Originally Posted by
Dragon7
Assuming max Defined Benefit Contribution of 53K then 59K at 50+. And assuming this number rises and President doesn't change tax law. Not easy to do as a junior FO.
Under 30 years it gets pretty hard. Market needs to average 9% plus annually and upgrade to NB CA at around 10 years.
Not painting a pretty picture here.
Have you looked at this on a spreadsheet? Does ALPA have one?
I played with some numbers, assuming a FO for ten years, maxed out his retirement, average salary of 130,000. Then a CA for 15 years, average salary of 260,000, maxes out his contribution, but no catch up. I came up with $2,445,000 assuming 8% return. There are mutual funds with long term records who meet or exceed that. Sure it goes up and down. That's why you need to be diversified. I don't know what $2.4M gets you after taxes though. I'm not that smart. If you took 6% of that $2.4M a year out, that's roughly $140,000 a year. That's not too bad in retirement.
I get $3.5M if you go to the 16.5% B-fund.
Public Math Warning ... I'm an engineer by trade, not a financial professional or mathematician.