Originally Posted by
Thedude
It worked for some and not for others.
I had a j/s the other day that did the CoEX thing back in '96. He paid his $10k and flowed through to CAL. Now he is a 777 F/O. I don't think he has ever been furloughed or missed a paycheck.
Me, on the other-hand. Did not have the $10k for CoEx, even though I went to the interview in '96. I have been furloughed at least 5 times and have grown tired of starting over. Finally, hired by a legacy a couple of yrs ago. I was by far the most experienced person in the new hire class
Did I make the right decision?....ask me when I hit 65.
What me seem like a smart choice today could very well be a poor choice 10 yrs from now.
I understand the essence of this line of thinking but I don't really buy into it. The answer is: so what? Are you going to exercise analysis paralysis as a consequence of recognizing you don't have all the information you want available to you? If the answer is no, then who cares. The idea of asking oneself that at 65 is presumptuous to begin with. Nobody knows if one will make it to 65, nor if one would want to once in your 50s.
You know, for a group of professionals endemically exposed to getting bumped, displaced and laid off from work and demanding of perennial flexibility, airline pilots can be the worst offenders at one track minds when it comes to vocational choices. I was talking to a good airline pilot friend from work the other month regarding mulling over the viability of this career over a military/govt cheese one. He put it best when he said: "you know, if you end up not liking it or it settles into a long term schedule rut that doesn't work for you, you can always quit". And it hit me, people never think of that, but it's absolutely true. People have quit airline jobs for less before. Of course that requires one looks at it as a mere job, not a religion one would be blasphemous to attempt to leave.
The only part of that question that I value is whether it's meeting my personal and filial goals and expectations TODAY. If it's not, then I do something else until those are met. Do you like where you live? Do you enjoy the amount of time you get to spend with the people that matter to you? Does it afford you the stuff you want to consume with the people who matter to you? Those are the relevant questions. 65 may come and it may not. We've buried younger.
Time is the most expensive commodity and that's the one I have to maximize, even at the expense of material accumulation in infirmity. I sincerely value 35-45 more than 65-75. And if they told me to sacrifice solvency of one for the other I'll do it the same every time. That math should be self-evident if one truly understands opportunity costs in the context of human life stage progression.
I'd say stop thinking about the 10K you didn't have and your friend who never got furloughed. In the end to me that connection still assumes facts not in evidence, as it pertains to your career outcomes. If you're happy today, you're #winning.
