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Just crossed 300 hours total, of which 155 hours was in 2017 , all sans 1.5 in the Mooney alone. My goal this year is 500 hours total time, along with IFR and Commercial done, and hopefully a job getting paid to fly SOMETHING by December In the meantime, new brakes for the Mooney:

I was talking with the father-in-law of my sales manager after church a month ago and he had just heard my wife and I bought a Florida winter home. He asked if I was getting any flack from employees or friends and I said not really. He said anytime someone gives him flack about his Arizona home, telling him how "lucky" he is, he says "Yep, I'm lucky. The harder I worked, the luckier I got". Tom

It's great to discuss making a fortune on this thread, but all the other threads deal with how to turn a large fortune into a small one: own a Mooney.

There's a reason he's called a "broker". You will be broker after he gets done than you were before. I've mis-managed my own portfolio for years and I've done better than all my friends with "professional managers".

And you do not have to deal with renters!

Hit the magic number 11 years ago and they showed me the door (thanks FAA). BUT I had 5 airlines and 7 corporations in my resume all of which were dead except the last one. Wasn't ready to retire (mentally) so I picked up a few odds and ends for a while. Luckily we planned and had the housing paid off so no mortgage. THAT is the key! Have seen too many of my friends with high house payments and (in many airline cases) 2 or 3 ex-wives to pay off when the day arrived! Once you decide to retire it will take two years to really fall into the mode of every day being Saturday. In our case we bought the Mooney to fly around the country to find a city to retire in. We kept it to travel while we were working. Now 16 years later we still travel but at our own leisure. This has allowed me to "retire" from IFR and the concomitant needs of an IPC and staying in what I feel is current status. 6 in 6 is NOT currency in my book. When I was doing 100 hrs / month, hard IFR 30-40/mo, 50+ ILSs/mo I was current. After 8 years of retirement and trying to do more than 6 on 6 I decided it wasn't worth the effort as I didn't have to be anywhere in than much of a hurry. It brings on a completely different reality to flying. I've had all the challenges of 200/ 1/2 and 600 RVR auto-lands that I want. Don't need the ego stroke any more. Been there, done that going back to 727s. I can see changing to a 170 or a short wing Piper even for long trips as even now, if I see something in front of me that I don't like we land and visit a new city for a day. Most of our flying is saying bye-bye to the tower and monitoring 121.5 for the rest of the flight. Looking out the window has its advantages. Being that I can do all my own maintenance that has helped keep expenses down considerably. Compile that with a few good investments and a wife who is VERY good at investment management and we can do just about what we want, when we want and our desires are very modest. We don't need to keep up with the Jones'. One BIG item to bear in mind as the years go forward is ones "cognitive response". It WILL decrease as the years progress. If you're watching you will see that you start to miss little things that you wouldn't have missed in your 50s once you pass about 68. It doesn't matter who you are, it will happen and needs to be tracked. How rapidly it progresses is determined by genes. Only YOU can decide when its time to hang it up. Just be aware it will happen.

Actually the stock market return over the past 10 years exceeded 10%. A 30 year investment in the Dow is worth 6 times what you would have invested.

The Young Eagles program is a good program, but is not going to increase the pilot ranks dramatically any time soon. We should run a Gray Eagles program and get the people who have the means to fly and buy airplanes involved. Plenty of money being spent on Harley’s.

Surely you did not expect me to talk about the stock I watched go down... If the only stock that I had owned was AAPL I would be having my valet type my posts on GulfstreamSpace.

Long term thinking seems to make things more predictable. 0) Live within your means... (Bob’s last line, Probably is Best at the front of this continuation...) 1) Wether it is the stock market or the real estate market or Bond market (remember those?). 2) Everyone is different, with respect to their plan A and plan B. 3) Plan C is the SS program that is terribly small and has a less than predictable future. 4) I have heard the 'harder I work the luckier I will be..' probably came from my parents. Used it for motivation as a sales guy... 5) Following up on stock market gains. The last ten years doesn't cut it in terms of long term thinking... that would miss out including for the Great Recession... 6) Fortunately, the idea is solid, and taking it back to the years before the Great Depression.... the same analysis can be done on the S&P 500... with the same end result... 10% per year... 7) The compounding interest idea is also solid for growing the nest egg. This brings up the calculation of how long it will take to double my investment? That's the rule of 72... the number of years for the investment to double is the same as 72/interest rate... 7.2 years if your investment actually grows at 10% per year... there is a financial calculation to support that simple math. Bankrate.com has all that... 8) Expect That There will be tough years thrown in... Health issues can become a serious challenge. Needing an engine OH can be a real drag. 9) Seek professional advice... flight instruction financial instruction maintenance instruction health instruction physical training instruction 10) As a few people have pointed out. Diversification is important. Don't put all of your eggs in one basket. In other words... AAPL has been good, but So was Enron and Washington Mutual.... One MSer pointed out ETFs for this a couple of years ago... Check on QQQ for that type of analysis. Think Y2K for balance, the dot bomb era. It never gets easy.... having all of your condos on one beach could be a similar challenge.... they sell insurance for that... 11) reminder... keep your spouse happy, especially if she is still working... Ideas I think I read on MS. Most of them in this thread... Best regards, -a-

