Originally Posted by
01110011
Higher pay will do nothing for your pre tax retirement. I still dump some post tax money into investment accounts, and would put more in with a higher hourly rate. And that money can’t be taken away from me in bankruptcy, I’m free to invest it in whatever individual stocks I want, and I don’t have to use it for health related stuff in retirement. Frankly I’m fine with the company maxing out my 401k every year and that’s it. I’d rather take the spillover in cash and invest it myself.
I'm no tax expert, but look at Market based cash balance plan. It's a the way to catch the spillover from excess company 401 and it does all that (pre tax, not for health, can't be taken in BK, invest wherever you want after 59.5 years old etc...). With higher pay rates, more pilots will spill quicker, so we will need it even more. YMMV