Hello my Aviator,
if you are considering a certain career, but struggling with the cost for the school or training, my friend and entrepreneur Fabian Fröhlich has some valuable advices for you. Especially the costs for flight training can be significantly high. That is why I received a lot of messages from individuals asking me how to save money and to make it possible to become a pilot.
Flight training can cost anywhere between 60,000€ and 100,000€+. In order to cover these training costs, many pilots will take out substantial loans with high repayments. I was lucky that my parents paid my entire training costs. This definitely took a lot off pressure during my job search. But unfortunately not every family as the finical means to support their children. But there means how to fulfill the dream of flying when struggling with the financial backup.
Methods how to save money
Since Fabian always has great ideas concerning savings and investment I asked him to support me with this blog post. At the end he turned up with some great tips how to make 70.000€ (the sum I paid for my flight training). For those who do not know Fabian yet, he is a young and successful entrepreneur, investor and lifestyle designer from South of Germany. Fabian is not a pilot and does not know the business, but the basic path is always the same.
You have to work hard, stay humble and be grateful.
How fast can I make 70.000€?
Fabian: „It won’t be able to accomplished it within a month, but it is possible. Maybe you are still a student who attends school and you have already the dream of becoming a pilot. In this situation you can already save up an incredible amount of money while still going to school. It won’t be easy, but if you really want it, it is going to be simple.
What strategy to you suggest?
I structured the my advices into five categories.
- Keep your costs low
- Earn money
- Connect, so the thinks you want will be cheaper
- Get rid of expensive things
- Let your money work for you
Keep your costs low
- Live at home as long as possible
- Eat as basic as possible, that is usually the cheapest and healthiest
- Oats (protein and carbs)
- Vegetables and fruits that are on discount (vitamins)
- Tuna (protein)
- Lentils (protein and slow carbs)
- Peanuts (protein and fat)
- Use public transportation, a bike or your feet and not your car to make it from A to B (especially short distances)
Earn money
- Make yourself a Fiverr account and translate from your native language to English. As a side effect you improve your English skills which are important for your future career.
- Work at your local gym. Besides earning some money, you can usually train for free and stay fit.
- Work at the local airfield – any job, any wage. That will teach you a lot about aircraft and the vibes on the airfield. Maybe you can work for a flight school who offers you a discount on flight hours.
- When you drive from A to B find offer your route online so people can travel with you and pay for the journey. In Europe the App Bla Bla Car connects passenger with a driver.
- Become the tenant and manager of a housing community. Rent a large apartment and provide space to others. People will pay for your residence. (the rate per square meter of a small room is much higher than for the whole apartment)
- Sell things online you don’t really need.
Connect
- Talk to to people at the local airfield or basically every airfield you can visit. Maybe they will let you join and fly with them for free in a small aircraft.
- Create your own Instagram/YouTube/Facebook account and tell your story of the dream you chase. Deliver value to your community and maybe monetize your story.
- Visit flight exhibitions and career shows. Talk to different companies and try to connect to people in the same industry. These people will teach you great things
Save and earn money when working in the gym
Get rid of expensive things
- Quit Amazon Prime, Netflix, Spotify (any of these streaming services) Instead use the time you wasted with them, chasing your dreams
- Quit your expensive mobile contract. Compare prices and go for a basic one.
- Quit your gym membership. See Make money
- Sell your car if you don’t really need it. Imagine how much you can save only with insurance and the maintenance.
- Check your insurances and regularly compare prices online. Check if you really need this insurance.
Let your money work for you
- Look for the bank that pays the highest interests. Even 0.5% can sum up pretty nicely over the period of 5 years.
- Put the money that you don’t need at the moment in a fixed-term deposit account (interests rates are higher)
I hope that I could deliver value to you with my advices. Some are easier and some are harder to realize. But it depends on your level of commitment and obsession towards becoming a pilot. As I said, if you really want it, it is going to be simple.
Thanks Fabian for your valuable advices and your motivating words. Lately I found out that there are plenty organisations which offer a wide variety of bursaries. They award recipients with the opportunity of valuable flying hours and sometimes sponsor of a full PPL. In the UK those organisations are: The Honourable Company of Air Pilots, the Air League and the RAF Association. Google “flying sponsorship”. Maybe there are companies in your country as well, who support cadet pilots.
Full throttle forward you can make it!
Follow Fabian:
- Instagram: fabian_froehlich (@fabian_froehlich)
- Blog: www.fabianfroehlich.com for more business content and knowledge.
What is your dream job? Please comment below the article.
Positive mind. Positive life. Happy landings.
Your Pilot Patrick
