You don't understand how investing works and compounding interest. Since you used 8% of $5000 to come up with $400/year and $12,000 30 years later, here is what really happens. 8% compounded over 30 years would net you an extra $12,000 16 years later ($17,000) and after 30 years it would net you an extra $45,000 ($50,000) total, not $12,000 extra. If you were 25 years old and let it compound for 40 years until age 65, it would then be worth $108,000. And that is only if you put in $5000 once, not every year.

With this attitude you will wonder at age 60, why your retirement prospects don't look as good as others who got a much earlier start than you. Retirement plans matter, especially the earlier you start them.

If your parents put in $5000 when you were born, it alone would grow to $744,000 in 65 years.

No one lost anything in 2007-2008 unless they sold. The S&P 500 went from 1550 to 730 and had since recovered between 1850-2120. That means all of your previous savings still grew. On top of that, anything you invested at the bottom(which you should keep doing in a crash), grew over 250% since 2009, 14.5% annual growth. Even better than 8%.

The retention bonus is earned for every month now, not 3 months. They changed the proration from 3 to 1 month a while ago.

They are paying a $23,000 annual retention bonus (earned monthly) because along with the DAL SSP program and good work rules, they can staff the airline and now grow. I would expect it to continue after 3 years or Endeavor will run into the same problems others are seeing. Staffing will be worse in 3 years, so chances are it will grow even higher. If it doesn't continue, I would not recommend it over others anymore.

A pilot at Endeavor will likely see captain much sooner than RAH at the current rate. Endeavor has a much better attrition rate than RAH (due to the SSP) and will be growing (RAH is likely to shrink)