Investing strategies for the commercial pilot?

[Launchpad1]

^ That seems like good advice to me!

Also maybe buy some shares in companies that have to do with Lithium, such as United Lithium. Lithium batteries are probably going to be big business in the near future.

Or also Drone Delivery Canada would be good. I bought some of that in the summer and it's doing pretty good at the moment.

[airway]

4. Buy a house and pay it off as soon as possible. Don't buy until you know you are staying for at least 5 years. Every time you move you will lose approximately $15,000 in fees and moving expenses. Generally, it is best to reduce other investments until it is paid off. Try to get a high enough down payment to avoid having to buy mortgage loan insurance. Do not buy the mortgage life insurance the bank will offer, or anything but term life insurance if you company life insurance is not enough. If nobody will be financially hurt if you die, you don't need life insurance. Some people say rent and invest the difference, but I still think the pros of owning are better than the cons.

I'll second what airways said except for this.

Mortgage rates are dirt cheap nowadays. I'm seeing rates in the mid 1% range. They are unlikely to go up anytime soon.

You should invest any extra money you have allocated for additional mortgage payments. Even a conservative 60/40 portfolio will give you better returns.

Fair enough

[Zaibatsu]

4. Buy a house and pay it off as soon as possible. Don't buy until you know you are staying for at least 5 years. Every time you move you will lose approximately $15,000 in fees and moving expenses. Generally, it is best to reduce other investments until it is paid off. Try to get a high enough down payment to avoid having to buy mortgage loan insurance. Do not buy the mortgage life insurance the bank will offer, or anything but term life insurance if you company life insurance is not enough. If nobody will be financially hurt if you die, you don't need life insurance. Some people say rent and invest the difference, but I still think the pros of owning are better than the cons.

I'll second what airways said except for this.

Mortgage rates are dirt cheap nowadays. I'm seeing rates in the mid 1% range. They are unlikely to go up anytime soon.

You should invest any extra money you have allocated for additional mortgage payments. Even a conservative 60/40 portfolio will give you better returns.

Returns on what?

Unless you are buying in an expensive market and then moving to a cheap one (adding to your commuting costs or reducing your earnings if you can’t ecommute), permanently downsizing (likely to a place with condo or strata fees), getting a home equity loan to unlock cash (never recommended), or getting rid of your passive income by selling off rental properties (bye bye income..... hellooooooo capital gains!!!!!), then the quote “returns” on real estate are academic. They allow you to stay with the market rather than fall behind. That’s it. They are only part of a retirement nest egg and not one you should count on or invest everything into, unless you want to live in a nice cardboard box to count your returns when you retire.

[Heavy Rayn]

I really appreciate the insight. Out of curiosity is your dark horse Drone Delivery Canada $FLT? I bought into it a bit as my spec play for my portfolio and have seen really impressive returns already.

Yep exactly. I bought back when it was $0.60 and now it’s $2.10. It’s weird how two people can come with almost the exact same portfolio.

And on mirroring the ETF’s: why pay a MER to have someone actively manage the fund? I just copy the holdings they have and essentially get the same portfolio and return of the ETF without paying the management expense.

A word of caution: don't underestimate how risky these micro caps can be. I did a bit of research (back when it was $0.80) and passed because ceo compensation is above 2 million (insane for a company this size), and engineer and industry sentiment is that they're just a stock company, based on the limited information I could find. It has 3x'd since I looked at it which could be attributed to market hype and the dissociation of stocks with their underlaying companies (it has a cool name and cool ticker). I have a hard time seeing it as a long term investment with competition in China and the US with much deeper pockets.

Bottom line; I wouldn't put any more into it than you're willing to lose. Not to say it couldn't 10x over the next few years. Also as you've already heard, be wary of any stock advice on an aviation forum

Chris

Oh yeah, FLT is so speculative, I’m 100% prepared to lose everything in it, but could also see some excellent growth. It’s my “let’s see what happens” stock. Spec plays are essentially a gamble to me. Either it makes a ton of money or I lose a bit. Can’t hurt.

