I am desparate in need for an advice on where to start and I am open to any criticism if my mindset is wrong. I would really appreciate any advice or suggestion that can be put into an action. I would love to hear from anyone with insights or anyone in aviation industry that have succeeded in achieving financial freedom. Thank you so much in advance for reading my long paragraphs (Please feel free to skip to last paragraph if you are in a hurry!).
Hi there, I am 25 years old international student studying in U.S. and working towards my pilot licenses.
I chose to become a pilot, because I thought they make a lot of money and I can be rich one day which was apparently not a smart idea.. I read MJ's Unscripted and I realized becoming an airline pilot will probably take me to where I can have financial freedom at like 60 years old and that is also if I pass medical test every year. Also, I found out flight instructors and airline pilots who start out make almost no money and with covid I feel like demand for pilot goes up and down depending on economy crisis. I am already half way through my training to become a certified flight instructor and I have spent over $100,000 in total (flight training, university degree, living expenses...) and I have 180 hours with private pilot license and broke... My instructor thinks I can be a certified instructor by this summer 2022 and start making money which will be less than $1500-2000 a month in average depending on weather and students (Living expense is around $1000/month including rent).
Legally, I am not allowed to make any money or start a business without greencard if I am in the U.S., but I don't know if I will get someone to sponsor me a greencard after I graduate or my visa expires and forced to go back home. This uncertainty can be continued for 1 year or 2 years or more. If I don't find anyone to sponsor me green card or get married, I can graduate in a year and apply opt (1 year) and go back home to work legally and start business in South Korea. Aviation industry, however, is so much smaller in Korea than U.S. that I don't know if there will be any need for pilots or for me to start a business in aviation industry. Overall, it is uncertain when I will be able to start my business legally and also uncertain how much longer I can continue in this industry. I was going to start a youtube channel, but everything is so uncertain I don't even know if it would be a waste of time and if I should devote my time to something completely different in another industry.
I wanted to ask if I go ahead and spend more money to get certified flight instructor license this summer, how can I use this to build foundation to financial freedom? I have heard so many people say aviation does not make money and especially with my home country (South Korea) having much smaller aviation industry, I don't know if I should just start something completely new or continue pursuing in this industry and try to find something related. I don't think it would be a smart idea to live off as an instructor or an airline/ corporate pilot forever, because I can lose my medical license any time and weather is a big factor that I cannot control. I invested so much to get my license, however, that I feel like I should go ahead and complete my training to make at least some money out of it because I don't have other special skill sets. I want to work on something else than just focusing on training in order to achieve ultimate financial freedom (not having to sell my time for money). I am looking for something that I can build the skills now and when it comes to time I can legally work, I can start creating values and sell it to people and make money. I am bilingual and I can paint... maybe I can do something with that..? Or learn how to program...? Any advice that can be put into an action is very much appreciated!
Thank you again!
Hi there, I am 25 years old international student studying in U.S. and working towards my pilot licenses.
I chose to become a pilot, because I thought they make a lot of money and I can be rich one day which was apparently not a smart idea.. I read MJ's Unscripted and I realized becoming an airline pilot will probably take me to where I can have financial freedom at like 60 years old and that is also if I pass medical test every year. Also, I found out flight instructors and airline pilots who start out make almost no money and with covid I feel like demand for pilot goes up and down depending on economy crisis. I am already half way through my training to become a certified flight instructor and I have spent over $100,000 in total (flight training, university degree, living expenses...) and I have 180 hours with private pilot license and broke... My instructor thinks I can be a certified instructor by this summer 2022 and start making money which will be less than $1500-2000 a month in average depending on weather and students (Living expense is around $1000/month including rent).
Legally, I am not allowed to make any money or start a business without greencard if I am in the U.S., but I don't know if I will get someone to sponsor me a greencard after I graduate or my visa expires and forced to go back home. This uncertainty can be continued for 1 year or 2 years or more. If I don't find anyone to sponsor me green card or get married, I can graduate in a year and apply opt (1 year) and go back home to work legally and start business in South Korea. Aviation industry, however, is so much smaller in Korea than U.S. that I don't know if there will be any need for pilots or for me to start a business in aviation industry. Overall, it is uncertain when I will be able to start my business legally and also uncertain how much longer I can continue in this industry. I was going to start a youtube channel, but everything is so uncertain I don't even know if it would be a waste of time and if I should devote my time to something completely different in another industry.
I wanted to ask if I go ahead and spend more money to get certified flight instructor license this summer, how can I use this to build foundation to financial freedom? I have heard so many people say aviation does not make money and especially with my home country (South Korea) having much smaller aviation industry, I don't know if I should just start something completely new or continue pursuing in this industry and try to find something related. I don't think it would be a smart idea to live off as an instructor or an airline/ corporate pilot forever, because I can lose my medical license any time and weather is a big factor that I cannot control. I invested so much to get my license, however, that I feel like I should go ahead and complete my training to make at least some money out of it because I don't have other special skill sets. I want to work on something else than just focusing on training in order to achieve ultimate financial freedom (not having to sell my time for money). I am looking for something that I can build the skills now and when it comes to time I can legally work, I can start creating values and sell it to people and make money. I am bilingual and I can paint... maybe I can do something with that..? Or learn how to program...? Any advice that can be put into an action is very much appreciated!
Thank you again!
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