Originally Posted by zippinbye

415C! I'm going to make this point because many of us (including me) embrace the concept of more $$ in our defined contribution plan. I like it so much I have been maxing my personal contribution, even back in the "good ole days" when I had a pension too. Unfortunately various limits imposed under Section 415 of the IRS code constrain the amount of contributions we can make in different ways, but the biggie is $53,000. Many wide body F/Os and most captains are already hitting that ceiling. Excess contributions get converted to regular wages and taxed as such. So $200,000 in regular compensation would net a theoretical $70,000 given your 35% example. The excess $17,000 would really be a reshuffle of pay, unfortunately. I say all the foregoing as a novice, and I'm open for correction. Anybody know how we could get more qualified retirement in our hands, shy of a pension? I'm assuming that the annuity idea that's floating around is subject to the same limits as our current plan.

Anyhow TCM, I like the way you think. It would be nice if we could make it reality.