If this is the standard, then I retired 18 years ago at age 34. Didn't have a pot to piss in then, of course, but doing better now. Hard to say whether I've really worked since then, though. Still just pursuing my hobby, really.

The stock market is great if you can control the investment and are a part of management, an owner, or you can just invest and wait 40 years without ever becoming upset with the ups and downs. I didn't have the personality to do that. Luckily, with real estate you can't look at its value every day and you can't get out of it quickly if you get scared for some reason, so the investment is damped from emotion. In my area my typical house was purchased for about $31,000 with $4,000 down, rented for $250 and made $25/mo cashflow. Today, 45 years later, that house is valued near $2,000,000, is free and clear, and rents for $3,850/mo. I think that makes the return on initial investment infinite and the cashflow will go on for the rest of my life. Some would say take the money and leverage it into a greater return on current value. At my age the risk isn't worth it. The additional really good news is that while all of this was happening with very little input from me, I was having a great time flight instructing and going places in my Mooney. I wish good investing for "not retirement", but older age to all my Mooney and non Mooney friends.

My switchbox from Phil died and will not function at all. I can call in and it will turn on and than right back off, does not do anything for texts. He was no help trying to get it going again. Many calls and emails and only answered emails sporadically. So I bought one of the GSM Smart Socket for $38 and set up, its working at home and will take to hanger soon. PIREP Later When you set the thing up you must change the password by text following the instructions. Then send the owner phone number then it worked!!!! https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Wireless-Smartphone-GSM-Remote-Control-3-Socket-Power-Outlet-Smart-Switch-/131695016405?hash=item1ea9a279d5

I have a mix of investments including real estate. I sleep better knowing if the market goes to pieces I still have rental income as well.

I am 66 living on SS, Medicare, retirement fund, real state leasing. I bought three properties in Florida 30 years ago and they all now worth three times of what I invested and they are all paid off. On rent I get at least 8% annually on each. Try that in the stock market. José

Nobody knows how expensive the future is going to be, especially when it comes to health care costs. Aging is expensive from that perspective. Nobody knows how long they're going to live or what ailments or injuries they're going to incur along the way. So detailed planning isn't possible, and you just need to do as well as you can and have some sort of contingency plan for when things get to a certain point. Obviously non-health related expenses can pop up unexpectedly as well. Inevitably for everybody this means having to stop flying someday. If you're extremely lucky maybe it's the day you keel over at 97 years old, but for the vast majority of us it's unlikely to go that way. So converting assets to cash as you don't need the asset any more but need the cash is definitely a realistic plan, and one of those assets is easily the airplane. If you never reach that point, then kudos, but nobody knows how it's going to play out for themselves and at least having a plan is reasonably smart. Pros and cons: The obvious pro is freedom in how you use your time, and the stress reduction that goes with that. Being able to travel more freely or just spend more time in other places is very nice. For me the main con is always just the usual uncertainty around what the future may bring and facing that without the additional source of income. I've not had a salary or employer-provided benefits for a long time, though, so I don't miss those but I think many people might. All that said, a guy a few hangars down from me is well into his eighties and has an M20A. A couple months ago he was changing his oil and telling me about the epic trip around the country he'd just done, visiting friends and family in Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, etc. 3k miles popping around in an old Mooney and obviously enjoying the hell out of it. I hope it goes that well for all of us.

Definitely get over it and get back to flying the kids. It's not their fault and it's not your fault. You can be sure that ANYONE working or doing anything with kids these days has to go through this stuff. My wife is a child psychologist who works with Child Protective Services here in Texas. She was shocked it took EAA this long to get with the program. It is what it is and you shouldn't take it personally or be offended. The kids need to fly, so do it for the kids. Young Eagles is the only reason I pay my EAA dues every year.

