24th April 2010

Debt Management – Spending Less Means Saving More

posted in the courage to teach |

When you are in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging! So if you are in debt, the first thing you should do is to lessen your spending and increase your saving in order to reduce your debt. While it will take some time to repay your entire debt the key to staying out of debt lies in being able to maintain that low expense lifestyle and garner some savings.

Saving money is something that was once looked upon as a virtue. However, our consumerist society today seems to frown upon the same virtues that our parents and grandparents (and their parents) grow up on. Have the courage to think differently and take steps to lead a tension free life without liabilities. Here are some tips to help you get started.

Eating Out Spending Friday nights with friends can be fun, but it remains as fun only if done once in a while. Too often and you find yourself having to pay for it at the end of the month. Make sure you keep and maintain an appropriate entertainment budget.

Fancy Clothing If you are someone who loves designer clothing, then be prepared to pay for it up front in cash, and to have that much less money at the end of the month. Instead try to keep such exquisite purchases left only for special occasions such as Christmas. That way you will live within your means, get the things you want, and feel much better about all of it.

Own Home If you are looking to move out to a new place, make sure it is one that you can afford on a regular basis and are not caught up in the excitement and find yourself taking something which you can’t maintain. Rent to own, do it yourself arrangements and owner financing are some of the options available.

Grocery Shopping Don’t go for the branded items. Go for the cheapest with the largest quantity. Use coupons and discount opportunities as much as possible, but only for items that are really needed and don’t just buy them because they are cheaper.

School Supplies Stock your children’s school supplies at home and avoid buying any fancy items.

Contentment & Limitations Try to be content with what you have and live within your means. Know what your financial limitations are and don’t exceed them.

Plan your Childs Education Apart from saving early for this, also remember to teach your children ways to be self supporting, look for campus jobs and apply for scholarships.

Anticipate Failures Always have a budget plan so that you would then avoid impulsive purchases, which are often the least required ones.

Adamheist
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/debt-management-spending-less-means-saving-more-79564.html

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  1. 1 On April 24th, 2010, Yahoo_guy said:

    Commercial flight training on my own or going to a big flight school to get training and a degree.?
    ERAU says that when you have their flight training program on your resume, your’s gets bumped to the top of the resumes that an airline looks at. This is a very convincing sales pitch here as they are a big school and airlines will notice it. I’m currently working on a BS in aviation maintenance management full time while working full time and am considering dropping the degree program and my job to continue my studies full time. ERAU states that they fly about 3 days out of the week. I’m sure I could come close to that individually as I’ve heard rumors of people having problems getting training time scheduled with ERAU instructors. That can probably be a problem anywhere though, but with smaller classes locally I might be better off with fewer students. The equipment might not be as nice locally, but still decent. My main question is that I’ll have a degree from ERAU, but it won’t be their flight training degree. I wanted to get the management degree because I’ll have that to rely on and an A&P license if things fail with being a pilot. I am thinking that airlines would rather see any degree and an A&P license with work experience on the list compared to just a flight program degree might look better. Going to ERAU for their program, if things flop being a pilot, my flight hrs and aviation degree would get me no where in non aviation fields if things fail. I’m looking at this as if I would have started this way from the beginning. Atleast now after recently getting my A&P I’d have a mechanics job if flying failed even after going through ERAU’s flying program. My idea is for the management degree so than I can be a manager, mechanic, or a pilot. What do you think? Am I wasting my time by not going to ERAU’s flight school? Sure I can get the ratings locally and it may take a bit longer or be a bit harder, but I’ll probably save a lot of money going locally and because my work is paying for my degree in management that I’m working on. I am guessing that I’ll spend around 50k doing it by myself. I would like to be up to a flight instructor’s level in three yrs or so and be done in 4 yrs. with all licenses. I should be done with the BS by than. Another thing to consider is paying for the flight training. I will most likely be able to pay for about 30k out of my own pocket in 4 yrs. and the rest will come from Visa or a loan. By the end I plan to be in debt 20k which is a lot less than the 100k that I’d have in a loan after ERAU flight program. Another draw back is that it may be harder to get networking going on as ERAU advertises that they find their students jobs. It might mean me flying for a regional for another yr or so, but I’ll have more hrs, less debt, and a degree that would be more useful.
    Also, if I decided to buy my own airplane, how do I document my flight hrs? Would my own signature be enough in a logbook or do I need to have an instructor certify that I actually flew those hrs. Thanks for the advice!

  2. 2 On April 24th, 2010, Thom said:

    How bout if I deal with the part of the question on buying your own plane? That one I can handle. The other is more of a judgement call, and you are the expert on you – so I’d rather let you make that call….

    As for the part about owning your own plane – your instructor will sign off on dual or solo cross country, as long as you are a student pilot. Once you get your Private Certificate, you document your flights under that certificate. If you do further training, as in Instrument Rating or Commercial, your instructor again would document those hours…

    Hope that helps..
    References :
    I’m a pilot

  3. 3 On April 24th, 2010, herkco said:

    Get the best education you can afford, be it at ERAU or elsewhere. Own your own business, do not go the Part 121 airline pilot route. It is no longer desire able at all. Aviation is very large and very interesting. Flying With a major airline is only a small part of the pie.
    Do no succumb to the myth.
    References :

  4. 4 On April 24th, 2010, Doc Savage said:

    Here is what I did. I went to a University and got a Business Degree. I used my electives to get my ground school and licensees. Right now most regionals will hire with very low time. You don’t need much but experience and a license. You will need a degree if you want to fly for the majors. It’s not what it once was but if you have the flying bug bad and it’s the only thing for you, it’ not too bad of a gig. The pay sucks for the first 1/3 of you career and get better later for the most part but then again, with airlines your job is always in danger.

