lessons learned and the self-discipline to enact and live according to them. Without saying that this is the right way or the only way, my wife and I sleep well at night because we’ve found a strategy that works for us. We’ve got a cash cushion in the bank, cash flowing assets that will more than cover our lifestyle and the mindset to control only what it is that we can control. As the world economy tanks and fear is alive and well in the streets, we are planning a (camping) road trip through the western state’s national parks. A time for thinking about thinking. A time to evaluate what this crisis means to us in our personal lives. To re-evaluate values and passions. A chance to slow down from the ‘hustle and grind’ (the phrase that makes so many of us cringe in the first place) and take the time to enjoy a sunset together, read some books, do some house projects, and go for a walk on a snowy day.

I digress. But I truly am curious to see what you’ve done in the past to provide for peace of mind during chaotic times. Thanks for sharing as we all look to add more weapons to the war chest!