Originally Posted by
arouth
Just curious, what would you guys recommend for an aviation job that is Monday-Friday and relatively normal hours?
The reason I ask is that I'm always traveling , and I do not want to do that forever. If I am early retired, I will have health benefits and enough income to pay the bills, so one option would be to take a lower paying flying job for the better schedule...assuming I can find a flying job with a descent schedule...
If you don't want to travel, find a desk job or something. Seriously, your retirement check isn't going to go very far...An O4 early ritirement is probably about $2500 a month, right? You're probably making $115k a year now with base pay, flight pay and tax free BAH/BAS. A $30k a year retirement is not much, So you need to make $85k in your civilian job just to maintain your current status. And hopefully you'd want to actually improve on that.
Try for a job at a major, and if you really don't need the money, drop trips to the minimum allowed. The job is easy, and pretty much stress free compared to what you're used to (based on what I've read here) and it pays really well (after the first year or two). Also the 16% ish direct contribution to your 401k will nicely pad your current retirement. Money buys quality of life for you and your family. You'll be hard pressed to find a day flying gig that pays well and offers the freedoms an airline (major that is) job will.
Think long term!