Originally Posted by
TonyC
What if all the Over-60 guys were junior? Would that make a difference in how you feel about letting them bid the right seat (or left seat)? What if we let them go back to the end of the seniority list when they turn 60, and then bid what they can hold? The only people that would be affected are the ones that haven't been hired yet. That way it wouldn't slow you down, right? Would that make it easier to swallow?
.
All of that stuff is beside the point to me. I'm pretty junior in my seat/domicile and I'm starting to think of myself as a short timer. If I retire at 60. And that is my intent. What bothers me, a lot, is the uncertainty of the age change.
My wife and I have spent almost 29 years planning for a retirement at 60. The chance that those plans might be scrambled at this stage of my career irritates the holy crap out of me. I just took a physical yesterday. The doc who does my physicals has been at it for a long time and he stays up with things. He thinks there's a very good chance that the medical standards will change. Not right away, but possibly down the line. And can anyone absolutely, positively (to coin a phrase) guarantee that the IRS isn't going to slam our B plan? The loss of the B plan plus the real possibility that we could lose or have a substantially altered A plan should be on everyone's minds.
We spend our entire working lives trying to wring out the uncertainties of our job in order to keep it safe. I hate uncertainty at work or in my financial life. And that's what age 60 represents to me. Uncertainty. The junior folks should be thinking more in terms of the retirement picture than on the shorter term impact on upgrades. As most are aware, the older you get the less time you have to recover and/or adjust. And for God's sake, if it flies, floats or, ummm, copulates, either make a long term commitment to it or rent it.