About AutoPilot Your Wealth

Systems beat reactions

I'm Pate. I spent 23 years in the Army, retiring as a CW4, and today I fly for a major airline. Between the two, I've logged 26 years in the cockpit, and flying taught me one thing above everything else: you don't make your best decisions in the middle of the storm. You make them before you take off, you write them down, and you follow them when things get rough. That's how I invest, and that's what this site is about.

What I do here

AutoPilot Your Wealth is rules-based investing, tested against real market history. Every strategy I share comes with written rules and a backtest. I don't stop at the last few good years. I go back as far as the data allows, through the crashes, the inflation of the 1970s, and the lost decades. If a rule can't survive history, I don't use it.

The core of what I run is the barbell, a large sleeve of Treasuries paired with a smaller sleeve of LEAPS on the S&P 500, plus the Hybrid 6% Rule for turning a portfolio into a retirement paycheck. And I don't just backtest it. I run it with my own money and show you my real accounts.

What you'll find on this site

The Hangar. The data behind every episode, organized by series, so you can examine the work yourself.

The Flight Log. My weekly newsletter: what I'm watching in the market, and how I'm thinking about my own investments.

Both are free. All you need is an email address.

What this isn't

I'm not a financial advisor, and nothing here is advice for your situation. I show you exactly what I do and why, and you decide what's right for you. If you're curious how the site pays for itself, see How I Make Money, and for the fine print, see the Disclaimer.

Welcome aboard.