[airway]

4. Buy a house and pay it off as soon as possible. Don't buy until you know you are staying for at least 5 years. Every time you move you will lose approximately $15,000 in fees and moving expenses. Generally, it is best to reduce other investments until it is paid off. Try to get a high enough down payment to avoid having to buy mortgage loan insurance. Do not buy the mortgage life insurance the bank will offer, or anything but term life insurance if you company life insurance is not enough. If nobody will be financially hurt if you die, you don't need life insurance. Some people say rent and invest the difference, but I still think the pros of owning are better than the cons.

I'll second what airways said except for this.

Mortgage rates are dirt cheap nowadays. I'm seeing rates in the mid 1% range. They are unlikely to go up anytime soon.

You should invest any extra money you have allocated for additional mortgage payments. Even a conservative 60/40 portfolio will give you better returns.

Fair enough

One thing I want to add. As I mentioned, there are a lot of pros and cons regarding investing vs. paying down the mortgage. One of them is forced saving. Mortgage payments must be made. Investing doesn't have to be done. Some people will spend all of the money in their account rather than investing it.





.

[rookiepilot]

Mortgage rates are dirt cheap nowadays. I'm seeing rates in the mid 1% range. They are unlikely to go up anytime soon.

You sure about that?

[Boreas]

4. Buy a house and pay it off as soon as possible. Don't buy until you know you are staying for at least 5 years. Every time you move you will lose approximately $15,000 in fees and moving expenses. Generally, it is best to reduce other investments until it is paid off. Try to get a high enough down payment to avoid having to buy mortgage loan insurance. Do not buy the mortgage life insurance the bank will offer, or anything but term life insurance if you company life insurance is not enough. If nobody will be financially hurt if you die, you don't need life insurance. Some people say rent and invest the difference, but I still think the pros of owning are better than the cons.

I'll second what airways said except for this.

Mortgage rates are dirt cheap nowadays. I'm seeing rates in the mid 1% range. They are unlikely to go up anytime soon.

You should invest any extra money you have allocated for additional mortgage payments. Even a conservative 60/40 portfolio will give you better returns.

Returns on what?

Unless you are buying in an expensive market and then moving to a cheap one (adding to your commuting costs or reducing your earnings if you can’t ecommute), permanently downsizing (likely to a place with condo or strata fees), getting a home equity loan to unlock cash (never recommended), or getting rid of your passive income by selling off rental properties (bye bye income..... hellooooooo capital gains!!!!!), then the quote “returns” on real estate are academic. They allow you to stay with the market rather than fall behind. That’s it. They are only part of a retirement nest egg and not one you should count on or invest everything into, unless you want to live in a nice cardboard box to count your returns when you retire.

You're confused. I'm not suggesting you don't buy property and live in a "cardboard box".

I'm suggesting you should put excess capital - if you have it - in the markets rather than into additional payments (pre-payments) on a <2% mortgage. You will have a higher return on your capital, even after capital gains.

[Boreas]

Mortgage rates are dirt cheap nowadays. I'm seeing rates in the mid 1% range. They are unlikely to go up anytime soon.

You sure about that?

Yes, I'm sure its unlikely. I'm also sure its not impossible.

[Boreas]

I'll second what airways said except for this.

Mortgage rates are dirt cheap nowadays. I'm seeing rates in the mid 1% range. They are unlikely to go up anytime soon.

You should invest any extra money you have allocated for additional mortgage payments. Even a conservative 60/40 portfolio will give you better returns.

Fair enough

One thing I want to add. As I mentioned, there are a lot of pros and cons regarding investing vs. paying down the mortgage. One of them is forced saving. Mortgage payments must be made. Investing doesn't have to be done. Some people will spend all of the money in their account rather than investing it.

I agree.

OP, if you're not disciplined enough to set up pre-authorized investment contributions, it would be best to stick to accelerating your mortgage payments. Although, one could stray there as well.

[Eric Janson]

r/Wallstreetbets has been eyeing silver as well, might be too late to be a stable investment.

According to the posters there this is not correct - seems r/Wallstreetbets is taking the blame for everything.

It's a fascinating story and the motivation some people have makes for interesting reading.

Interesting to see the lies on CNBC and the illegal tactics being used to try and drive the GME price down.

I hope they cause huge losses to Wall Street and the Hedge Funds - they have my full support.

