21 January 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the first commercial Concorde flight. The aircraft was the first, and to date, the only supersonic commercial jet in history. At the time, Concorde was thought to have revolutionised air travel as a trip from London to New York took just three and a half hours.
However, in 2003, Concorde was officially retired and airlines now favour the much slower aircraft that you are more likely to have travelled on.
The reason for this is that Concorde was no longer financially viable, and in all the time that airlines were using it for commercial flights, they struggled to turn a profit.
The short-lived history of Concorde could provide some important lessons about creating a sustainable financial plan and building wealth in the long term.
Ambitious goals are a crucial part of financial planning
In 1962, when Britain and France decided to collaborate on the Concorde project, supersonic jets were considered the next frontier of aircraft technology. Nobody had built an aircraft like Concorde before, but by pulling off this ambitious feat, Britain and France would revolutionise air travel.
While Concorde didn’t stand the test of time, creating the aircraft required a huge amount of technological innovation. Engineers still use many of these technologies today.
Without the ambitious goal of creating Concorde, we may not have seen this level of technological advancement, demonstrating the value of aiming high.
This is true of financial planning too. While you might have some simple goals such as saving for a new car or making renovations to your home, these aims might not inspire you very much.
It’s the more exciting life goals that give you the motivation to stick to your financial plan.
For instance, you may have plans to travel the world or start a dream business. You’ll likely have a picture of your perfect retirement too. Knowing that you’re working towards these big ambitions could give you purpose and make it easier to maintain the habit of saving and investing each month.
However, it’s important to balance your ambitions with a clear strategy for spending and saving, so your financial plan is sustainable.
Budgeting and living within your means are essential for creating a sustainable plan
Although the Concorde project aimed high, the engineers made significant mistakes when it came to budgeting.
According to Etonomics, the project had an initial budget of £160 million but spending soon spiralled out of control, and by 1972, it had already cost £1.2 billion. The project leads didn’t accurately budget for the technological advancement necessary to create the aircraft. They also failed to account for potential hurdles along the way.
It’s easy to fall into the same trap with your own finances. For instance, when planning how much you’ll need for retirement, you might fail to budget for the cost of later-life care. It’s also easy to forget how inflation will affect your short-term expenses and the amount you are likely to spend in retirement.
This means you could underestimate how much you need to save to achieve your goals. Equally, you might lose control of your monthly spending.
We can help to prevent this by using cashflow modelling software. We’ll discuss your goals and record information about your income and outgoings. The resulting forecasts will show how much you need to save and invest each month to achieve your goals, accounting for inflation and predicted growth.
Using this information, you can draw up a budget that allows you to enjoy a good quality of life now, while saving enough to achieve your long-term goals.
We can also model various scenarios, such as needing later-life care or supporting loved ones financially, to see how these situations affect your overall position.
Doing this means that, unlike the Concorde project engineers, you can control your budget and will be prepared for unexpected expenses. As a result, your financial plan will be sustainable.
It is important to avoid the “sunk cost fallacy”
When the cost of Concorde began rising far above the initial budget, Britain and France could have decided to end the project and cut their losses. Instead, they pushed on and continued investing, hoping that the aircraft would eventually become profitable.
Unfortunately, the high operating costs coupled with limited demand for tickets – which were considerably more expensive than other planes – meant that Concorde struggled to recoup the development costs.
British Airways saw profits of around £500 million, but Air France mostly experienced losses and, as reported by Etonomics, had “only been operating for national pride” from 1990 onwards.
Eventually, on 24 October 2003, British Airways completed the final commercial flight of Concorde.
Perhaps if they had ended the project early, the two countries could have saved a significant amount of money. This demonstrates an error that many people make with their finances – falling victim to the “sunk cost fallacy”.
The sunk cost fallacy is a tendency to continue with a course of action, even if abandoning it would be beneficial, because you have already invested time or money in it.
For example, you might be reluctant to sell poorly performing investments because that would mean losing everything you’ve already invested. So, instead, you keep investing in the hope that you’ll eventually recoup your losses and generate growth.
While holding your investments and riding out market downturns is often a beneficial strategy, it’s important to recognise when an investment is unlikely to bounce back. Although cashing out now could mean you see short-term losses, continuing to invest more will only increase the amount you lose.
Instead, you may want to adjust your strategy and reallocate your wealth to generate sustained growth. We can support you with this.
Get in touch
A Milsted Langdon financial planner can help you avoid common mistakes and build a sustainable financial plan.
Please get in touch or email us at advice@mlifa.co.uk for more information.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at individuals only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.
The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate cashflow planning.
The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
Investments should be considered over the longer term and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.