Makes me wonder why you stayed 33 years in this job? Of course it was easy to pay ridiculously good/promise great pensions. We had regulation and very little competition throughout the world. That's long gone but it doesn't mean it's still not a great career. Guys love to opine about how great it used to be but forget that, compared to today, very few ever actually made it to that greatness. Also, it's not like companies didn't go under back then too. Of course we'll see hiccups along the way, no industry is immune to that. I had lots of friends, outside of aviation, lose it all and have to start over at the bottom during the 08 crisis.

I couldn't agree more with this, but again, I think that goes with any career. This is one reason I'm continuing to build a side hustle that can scale up if I really needed. It's also why I chose to stick it out 20 years in Guard so I'll get another retirement source...and income for now.