Originally Posted by
kronan
Here's the thing, I know what I make now. I know what I expect to make this year, as well as 2021.
I know what the IRS limits are now, all I can do is WAG what they will be next year, and Cap these notional contributions accordingly.
Really not difficult to make a Spreadsheet that tabulates 2% of my predicted earnings. The starting verbiage of this plan was a pilot getting The Higher of the 2% floor or Market returns in Excess of a 5% hurdle. (The recent add on verbiage to the plan is a pilot will get the Higher of the 2% floor, Returns on Market, or the 2%*YOS*High 5 a Pilot would accrue under our current pension)
The Legalese Verbiage is about Predicted Returns above 5%. The Very Far right bar of the model shows a range of Pension values. The base value is the Floor, the next color is the likely returns, the very top segment is the historically possible returns but unlikely. Don't remember the % but it's something along the lines of these market returns occur 3-5% of the time
The VB plan as presented is capped at the IRS earnings limits. You said yourself that the IRS limits are a WAG. So, why isn't the VB plan a WAG? The 2% floor is what the union is saying they want, but isn't protected by law. It has to be negotiated, so that is a WAG as well. I've asked to see the openers that they sent to the company, or a summary just like they send out for section 6. So far, crickets.
Right now, the company contributions equal 35% - 41% of the IRS contribution limits, depending on age. The rest of the money that counts toward that limit is pilots personal money. So you are willing to take a WAG with the VB plan, but not with an increased B plan. The company could agree to double the B plan contribution and every single pilot on the property would benefit.
The thing about our current DB plan is that the benefit isn't a WAG. I've asked the MEC about the difference in cost for increasing the DB plan vs the cost of their proposed VB plan. 16 months later, no answer. I was told that it was very complicated, and they needed to ask chieron about it. Seems to me that they told the used car dealer how much they could afford in monthly payments, and the dealer is giving them a Yugo at a Mercedes price.