The Memes are priceless too.

[Bede]

My $0.02.

Agree with Airway 100%. WRT mortgage, it is more a motivational factor for learning habits. It is a big boost to pay off a mortgage. The only thing is that once paid off, it's easy to say, I deserve it, I'm buying an airplane (or 2).

Dividend stocks. If the dividend is the only thing holding up a stock, the stock will tank wiping out all your gains if there is a cash flow risk. I have 2 RRSP (one for me, the other for my wife). In mine, I do couch potato (TSX, S&B, Bond). In my wifes I have/had decent dividend stocks. Over the last year, the couch potato did far better than the dividend account. The couch potato bounced back, the dividend one still hasn't recovered.

I know all the technical analysis types and even the financial guru's will disagree, but, overall, "experts" accounts do no better than lay peoples. There's a bunch of math behind this, but the market is a stochastic process, and, well, stochastic processes can't be predicted.

https://xkcd.com/2270/
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/rando ... 2019-06-26
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickferri/ ... 5b156c630a
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB991681622136214659

[rookiepilot]

Having no debt is a nice place to be.

[nutlord]

Having no debt is a nice place to be.

Psychologically yes. And it all comes down to what your personal goals are. If you want to have as much money as possible, then investing agressively in the markets will likely yield better results than paying down a 2% mortgage (over the long term, assuming you are investing responsibly). If you want the psychological boost of knowing that you live in a fully paid off house, then that's the way to go. There's more to personal finance than just having lots of money; it's more about applying your finances to acheive the state of life that you desire.

[tsgarp]

Buy Kraft Dinner. Lots.

[The Mole]

Stay away from junior exploration and mining companies. Unless you got insider info, otherwise you're probably just going to be a bag holder. Having flown for numerous juniors, they all seem greasy and you have to lucky to make any money off them. Im a financial coward, so your YMMV.

[rookiepilot]

Want to REALLY learn how to invest, learn this lesson:

"They" will always lie to you.

Is this such a shock?

[ReserveTank]

By that I mean physical metal not the ETFs or other 'paper' products.

I second this. "Investing" in metals is risky. You need to have the real thing in your safe. Even a few of kilos of silver can gain modest value.
Once again, not advice, just experience.

[photofly]

"They" will always lie to you.

Um... In what sense are *you* not part of "they"?

[rookiepilot]

"They" will always lie to you.

Um... In what sense are *you* not part of "they"?

I could answer that a few different ways.....but in the end you'd have to decide that for yourself.

It's better to assume that I am, for the purposes of my comment, and the only one you can trust for genuine, honest analysis to protect your family is yourself, because everyone in my business has an agenda until proven otherwise!

As for me, did I mention I don't work for you when I write? People seem to miss this.

[rookiepilot]

What an Idiot, just trying to keep his retail clients in place.

Plus his logic --- is pretty foolish and completely ignores the biggest factors today.
https://ritholtz.com/2021/02/stop-stres ... inflation/

Bonds are in free fall -- this is with the Fed declaring every day, "there is no inflation".
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/globa ... 28410.html

And the big boys are raising prices.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pack ... SKBN2AG2H0

[photofly]

As for me, did I mention I don't work for you when I write? People seem to miss this.

I honestly can't tell if the fact that you don't work for me means I should put more, or less, faith in what you write.

[rookiepilot]

As for me, did I mention I don't work for you when I write? People seem to miss this.

I honestly can't tell if the fact that you don't work for me means I should put more, or less, faith in what you write.

I don't give a F?

Do your own homework.
That's the message I'm writing.
Fair?
I'm not an advisor.

On twitter I journal my observations on markets and the economy. I really don't give a F who it pleases or I disagree with the whole world.

[Kosiw]

This whole thread has become "low-beta"

[YYZSaabGuy]

What an Idiot, just trying to keep his retail clients in place.

Plus his logic --- is pretty foolish and completely ignores the biggest factors today.
https://ritholtz.com/2021/02/stop-stres ... inflation/

Reading skills not quite what they used to be, huh Rookie? Maybe this would be a bit more your speed: https://www.dummies.com/education/econo ... inflation/.

['97 Tercel]

One could quote a good economics joke, if there was more demand...