Nice looking plane and a spiffy panel. I'm flying a Baron 58 now, but looking to get back to a single. The 28-30 gal/hr fuel burn is nuts. If you have the need though, a twin is great. I moved my daughter out of her dorm room with the Baron at the end of her freshman year. I've only needed the seats/load on maybe 3 trips in 2 years though, and two of those were Angel Flight missions.

My company has lost its way and each day it becomes more clear it's time to retire. Sadly I dont work for the govt so do not have a crazy pension that promises to bankrupt the city county or state. What I do have is a resonable pension but will still see a big drop in income. Life is funny most things are time and money and we have one or the other. Soon I will have the time. The good news is there will be no debt and our Mooney has been given lots of attention making it very reliable. I think keeping it and continuing to fly will be in the cards and I am planning on other things that will with luck make me say god I wish I would have retired sooner. Carusoam mentioned it might be a good line of discussion what thoughts and experience folks have had when life changes the status quo. obvious change would be to take on a partnership but I would rather be a greeter at Wally World than let someone fly my plane without me in it. This thread could be about what you have experienced or what measures you are taking to allow you to continue this wonderfully expensive hobby. I know there are those with so much financial means that there really isnt a worry but for many it's a real concern.

I've been kinda, sorta, maybe looking for an airplane with greater useful load. For my day to day flying, the Mooney is perfect but for my charity flights (Flying Samaritans, Angel Flights and Veteran's Airlift Command), I really could use more useful load. I wasn't actively looking but if something popped up that looked promising I would inquire. It is amazing the number of people, mostly brokers but some private owners that stop communication when asked for logs. I had that happen a few times. I asked for logs from some people three times without ever getting them. Oh well, those airplanes were no longer in consideration. I've thought about sending a letter to the owners letting them know their broker isn't doing them any favors. Maybe I will, maybe not. Around Christmas decided I was going to start actively looking instead of just being passive. On January 1st I sent an inquiry to an owner. On January 2 he provided pdf copies of the logs. On January 4 we talked about the airplane on the phone and I knew the price it would take to buy it if I so chose. On January 6th a fellow Mooney owner (and Mooneyspace member) looked at the airplane for me in person and flew it. An hour later I had agreed to buy the airplane. On January 8th I sent a wire transfer for the entire purchase price. The airplane is being delivered to me on January 13th. From first inquiry to delivery (some 1300+ NM away) in less than two weeks. It really can be that fast and easy. [There is now a Garmin 345 transponder with ADS-B IN/OUT installed]

Of all the things I'm licensed and rated to fly, paragliders are my least favorite. But if you like flying, this video is worth 6 minutes of your life. Go full screen and enjoy the music that goes with it.

Exactly what I did recently to replace some off-the-shelf lights done in blue that didn't hold up well at all. The quality on these is great and the price reasonable. The lowest intensity is just high enough at night to see everything you need to see, but not drown out your night vision capabilities. I showed the high, medium and low settings as examples. The max-dim knobs were replaced into the original positions as the previous non-LED knobs.

no, you don't recapture depreciation. usually, once a property is fully depreciated, a savvy investor would 1031 exchange for another like/kind property to start the depreciation process over and defer capital gains. Usually depreciation will write down rental income so much, that the effective tax on the rental income is minimal or even zero in some cases.

Head scratcher to the original poster that compares Co-Ownership with being a Walmart greeter...(I actually enjoy people watching at “The WalMart”...but I digress. I look forward to adding another Co-Owner to the party. Fixed expenses go down and the plane gets flown vs. sitting in the hanger. All good. The key is to have people you enjoy, respect and trust. My plane costs $200 a month and an additional $30/hour for use wet. I plan to continue to own and fly in retirement. Speaking of...(correction in the market? This last year has been very pleasant.) There is certainly some reality out there on the horizon...You pension guys are living the dream. Real estate management? You have to be a special person or be able to hire that special person to want to have that life every day. No thank you, I will just continue to be a Corporate lackey until I am not. God bless a working productive saving analytical spouse. They are worth their weight in gold....or platinum. Good luck getting “there”. Retirement, hopefully not a finish line, but an opportunity to be on vacation every damn day. Enjoy.

I just talked to Mooney they said their part number is 202816. They don’t have any in stock but they sent me over to laser who had the last two for $11.76 apiece. And I got them! I will keep searching for a glass alternative.

