800,000 Airline pilots will be needed over the next 20 years
You can become one of them!
Surprisingly, only about 20% of qualified pilots make it to the Airline level. Although some never had a desire to move beyond the recreation or private pilot level, the unfortunate reality is that the financial burden is often the culprit the halts the career of a young aviator. $60,000 in debt for flight training is quite common, this could be even higher for those who trained in conjunction with a degree program.
In 2014, the average starting salary for a First Officer at a regional carrier was less than $23,000 a year. This was hardly enough to sustain even a marginal lifestyle. Believe it or not, some pilots were even qualified to receive food stamps.
Although the thought of reaching captain salaries at a major airline was enough to make some endure years of financial struggles, it was impossible for others to overcome and played a key role in today's pilot shortage.
Since 2014, starting salaries have almost doubled but that does not imply young pilots are now enjoying financial bliss.
For those of you that need a little extra income to help recover from your training debt, or to offset some of the expenses of commuting to and from your base, I'll share some of the methods others have tried and proven to be successful. If you have any other options that you would like to share with our group, please contact us
Make money while sitting on reserves
The first method that we want to recommend is to try your hand at multi-level marketing. We know the common concerns and opinions about "pyrimid schemes" but believe we have the information that will put your mind at ease and introduce you to a great way to make some extra cash.
You could persue this from soely a business perspective and not be disappointed, but our recommendation will tie in directly with some techniques to save money and live healthier. 3 separate reasons to read further. We will outline everything you need to know on the next page, you can take this as far as you want without ever feeling pressured.
Ride Share Programs
Our next recommendation for some extra income is to drive for a rideshare company. This is ideal while you're on reserves and need to be near the airport anyway. The demand will be there and you'll have a constant flow of cash while making your time go by quicker, this sure beats sitting in the hotel or the crew room. Even if you're a commuter, this can still be an option for you. Lyft offers a rental car option which is actually cheaper than renting from an actual rental car company and still allows you to use it for your personal use as well.
Although both Uber and Lyft are both valid options, I'll recommend Lyft for this reason: if you use this link to sign up, you could get an extra $550 in the first month.
On top of earning cash, you'll have credit to get plenty of free rides for when you're on your trips and away from your car. No more rental cars or paying for your own ridesharing, it can be free from this point on and save you a ton of cash.
Earning potential: We interviewed multiple drivers and have found that your earnings can be almost anything you want them to be. one gentleman only drives when he needs cash for something specific, his example was that he would drive a few trips and have money to fill his gas tank or a few more and pay for dinner. He wasn't looking to make much money, just cover his expenses for that day. The other end of the spectrum was a guy that averaged more than $200 per day. He said he had days that were considerably higher when there were special events to cover, such as a sporting event or concert. potentially this could result in an extra $4000 a month if you only drive on your days off. How much time could you commit to driving?
Stock Market
The stock market can be a risky financial move so we are in no way recommending that you start.... However, IF YOU ARE ALREADY TRADING STOCKS, we found an app that allows you to make trades 100% free. No fees! Most of the previous companies or apps I used charged $5 - $10 per trade which added up quick and prevented me from making smaller trades. With this one being free, I don't mind buying and selling more frequently with a smaller profit margin. This allowed me to buy cheaper and more stable stocks and sell as soon as it hit my desired profit. for me, this was as little as $10. This doesn't seem like much but it adds up. buying and selling multiple stocks with a profit of $10 or so per stock, even a few times a week is a great way to have some extra spending money. check them out here, they will even give you 1 free stock when you install the app.