Finally...A Forum for ME

[LovetoRun]

My husband is an airline pilot, and has a few forums in which he participates. I am so excited to have found this forum! Finally, a place I can go to talk to others who understand the joy, and stress of being married to a pilot.

My name is Lisa and I live in Oviedo, Florida. I work as an instructional designer, and love my job! My hours are fairly flexible, which is really nice, especially when Brett is home. In my spare time, I love to run. I used to run 5K and 10K races in Orlando, but for now I am working on improving my speed and endurance on my own.

Brett and I are newlyweds...we were married on February 26. The first six months of our marriage were very stressful. Brett had just left his job of 6 1/2 years at a major airline, due to threats of furloughs, and took a job flying cargo. Definitely very different from the lifestyle in which we were accustomed (Two weeks on/Two weeks off, No contract, etc). After two months of training, and one month of flying, Brett was lucky to gain employment with an airline (Job fairs are awesome!!). Things are finally stable. We always say that since the first six months of our marriage were so stressful, we are going to extend our newlywed "status" an extra six months!!

Anyways, I just wanted to introduce myself. Looking forward to chatting with you all!!

[Chi829]

HI Lisa !! Welcome!! mY hubby and I are also newly weds.. we were married March 5th in Orlando where we just moved from to here in Panama CIty. He flies for ASA out of ATL. Glad you found us here,,, it's a great place to be!

[Brenda]

Hi Lisa! Welcome aboard! I just moved to Evansville Indiana but still have a house in Oviedo! In the Carillon area!
You'll enjoy the group!

[LovetoRun]

Hi Jo!! My husband flies for AirTran, and is also based in Atlanta!!

Hi Brenda!! I drive through the Carillon area every day on my way to work. I work in Research Park.

Nice meeting ya!!

[Amanda]

Hi Lisa!
Welcome to the forum!
Amanda

[roz]

Hi Lisa! My husband and I act like newlyweds (after 26 years!). We are well acquainted with the stress of pending, rumored or otherwise furloughs. They say you're not a real airline pilot anymore unless you've been furloughed! Where is Brett now?

So my advice to you is to save and invest wisely. Don't live beyond your means and prepare for the rainy day. I believe Ben Franklin coined most of those phrases! LOL! But it's true. This business is too risky--you really need to have 6 to 12 months of living expenses saved up to survive the downturn. And don't count on any defined benefit pension plans from the company. They will all be gone soon. So you need to max out on defined contribution retirement plans--it's better to start young. Amanda would chime in on that and agree!

Schedules are wonderful when they can hold them! It's great to have hubby around once in a while--although I sometimes ask when he's leaving the same day he has arrived!

OK, I'm stupid--what does an instructional designer do? I'm a HR Director so I like to know job descriptions!

Anyway, welcome to the board and post a lot!

[Gale]

Hi Lisa! My name is Amanda and I am the proud newlywed of a pilot as of 9/17/05. I just found this place today! My husband Scott is a pilot for Comair and is based out of CVG, but we live in Dallas. Commuting is really tricky for him these days! Nice to meet you!

[LovetoRun]

Hi Amanda
Thank you so much!!

Hi Roz
Brett is flying for Airtran now. He flew for ATA for about 6 1/2 years, and once the threat of furloughs was announced, we knew that we had to have a backup plan. Thank goodness everything has worked out so far.

What you wrote about saving and investing is SO true!! We purchased a few houses for investment purposes a few years ago...one of the best things we have ever done!! It is funny though, we seem to only have problems with them when Brett leaves for training. No joke, the first day he left for training, I was left to deal with three different rental issues, when usually things are very smooth sailing. Pretty funny now, after the fact!!

Hi Amanda,
Congratulations to you on your recent marriage!

[Amanda]

Originally Posted by roz

This business is too risky--you really need to have 6 to 12 months of living expenses saved up to survive the downturn. And don't count on any defined benefit pension plans from the company. They will all be gone soon. So you need to max out on defined contribution retirement plans--it's better to start young. Amanda would chime in on that and agree!

I thought I would add (since there are 2 Amandas now) that I work in finance at a large mutual fund company. I'm in the retirement plans area so I can say that Roz is right on with her comments. Start saving/investing as soon as possible and put in as much as you can. You never know what's going to happen with this crazy industry!
Amanda

[Kristie]

Originally Posted by LovetoRun

Hi Jo!! My husband flies for AirTran, and is also based in Atlanta!!

Hi Brenda!! I drive through the Carillon area every day on my way to work. I work in Research Park.

Nice meeting ya!!

how funny is that?! I used to work in research park back when i was attending UCF...I know Oviedo quite well and my sister lives over in Clermont...so, when i can get there (nonrevving isn't easy into FLA) I can still drive myself around town without getting totally lost!

the only things I miss about florida are the space shuttle launches and Drew Garabo (104.1 nighttime show).

Roz's advice is right on.. definately prepare for a rainy day!! that's what i'm doing different this year - we're going to pay ourselves first, prepare for any more changes that might be coming our way!! that way, i won't have anymore "shock - omg, what ARE we going to do" girlie fits....

Welcome Lisa & Amanda (now that we have 2, we'll have to give you nicknames! haha)!!