    To sum it up, get your degree and ratings as cheap and fast as you can. Get you CFI and start building time. Sounds like your on the right path.

    That’s my 2 cents and that is what it’s worth, just like my pension. :)

    Good luck!

    References :
    I am a pilot

  5. 5 On April 24th, 2010, SkyDog said:

    ERAU is over-priced and in the end means nothing on a resume unless the person in HR also attended there. ERAU is an elite fraternity at best, where you make connections that will help you years down the road. Otherwise it means nothing. Save yourself loads of money and the headache and attend a cheaper school or train at a local FBO or flight school.
    You have the right idea though, obtain a general degree in something like business or science so if the aviation industry is tight when you get out of school you have some skills you can use to land a decent job until your ship comes in.
    References :

  6. 6 On April 24th, 2010, Rob G said:

    ERAU is a big waste of money.

    It doesn’t matter if you go to a local flight school or a big aviation university, you will walk out of either one with the same education and ratings. The only difference will be that if you go to a big university, you’ll wind up having more regulations memorized (which is useless since you can just look them up when you need to) and have to take semester long courses about stuff you can learn by reading a book on your own in a few weeks. Plus, if you go to a place like ERAU, you will have a worthless 4 year degree that won’t help you out if you ever need to leave aviation (nor will you have an edge over someone else who didn’t go there).

    Go to a local state college and major in something completely unrelated to aviation. It’s always good to have a backup career in this field. Especially now since hardly any airlines are hiring pilots.

    If you buy your own airplane, log your hours just like you would if you rented an airplane. The only time an instructor has to sign the log entry is if it was a flight lesson, which will be every flight until he/she at leasts signs you off to solo.

    About your comment of flying for a regional for an extra year or so… If you want to get into this field, you have to be prepared to spend your entire career at a regional airline. It sucks, but that’s the way it is today.
    References :

  7. 7 On April 24th, 2010, Ben Dere Dun Dat said:

    1) No, your resume doesn’t get "bumped to the top" if you graduate from ERAU. Especially at the airlines. All major airline applications are scored by computer on a points system and if you have a college degree of any kind from any college or university you can check the box that says you have a 2 or 4 year degree. They do not award extra points for attending ERAU, UND, or any other aviation school. FACT.

    2) The ERAU flight training program paces you along with academics. Assuming that you have the money, you could do your ratings much faster at a non-university flight school. FACT

    3) Stick with your aviation maintenance management degree. It will help you get farther down the road faster and it will give you something to fall back on if a flying career gets a bit rocky or doesn’t pan out for you at all.

    4) Save your money. ERAU is highly over-rated and over priced. I know, I went there and got a BS degree, which hasn’t helped my career in any way that I’ve ever been able to determine.

    5) While you can do some fruitful networking thru ERAU’s job placement program, it never did me any good. Simply knowing a lot of people in aviation has been the key for me. In fact, I’ve found that a lot of people in the industry have a negative opinion of ERAU grads unless they happened to graduate from there themselves. It’s the "spoiled rich kid syndrome". Not everyone who goes there is well off of course, and I was far from it (lived in my van for 2 years so I could afford tuition), but that’s the general opinion people have. Personally, I’ve also found that a lot of ERAU grads have huge egos. I’m now in a position where I occasionally do some hiring and I wouldn’t hire the majority of them, if for no other reason than a lack of humility.

    6) I recommend that if you can afford it, buy your own plane and use it to build hours. This is what I did after I dropped out of the ERAU flight program (too expensive and too slow). Once you have your private license you do not need an instructor to certify the hours you have flown other than the training required to get additional ratings.

    7) Going to ERAU won’t hurt you of course, and it isn’t a bad school, but I think there are better and cheaper ways to get ahead in aviation. That’s my humble opinion anyway.

    Good luck.

    References :
    Corporate pilot (ex-airline pilot, ex-bush pilot), ATP, CFII-AIGI, 23 years in professional aviation.

  8. 8 On April 24th, 2010, kc1829 said:

    I started out at Riddle Main campus in DB, where I got my private. I found it to be over-priced and unnecessary. I decided to leave main campus, and I went to a local flight school in Hillsboro, Or. The pricing was a fraction of the cost, and the quality of the training in my opinion was superior to Riddle’s. Furthermore, Riddle has an extended campus in Portland, Or and the tuition was only 164/c.h. at the time.

    Also, I transferred 2/3’s of my total credits to Riddle, so I only ended up taking 16 classes total from them. Granted, extended campuses don’t offer the same number of degree programs, but they do offer, B.S. in Professional Aeronautics, Aviation Maintenance Management, as well as two Masters programs. I am currently working on my Masters in Aeronautical Science. The cost is very good, and being a workingman, I find the schedule very manageable. They meet one night a week per class, and the instructors are very experienced and laid back.

    I would recommend looking into Hillsboro Aviation. They are affordable, time oriented, and they are 141 approved with onsite testing.

    If you need anything else, let me know
    References :
    Riddle Grad

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