They absolutely need to be expanded as there’s a much higher probability in getting the kids of parents who own an airplane and fly into flying!

I resemble that remark. That's exactly what we have as nav/comm 2. Here is a good reason for a KNS80. Take a look at the only approach into Vancouver, WA (KVUO). It's an LDA based off the localizer at PDX. You won't find the approach in the GTN database so you can't load it and you can't legally load it by manually entering all the points. With the KNS80 I have DME and can fly the approach quite easily. While you could tune up the localizer in the GTN, you don't have DME. Assuming you put in KVUO as your destination, you could have distance from the airport, but that's not the same as distance to the threshold. Or you could load PDX as your destination and have distance to PDX. But again that's not the same as distance to the localizer. So in either case you will need to do some math as you fly the approach. Either that or cross tune all the way down final... if you have a second VOR.

Haha Mike and I have flown together a bunch of times. I would love to partner with him but he wants a bird with a Lycoming.

Hey Richard, yes I’m actually in Henderson now. Haven’t bought another plane yet but I have been flying with @SantosDumont safety piloting for him while he prepares for his instrument check ride. He was also kind enough to let me use 1HP to do my instrument currency. It’s a great flying bird and will make someone a happy partner.

There are two programs for that. One is called AOPA Rusty Pilots seminar and the other is EAA Eagle Flights. Both are fairly successful but need to be expanded.

Bob, that is really ironic that you should mention Apple, because that company is the reason that a lot of the real estate has gone up so much. In a fluke of luck Apple built its "Spaceship" a block away from many of those houses I bought long ago. Regarding RE in other parts of the country, the only thing that those people wouldn't have experienced was the large value increase. But, as I mentioned I don't care about that increase. All I care about is the cashflow that lets me support my airplane . Those other people would still have increased rents, free and clear property, and substantial cashflow for the rest of their lives on each property--without working and without the emotional roller coaster ride of many other types of investments.

The Mooney also has 100 HP less than the Cirrus SR22. Yet it is still faster and on less fuel.

I am turning 57, and as a trial lawyer I am trying far fewer cases, but really can’t imagine not practicing law or giving up my office. I am blessed to have invested early and wisely, and don’t have to worry at all about keeping the lights on, but have always enjoyed what I do and plan on continuing to do it till at least my mid 60s. I do take far more vacations where I used to take none, and plenty of long weekends. As long as I can do that, I’m happy. I have been self-employed for almost 30 years, so that probably contributes to my ability to be happy while continuing to work.

170 KTAS takes 10 GPH or less in my 231.

Hopefully three years away from "retirement". Just bought our retirement home on an airpark (UT47) last week, 1500 sq ft of shop and 2100 sq ft of hangar with a 45 ft hydraulic door. There is a house somewhere there as well. Enough room that I hopefully wont drive my wife crazy . I hope to keep a plane and a glider. One way to keep the cost of the airplane down is to find some partners if you need to. I can't imagine not flying, isn't that the reason to retire? . I figure I can go away and be a crazy scientist/engineer inventor in retirement. Also, in talks with an aircraft company to be a rep. I know I will stay busy, just on my own schedule. I may have to go find a J in need of rebuilding as a project as well.

Well, luckily she yells pretty loud.

Everyone had required this for a long time. Boy Scouts, coaching youth sports, even CAP, I’ve been doing these checks for at least 15 years. -Robert

Real estate doesn't have to have explosive growth. You just need to buy early enough in your life cycle to have time for the tenants to pay off any loan you might have on the property. Then you have free and clear property and income for life. Appreciation is a bonus. In my area it was a big bonus, but when I bought that certainly wasn't a known quantity. Luck does play an unknown part, so the sooner you buy the better to capture that luck if it's going to happen. For me, except for net worth calculations, I don't care what the values of the property are because I don't intend to sell in my lifetime, just collect the income. One other thing. To be able to sleep comfortably at night, I'd keep the value of the toys including airplanes at 10% of your net worth. This number can get very large by the time you're in your 60's and make it so that a new engine, any avionics you could possibly want, and all other costs associated with your airplane become so small as to not even be a consideration in your life.

The lynx display is too small to be useful. I prefer the 345R with wx and traffic with targettrend on my GTN750 or a 660.

With cut and paste anything is possible. Seriously, I regret not spending the extra and getting the Lynx. With it you get a display right now and you have options down the road. You don't have those options with the 345.

