Originally Posted by
Name User
Not to be pessimistic but if losing a couple thousand a month (after tax) is going to hurt you, you really need to consider that you will be at the very bottom of a 15,000 long list of a highly leveraged company that has the weakest margins of its peers.
Your main concern should be what do you do if you get furloughed in the first couple years. FWIW I had roughly three years living expenses in cash waiting for me when I left my regional and that didn't include my wife continuing to work. I wanted worst case covered.
If you can make that work, you can find a way to make first and second year work which is a best case scenario.
Save your money now and if you don't need it, you've got it and can invest it when you feel you can start to take more risk. That is what I did at about the 2.5 year mark and it worked extremely well for me.
If I get furloughed within the first few years then we’ll have bigger fish to fry regardless. Personally I don’t want 2-3 years of expenses in a vessel of some sort that isn’t really earning me anything. We’re relatively young and can afford to be aggressive with our investments (and we have been) and it has paid off very well.
We have money in savings and have been preparing but I have fixed monthly expenses that come with caring for a parent with less than perfect health among other things. That doesn’t change whether I make $10K /month or $7K. If I have to move money around to make it all work I will. But I’d rather not get too deep into our emergency fund if I don’t have to. We have several properties and you may be surprised to know that $10-$15K can be gone very quick when things break on multiple properties in a month. Ask me how I know (a couple years in a row
).
So anyway, I’m over a year away from the flow and things may change. But being furloughed isn’t a primary concern of mine with the retirements looming. Even when the economy and the housing markets correct I don’t anticipate it impacting things to the point where furloughs will be a real thing. I do think more consolidation is on the way though.
Anyway... I appreciate all the input from everyone. Just trying to figure out how to make it all work that first year primarily. What bases/aircraft have the shortest time on reserve? Is it realistic to hope to hold a line in MIA, LGA, or PHL the first year?