Southwest Airlines Archives - Leading Edge Financial

Southwest Airlines Voluntary Pilot Reduction Options: VSP and ExTO

Southwest Airlines, in an effort to reduce its workforce, has just offered pilots Voluntary Separation Pay (VSP) and Extended Emergency Time Off (ExTO). Both are generous packages (in our opinion) and an excellent option for some pilots. How do you know if it’s right for you? In this video, Kevin & Charlie discuss what is in each package, how it may affect your overall financial picture, if you can afford to take one of them, and ultimately how to decide if you should be part of the voluntary reduction.

Not only are we financial planners but Charlie is a fellow SWA pilot (senior FO out of ATL). We understand what it’s like to walk in your shoes and we want to be a resource for you when it comes to making this difficult decision. Give us a chance to run your financial situation through our simulations to determine if VSP or ExTO is the right answer for you. Call us at 865-240-2292.

(Please pardon our hazy image quality. We wanted to get this important message out to you quickly and used our laptop to film it, instead of our standard video equipment. Thanks for your understanding!)

Please remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product made reference to directly or indirectly in this video will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), or be suitable for your portfolio. Moreover, you should not assume that any information or any corresponding discussions serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Leading Edge Financial Planning personnel. The opinions expressed are those of Leading Edge Financial Planning as of 06/04/2020 and are subject to change at any time due to the changes in market or economic conditions.

Warren Buffet Hates Airlines… So What?!

Berkshire Hathaway recently sold its entire stake in Delta, Southwest, American, and United Airlines and stock prices fell after the announcement. What is interesting is all but one out of the four of the airline’s stock prices have gone higher since the low on May 4th when Warren Buffett’s sale was made public.

Stock pricing adjusts daily to numerous events. The decision of one investor, albeit a highly successful and world-renowned investor, should not be your only guiding principle of how to handle your investments. Mr. Buffett has had biases against investing in airlines. Here is one of his famous quotes from the 2007 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Letter:

“The worst sort of business is one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender the growth, and then earns little or no money. Think airlines. Here a durable competitive advantage has proven elusive ever since the days of the Wright Brothers. Indeed, if a farsighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk, he would have done his successors a huge favor by shooting Orville down.”

— Warren Buffett, in the 2007 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter

Even Warren Buffet isn’t exempt from making the occasional mistake. Time will tell if his decision to sell was the right one or not. Individual stocks and market prices are set by the collective knowledge of all investors. In this video, Kevin discusses how to take advantage of this collective knowledge rather than follow the few outliers who are trying to outsmart the system.

June 10, 2020

Please remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product made reference to directly or indirectly in this video will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), or be suitable for your portfolio. Moreover, you should not assume that any information or any corresponding discussions serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Leading Edge Financial Planning personnel. The opinions expressed are those of Leading Edge Financial Planning as of 05/21/2020 and are subject to change at any time due to the changes in market or economic conditions.