The Jetsons Age: Flying Cars Have Finally Arrived. 2025 Featured Investment. Email [email protected] if you’d like an Airline Stock Report Card that Features eVTOLs. Updated 5.27.2025 at 1:22 p.m. Mark Rowland, an executive whom I respect, put eVTOLs* on my radar a few years ago. It was too early in the game for me to feature. Many of the planes hadn’t been tested. Though some companies were already publicly traded, more flight miles needed to be logged before they could even hope to start FAA certification. Cash negative operations would take down some of the companies, and the potential for a crash put early investors at risk. Lilium, a German eVTOL* company, went bust twice (Oct. 24, 2024, and Feb. 2025). One of Joby’s aircraft crashed on Feb. 16, 2022. Joby’s share price is still down -48% from its 2021 highs. (Quantum computing is another industry with massive potential that is just too early to invest in yet. Click to read that blog.) *electric vertical takeoff and landing However, when I saw an ad on television for Archer Aviation’s partnership with United Airlines to offer air taxis to local airports that could cut a gridlock commute from an hour to 10 minutes, with the support of the Port Authority New York New Jersey in exploring the possibilities, my heart started racing toward the Buy button. Thankfully, I took some of my own medicine and forced the excitement through a sober study of the fundamentals. After a week of diving down the rabbit hole, I’m more excited than ever about the potential of this nascent disruptive technology and product. So, which company is positioned best and is now the time to buy? Is Joby back on track? Here are the topics we will cover in this blog Disrupting the Helicopter Market Quiet, Affordable and Safe Traffic Congestion Creates High Demand Exciting Partnerships Production Capacity Business Friendly Administration Strong Boards TIA Certification in 2025? 2026? Investment of the Year? And here is more information on each topic Disrupting the Helicopter Market eVTOLs are a creative destruction of helicopters. Some helicopter companies are doing everything they can to invest in this new form of transportation. eVTOLs have many advantages over helicopters. They are quieter, less expensive to operate, cleaner and (potentially) safer. The existing helicopter infrastructure offers the potential for eVTOLs to sidestep a key and expensive part of the launch. Rather than inventing the routes and building the helipads, they should be able to slip into existing flight paths and landing apparatus. Once air taxis get FAA approval, scaling should be much faster than if everything had to be built from scratch. eVTOLs can take the place of helicopters in the sky for a variety of operations, including delivering people safely and quickly over gridlock traffic, law enforcement, news reporting, defense applications and emergencies. Quiet, Affordable and Safe We’ve been dreaming of flying cars since the Jetsons. So, what took so long? Battery breakthroughs have made this 63-year old vision finally viable. This is the first major commercial aviation breakthrough in over half a century (not counting the extraordinary achievements of SpaceX). Safety is also (potentially) improved. There are built in redundancies. The wings offer glide potential, which can help ensure a safer landing in the event of equipment failure than the autorotation feature of helicopters. Electric vehicles have a small number of parts, reducing the amount of potentially wonky widgets, while also lowering maintenance costs. I encourage you to watch the videos of the Joby and Archer test flights. FYI: Joby’s eVTOL has six propellers, while Archer’s has 12. Traffic Congestion Creates High Demand Gridlock and air pollution plague cities around the world. There is high demand for more sustainable urban transportation solutions. Air taxis could potentially reduce an hour-ride to the airport to only 10 minutes. The cost of taking an air taxi, according to Adam Goldstein, the founder, CEO and chairman of Archer Aviation, could be the same as a black car ride share initially. While this doesn’t solve all the transit challenges that cities face, it could certainly make it easier for people to get to the airport on time. The Los Angeles Olympic Committee is betting on air taxis to get athletes and VIPs to their competitions in 2028. Exciting Partnerships On May 15, 2025, Archer Aviation announced that they will be the official air taxi service for the LA Olympics in 2028. Archer has also partnered with United Airlines, Palantir, Stellantis, Abu Dhabi Aviation and Anduril. Joby has top-notch partners as well, including the U.S. Department of Defense, Virgin Atlantic, Toyota, Dubai and Uber. Both companies are focusing on multiple channels of monetization, including defense, rescue, airlines, and private customers through apps. (Joby has a partnership with Uber, having purchased Uber Elevate.) Automation is also in the works. Joby purchased XWing, while Archer’s