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Old 26th Jul 2004, 09:01
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witchdoctor
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: UK
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I suppose it is good that you have a healthy attitude towards debt, but don't let it be a millstone around your neck preventing you from pursuing your favoured career. Lee Frost gives some good advice. You're still relatively young, and believe it or not, you still have relatively small debts. You have plenty of time to reduce them significantly if they worry you so much.

I began my training in April 2001 on the UK's daftest-priced (sorry, premier) integrated course. 5 months later and the already struggling aviation industry was hit by a horrible and unique event. Nobody knew what the future would hold, but we all knew it would be grim. However, it never occured to any of us to jack it in and do something else.

2 years on from completing the IR, I'm still not much further forward. I have a part-time flying position in a Cessna 150, and a part-time job at the local airport. I began my training with pretty hefty credit card debts (about £12K), and finished with a £50K loan and about £18K of credit card debts. I used to earn a pretty poor wage, £17K, and I'm now earning even less.

However, I have never been happier. Yes, day to day life is fairly difficult financially, but I am closer every day to the job that I want. Things are still difficult in the industry, but they are improving all the time. I suppose in some senses I am fortunate in that my flying career started at a time when the industry has never been in worse shape, so for me, things will only ever get better.

By nature, I am one of life's optimists, a happy-go-lucky kind of guy (ignore the kind of rubbish my pprune ID spouts off on here from time to time), so I was happy to take the risk. I don't regret it for one minute, but it hasn't been easy. At best my wife and I earn about £2K a month, and at worst it is £1400. Somehow we still get by, and when that airline job finally comes my way, for us it will be like winning the lottery.

Your debt will only be a concern when you are having to manage on a low monthly income, probably just after training. Plan ahead for that time. You may or may not (most likely not) find yourself in a flying position very quickly, but when you do, the debts will reduce surprisingly quickly. Don't let the hard times be a barrier to the good times ahead.
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