Originally Posted by
Hooper
Subscribed.
I'm in the almost exact same boat as you jdavid. I'm age 46, 25 years into my career. I'm bored, burnt-out and going no further.; I've done all I'm going to do. I have 8 years to go to max out my retirement at age 55. I'm married with a six year old. Wife has a good paying job.
I recently connected with a airline pilot who worked in my career field and left it to fly. We are meeting tomorrow, he wants to help me chart a course to an aviation career. My wife is a major obstacle to making a change for me, a major obstacle. That, and my own feelings of guilt that I should be dumping this money into my son's college fund, not chasing my own dreams.
I see that I have 8 years to get as much training and experience as possible. If a great opportunity opens up before then, maybe I'll modify the plan.
We will see.
Eight years and you'll miss much of the retirement wave, and might end up spending your career at a regional topping out at a very low six figures (nobody really knows what the regionals will look like in ten years).
If you go now, you'll likely have a good shot at getting to a major in your early 50's, and retiring as a CA making $300-400k+. Assumes you're a personable adult with a clean background and can maintain a good aviation training record.
Might want to run some numbers, compare your max retirement (bird in hand) vs. a good run at a major (two in the bush).