PSA, and flying professionally, is more a hobby for me now than a career. I've worked very hard over the last 15 years to make having a job irrelevant.

Yes, every w-2 dollar I earn at PSA is taxed at 39.6%, because if I didn't earn it, I'd still be paying 39.6% on the "last dollar earned". It is absolutely in my interest to reduce my w-2 income by maxing the 401(k) contribution. It's not about earning less - it's about retaining and growing more of what little I earn flying airplanes.

This isn't intended to sound like a **** measuring contest, because I'm not better than anyone here, and I fly with a lot of people who are ambitious, capable, very intelligent, and hard-working. I've struggled years ago as a $20k/yr. First Officer with no other source of income.

I've long advocated for pilots to leverage their talents to make income earned from flying irrelevant. This career is too unstable not to attempt to do so, and pilots who are waiting for the next paycheck to hit their bank accounts are the best employee airline management could ever hope for when it comes time for contract negotiations, or bankruptcy concession negotiations.

There's a shift in the way one's brain works once investment income exceeds the money one gets after they scribble their name on the back of a pay check.