Anduril partnership is focusing on autonomous VTOL hybrid aircraft for the Department of the Defense. Archer’s partnership with Palantir is expected to yield cost savings and efficiency in everything from manufacturing, to route planning and building the aviation infrastructure of the future. Boeing partnered with Disney to produce cargo air vehicles that look a lot like Star Wars spacecraft. Boeing’s Wisk Aero is focused exclusively on autonomous passenger-carrying air taxis. Though this eVTOL won’t be in the first tier of TIA certification, Wisk is betting that their focus on automated air taxis is better for the long term. Production capacity Archer Aviation reports that their Georgia production facility will be able to manufacture up to 650 aircraft per year, as will the California site. Joby’s Ohio production capacity could be 500, while the California manufacturing facility could produce 25 per year. In the 1Q 2025 earnings calls, a repeated theme of the C-Suite was reminding everyone of the delicate balancing act between TIA certification and rolling out production. The companies want to be prepared to scale, once everything has proven to work without further modifications. Archer is planning to produce 2 planes per month by the end of this year, while Joby is planning on 1 per month. Archer Aviation currently has six planes in testing, while Joby has five. Both Archer and Joby are putting pilots in their planes this year, with a goal of achieving TIA certification from the FAA on a fast-track basis (while ensuring safety). Business Friendly Administration As might be expected, the CEOs of Archer and Joby have been active in Washington DC, meeting with the leaders of the FAA, Congress and the Transportation and Defense Departments. Archer Aviation’s CEO Adam Goldstein met with Elon Musk in January of this year at Davos during the World Economic Forum. Goldstein credits Musk for pushing forward the battery technology to the point where flying cars are even possible. Goldstein also reports that the White House wants to remove unnecessary red tape and to encourage innovation and defense dominance. Strong Boards The boards of Joby and Archer are strong. Joby’s chairman is the founder and former CEO of Pinterest. The Joby board includes a former FAA administrator and Toyota N.A.’s president and CEO. The former CTO of NASA, the former president and CEO of Mitsubishi N.A., the former chairman and CEO of United Airlines and Stellantis’ current head of business development are all on Archer’s board. TIA Certification in 2025? 2026? Both companies have put pilots into their planes and our hoping to win TIA certification with the FAA this year (or within 12 months). In the 1Q 2025 earnings call, Archer’s CTO said, “As we transition into piloted flight and prepare for formal TIA testing, expect a marked acceleration of compliance validation.” A TIA certification would certainly excite investors. Investment of the Year? I got into this business by correctly predicting the success of cloud computing, tasers (and now police cameras) and Google search back in 2001, 2003 and 2004, respectively. I haven’t been as excited about a new industry since that time. Air taxis could be the creative disruptive traffic solution that we’ve all been looking for – displacing very outdated, noisy, polluting and expensive technology, the helicopter. Having said that, 2025 is a year when stock prices are very elevated and the economy is slowing down, similar to where things were in 2000 before the Dot Com crash. I stayed on the sidelines of the cloud computing company I loved, watching the price fall from $12 to $1/share before investing in 2001 and almost tripling my investment. Both LoudCloud and Google had to survive two years of economic hell between 2001 and 2003 before soaring to the heights that they achieved. (Google’s IPO was on August 19, 2004.) The reason I put a question mark instead of just proclaiming Archer Aviation as the Investment of the Year is that volatility has been a theme in 2025 and will likely continue to do so. While Archer has been navigating its pathway to commercialization like a pro (with such an experienced board!) and has a billion dollars of cash on hand, even great companies with enormous potential can be drug down in a stock market rout. Between January and April of this year, Nvidia (Wall Street’s darling) lost -38%, dropping to $94.31/share on April 4, 2025, from $153/share on Jan. 6, 2025. FAA TIA certification could spark a buying frenzy. Delays or bad news could cause the share price to plunge. A lot can happen between now and the time that customers are able to hail their air taxis! Having a strategy for capturing gains and buying low on any of these inciting events could keep us on the right side of the trade until the industry is ready for mass deployment to the world’s most congested cities. (Will major cities start air taxi service to their airports immediately after the TIA certification?) Trading on headlines is often a very expensive lesson, no matter how much our heart races on the news. Bottom Line Archer Aviation could be a Magnificent 7 company in the making, although it is certainly early stage. A lot can happen that would be the wind in their wings, while other unforeseen events (like a crash) could be a death knell. I featured Tesla in the 1st edition of Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is (before it was publicly traded). That book was written in 2007. Tesla was cash negative until 2020. That was when the company stock started roaring to its current market cap of $1.13 trillion. It nearly went out of business at one point. Tesla faced fierce competition from the existing auto industry then, and price wars from Chinese competitors today. (Click to learn more.) So, the pathway to profitability and widespread acceptance of any breakthrough technology is never easy or guaranteed, though Elon Musk has been noted at saying that all mobility, save spacecrafts, will go electric. Remember: good news tends to give stocks a bump, even in a down year. As I mentioned, I almost tripled my money on LoudCloud in 2001 – after 911. Bad news, including general market plunges, tend to drag down share prices. Flying cars are perhaps the most exciting creative destruction I’ve seen in decades. However, buy low, sell high is an industry aphorism for a reason. Buying before the FAA certification could be a good start, but we might have to endure some downturns between the certification and liftoff. If eVTOLs move forward quickly, we’ll be glad we purchased our favorite company well before the 2028 Olympics start making headlines. I repeat myself: it’s a great idea to have a strategy of capturing gains on good news and buying more on bad. If you’re not willing to babysit, then holding any individual stock is not right for you. (Put your companies on a stock app on your phone and set news and price alerts.) Most Main Street investors would be better off sticking to an age-appropriate, properly diversified strategy that is rebalanced 1-3 times a year than gambling on an early stage eVTOL company. The global helicopter market is currently valued at $35 billion, with expectations to grow to $55 billion in 2032. eVTOLs could make it more popular and affordable to choose air taxis than helicopters, expanding this marketplace. (Helicopters are not perceived to be safe and can be expensive.) While there are still a lot of ifs and whens in the equation on this young, fastmoving industry, hitching our wagon to a star of the sky could be a great way to help our portfolio shine. I encourage you to follow me on social media, in the event the stock shoots the moon and I have more color to add. I also plan on hosting a videoconference on this topic. Email [email protected] if you’d like to join us live. Watch it back at https://www.youtube.com/c/nataliepace. https://www.instagram.com/nataliewynnepace/ https://www.facebook.com/TheABCsofMoney https://www.youtube.com/c/nataliepace Full Disclosure: There's nothing wrong with a Stock Shopping List and waiting for a dip to create a buying opportunity. I plan on placing my personal bet on Archer Aviation soon after publishing this blog (at the price that I feel is the most opportune), while saving some money in the kitty in case market volatility creates an even better buying opportunity (dollar cost averaging). Join us at our online Financial Freedom Retreat June 6-8 2025 where you'll learn how to protect your wealth, save thousands annually in your budget and how to hedge in a volatile Debt World. 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The 6th edition of The ABCs of Money and the 2nd edition of Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is (2nd edition) are the most recent releases of these books. Follow her on Instagram. Natalie Pace's easy as a pie chart nest egg strategies earned gains in the last two recessions and have outperformed the bull markets in between. That is why her Investor Educational Retreats, books and private coaching are enthusiastically recommended by Nobel Prize winning economist Gary S. Becker, TD AMERITRADE chairman Joe Moglia, Kay Koplovitz and many Main Street investors who have transformed their lives using her Thrive Budget and investing strategies. Click to view a video testimonial from Nilo Bolden. Check out Natalie Pace's Substack podcast on Apple and Spotify. Watch videoconferences and webinars on Youtube. Other Blogs of Interest USA Downgraded. Is U.S. Reserve Currency Status Threatened? Utilities: In the Eye of the Natural Disaster Storms. Aging Mom Doesn't Want to Discuss Dilapidated House. Investors Ask Natalie. Sell in May? Tesla, Tariffs, Chinese Competition and Price Wars. Fun Ways to Celebrate Earth Day April 22nd. Will the Correction Become a Bear Market? 21st Century Recessions Look More Like Depressions. Will Oil Prices Sink or Soar? Executives are Uncertain. Health Savings Accounts. Save Thousands. Get a Tax Credit. Provide for Tomorrow's Healthcare Needs. Restormel Manor House 2025. A Truly Royal and Magical Adventure. 9 Ways to Cut Your Tax Bill in Half and Save Thousands Annually. Berkshire Hathaway. Should I Just Invest in Warren Buffett? Should I Have a Money Manager? The Cleanest Cities in the World. Can Altadena, Pacific Palisades and Gaza Become Edens? Rebuilding Gaza. American Companies Will Benefit. Top Dividend/Income Strategies for 2025. 2025 Crystal Ball: Who Will be the Superstars of Wall Street? Gold & Crypto IRAs and the Risk of Fraud and Losses. 10 Rules of Successful Investing. Quantum Computing. Paper Losses. Another Warning About Long-Term Bonds! 2025 Investor IQ Test. 2025 Investor IQ Test Answers. Apple iPhone Sales Plunge in China. Indonesia: Rich in Nickel with Ambitions of Becoming an EV Battery Hub. RoboTaxis. AI. The Magnificent 7. Charitable Giving. Nonprofits that are Worthy of Supporting. Why Are So Many Safe Investments Losing Money? A Bargain-Priced AI Company. Canadian, Australian and U.S. Banks. Are Any of Them Safe? Ireland. Rich in Technology, Biotechnology and Agribusiness. Robo Investing and AI. No, They are Not Foolproof. Stocks Soar as Nvidia Joins the DJIA. Copper. Peru ETF Outperforms the S&P500. Will Insurance Companies & Homeowners Weather the Hurricanes? 9 Money Secrets of the Ultra Wealthy. Housing & Budgeting Solutions. Arkansas Sues Temu for Data Theft. We Must Be the Boss of Our Money. Why? Fast Fashion. Fossil Fuels. Plastic Clothing. Atacama Desert Waste Dumps. Can Crowdstrike Recover from its Colossal Catastrophe? Featuring a Cybersecurity Overview. Fintechs and Brokerages that Fail are Not FDIC-Insured. 5 Green Tips for Clean Beaches Week. So, You Think You Want to Be a B&B Owner... Retiring Soon? Start Planning Now. 2024 Rebalancing IQ Test. Answers to the 2024 Rebalancing IQ Test. 9 Inflation, Budgeting, Debt Reduction and Investing Solutions. China & Russia Double Their Gold Holdings. 2024 Investment of the Year? Bitcoin Sets a New Record High. The Importance of Rebalancing. Uh. Oh. More Bank Trouble. Housing. Unaffordable. What Works? Case studies and creative solutions. The Underperforming DJIA, Full of Fossil Fuels and Forever Chemicals. The Best ROI* (Almost 40%!) & 7 Life Hacks That Save Thousands. 13 Lifestyle Choices to Reduce Waste, Pollution & CO2 & Save a Boatload of Dough. China Bans Apple 11-Point Green Checklist for Schools. 10 Wealth Secrets of Billionaires and Royals. Bank of America has $100 Billion in Bond Losses (on Paper) Fiat. Crypto. Gold. BRICS. Real Estate. Alternative Investments. BRICS Currency. Will the Dollar Become Extinct? Why We Are Underweighting Banks and the Financial Industry. Save Thousands Annually With Smarter Energy Choices Is Your FDIC-Insured Cash Really Safe? Money Market Funds, FDIC, SIPC: Are Any of Them Safe? My 24-Year-Old is Itching to Buy a Condo. Should I Help Him? The Bank Bail-in Plan on Your Dime. Important Disclaimers Please note: Natalie Pace does not act or operate like a broker. She reports on financial news, and is one of the most trusted sources of financial literacy, education and forensic analysis in the world. Natalie Pace educates and informs individual investors to give investors a competitive edge in their personal decision-making. Any publicly-traded companies, funds or projects mentioned by Natalie Pace are not intended to be buy or sell recommendations. ALWAYS do your research and consult an experienced, reputable financial professional before buying or selling any security, and consider your long-term goals and strategies. Investors should NOT be all in on any asset class or individual stocks. Your retirement plan should reflect an age-appropriate, diversified wealth plan, which has been designed strategically, with the assistance of financial professionals who are familiar with your goals, risk tolerance, tax needs and more. The "trading" portion of your portfolio should be a very small part of your investment strategy, and the amount of money you invest into individual companies should never be greater than your experience, wisdom, knowledge, patience and diversified strategy. Information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. However, NataliePace.com does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Opinions constitute our judgment as of the date of this publication and are subject to change without notice. This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument.
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AuthorNatalie Pace is the co-creator of the Earth Gratitude Project and the author of The Power of 8 Billion: It's Up to Us, The ABCs of Money, The ABCs of Money for College, The Gratitude Game and Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is. She is a repeat guest & speaker on national news shows and stages. She has been ranked the No. 1 stock picker, above over 830 A-list pundits, by an independent tracking agency, and has been saving homes and nest eggs since 1999. Archives
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