Similar to donkaye here... I’m 38 and sold my business last summer and semi retired now. Just putting my money into commercial realestate which returns well in excess of annual living and flying . I’m volunteering benevolence flight missions and teaching at church and eventually will fly for fun for some local charter or corporate outfit. The big key for arriving at this point is having never carried any debt and always living well within conservative means. When I could have easily had an ovation or more, I bought an F. I can’t imagine spending the rest of my life without a plane.

Said by those without a multi-engine rating.

took my first lesson a couple of months after forced retirement, been 6 years. I bought a plane 4 years ago that needed to be upgraded, was the 2nd lowest price J on the market. As my investments go, so does my upgrades. If market drops, I fly a little less and put off the upgrades. No pension, so I’m somewhat cautious. My estimated budget before purchasing was pretty close, I fly more than I thought I would. It’s been great. I was born to be retired, never for second regretted it.

well, you chose poorly then.

Delivery day is Saturday and I'll be out of the country. But I'll be back home Sunday and should be able to get photos then. And since Monday is a holiday, I'm FLYING !!

As PT Barnum once said... I don't like Blue book, VREF, or the Mooney Flyer tool. Rather when I bought each of my two Mooneys, I made a spread sheet of every example for sale in the US and Canada. That, over the course of a couple of months, gives a good idea of what airplanes are worth. I made sure to include things such as engine time, panel, autopilot, paint, interior, etc... I found that the difference between the cheapest airworthy airplane on the list and the one with all the bells and whistles, that didn't require any upgrading, was only a few thousand. While upgrading the cheap one to the same equipment list would cost at least 4x that same amount. This business if full of suckers... sorry to say. Sometimes the buyer is the sucker. (I'll score this sweet deal and upgrade it) And sometimes the seller is the sucker (I put all this money into the panel/plane and will never get it back). If you're the sucker seller... at least you hopefully got to enjoy the result of all that money "wasted" for a period of time. But if you're the sucker buyer... I'm sorry. Certainly there are buyers who won't be able to afford the nice example and that's fine. I decided I couldn't afford the nice E I wanted and so bought a nice C instead. I still think that was a better decision than buying the "cheap" E. There are some examples on this forum of owners we all admire, who bought the cheapest Mooney they could find and are happy just to get it airworthy and fly it. @Raptor05121 would be at the top of this list. But even so it was a long and sometimes painful process that involved untold hours of sweat equity on Alex's part. Buying the cheap one and turning it into the nice one while admirable, is always a losing financial proposition. The other possible situation here is when the plane you want doesn't exist. Then you're only option is to find a good candidate for updating and build what you want. But be prepared to spend the money and don't expect to get it back. This is what I'm doing with my 252. I was looking for the best 252 (preferably Encore) that I could find. But all the available examples were nice in all the wrong ways. I'm not impressed by fancy paint and leather interior when corners were cut on the panel, avionics, autopilot, etc. So I bought the best candidate with the best bones and have been spending on it to make it what I want. Someday (hopefully many years from now), there will be a very nice 252 for sale, and I'll be the sucker selling it with a smile on my face for all the many hundreds/thousands of hours I'll have had flying her. Just like my hero's @Bob_Belville and @Marauder. Sorry for rambling on...

EPILOGUE PART ONE I recovered N1088F from Tennessee back to St Louis this afternoon. The Sensorcon alerted again (35+PPM) on climb out, but immediately dropped into the teens when I opened the cockpit vent on the console. I already had the overhead vent open. I leveled at my flight planned altitude of 4000' to fly between cloud layers and the CO level dropped to 0. I closed all of the vents and opened the heater, and the CO level stayed at 0 for the rest of the flight. I'm thinking that I have some spots on the belly or in the left wheel well that are allowing exhaust into the cockpit at climb angle of attack, as pointed out to me by Don Maxwell and others on the MAPA mailing list. Tom (my mechanic) and I will be taking a look on Friday if it isn't too cold. There's more to this story, I think. Cheers, Rick

I would probably take the gamble but only under certain conditions... It would have to have the right panel including a proper autopilot (Stec 30/altitude) at the minimum, and WAAS GPS. It would have to pass a rigorous pre-buy at one of just a handful of MSP's that I would use. Finally the offer would assume a runout engine. I would never take a risk on this type of plane because of the price. It would have to be a plane I really wanted for other reasons.

Of course, if you really want to do it right : http://www.maxpulsemaxdim.com/

I'm about to dissect the SwitchBox to see what is in it. I will give you guys a blow by blow description of the process. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk