Originally Posted by
dckozak
Are you really a new hire? If you are young and give Fedex at least 25 years, you will top out at 50% of your final average earning. Assuming no change in the cap and assuming you are fairly young. Chew on this:
Our last known rate of pay for WB CAPT on Nov 2020, 15 years service is $335.56. Use what ever multiplier you like to guesstimate yearly pensionable earnings. Based on historical averages, we (I mean you, I'll be gone) can expect 3% pay increases if inflation doesn't change from current trends. By my figuring, the hourly rate for Fedex should be about $700 per hour in 2045, your yearly pay least $700,000 per year. Your A plan payout the year after you retire, $130,000 (18.6% of your previous years pay). Your income in 2070, possibly age 90, A plan, $130,000. Fifty two years from now, with steady 3% inflation, all money, in constant dollars, will be worth 78.5% less. To put it another way, $130,000 in 2070 will be worth the equivalent of $27,951 today. On the hypothetical day of your retirement in 2045, 55% less with 130K equivalent to $58,525 today. All this assumes 3% inflation, worse inflation, bad to really ugly.
I hope your B fund does as well as mine has in recent years. PRIMECAP has had double digit gains. I hope the good times roll. We will all need it, especially you guys.
So, how would you feel if a pilot you were hired with retires at 60 with 25 YOS gets $160K per year and you decide to stick around for 2 more years and the market goes south and you get $120k per year.
What if the new plan is constantly being adjusted even after retirement and when you are 68 and have a large expense and the market loses 30% and your DB goes from $150K, money you were counting on, to $85K that year?
Would you be willing to give up the retirement notification bonus that only pilots who are 56 or older are eligible for to get this so called better plan? That's money that at least 80% of the crew force isn't eligible to receive. How much risk/reward are you willing to take?