Covid-19 Update: From A Flight Attendant’s Perspective

How’s everyone doing during this lockdown? I hope you are all hanging in there, we can get through this!

Disclaimer: This article is about my personal experience and opinion only, it will differ among different colleagues in the airline industry.

What’s Happening to the Airline Industry?

The airline industry has been hit pretty hard during this time. As a flight attendant, I am currently on hiatus, collecting government subsidy.

At the beginning of the outbreak in Canada, I worked several flights, which was a bit nerve-wracking, to be very honest. I became paranoid with every itching throat or running nose that I experienced. But thankfully, I haven’t fallen ill (fingers crossed).

Often times, we are forgotten to be acknowledged as front line workers during this crisis, so I just want to say thank you to my fellow crew who are still flying out there in the skies of these unknown times.

At the time of this writing, Ontario will slowly open businesses to a limited number of sectors, but air travel will take sometime before passengers are comfortable being in an aircraft again.

So we really don’t know how much longer the hiatus will last for our industry, whether or not I will be laid off or not is still unknown. This can be stressful in so many ways. It can take a toll on us financially and mentally.

Was selling my condo a mistake?

If you have read Why I sold my condo to rent a room 2 years ago, I have been living in a shared house with other flight attendants. This arrangement worked for me because I was travelling so often I was never home.

Now that I’ve been home everyday for two months, living in my shared house with my roommates, with reduced income, do I wish I kept my condo instead?

It’s a surprisingly NO! In fact, I am SO grateful I’m living this lifestyle right now, for many reasons:

Financial Reasons

Why Renting is Better

• My total expense is dramatically lowered to $1200CAD/month ALL IN! (Food/accommodation/mobile). Thanks to my very low rent of $640 (internet included).
• That gives me a saving rate of 50% a month!
• Therefore, I am still investing, because guess what, stocks are ON SALE! (At of this writing, the market has already gone back up!)

Why Owning My Condo Now Would Suck

• If I were to keep my condo, my condo payments alone would net $2000CAD/mth (condo fees increased the month I sold it), which means with additional living costs, I would be cash flow negative.
• If I wanted to free up cash and sell my condo at this time, it would be difficult to do.
• Some real estate prices have already fallen. It could be people being over-leveraged with multiple rental properties, and also not being able to keep up with the payments.

How Learning About F.I.R.E. Saved Me

• I learned to only splurge on what gives ME value and happiness, and everyone is different.
• That meant living a room to reduce expense doesn’t take away my life satisfaction, but give me a peace of mind in times like this.
• I have learned to stash an emergency fund of 1 year of living expenses, which buys me more time and flexibility.
• I would’ve have been financially struggling right now if it wasn’t for the F.I.R.E. community.

If you want to learn more about F.I.R.E. Check out Millennial-revolution about the concept, and their investment workshop to walk you through step by step on how to DIY your investment. That’s exactly what I followed.

Well-Being Reasons

Living with other roommates made quarantine easier. Having others to talk to is important for our mental health, which can take such a toll right now.

There will be conflicts, but I’m so grateful I live with amazing roommates who are mature and accommodating. I even got over my fear of conflict and learned to effectively communicate during this stressful time.

All this time off, allowed me to start my YouTube channel and later a podcast called Unconventional Asians. An interview-based channel that showcase badass Asians living life on their own terms. We open up about the struggles we face as Asians and talk about the taboo topics that we tend to avoid. I have experienced the most growth in this short time.

It’s Not a Comparison

Having said that, everyone has their own unique challenges. This is absolutely not to brag about my situation, but to show YOU that there is another way to approach finance, and hopefully, that inspires you too.

Sometimes it takes a crisis for us to evaluate our life, and if it wasn’t for my divorce, I wouldn’t have started looking at my finance and mindset as well.

Please stay safe out there, and hopefully soon, we can reunite in the friendly skies. All the best!