Originally Posted by
rickair7777
.... Assume there will be a a speedbump along the way (at least one)... best you can hope for is to be in a seniority position where you can ride it out with suffering financial or QOL impact. The sooner you get to such a position, the better.
Agree, but... while hoping for that best case (get into enough seniority where you can ride it out above the cut line), also PLAN for the worst case: Assume you will experience not just a speedbump, but at least one furlough during your career: if you don't already have a side gig, start one, so that you have some income to fall back on that will enable you to ride it out from the furlough list instead of the seniority list, so you can make it long enough to get recalled and continue flying. I didn't, and didn't. Now after 20 years of desk jobs, I hope to ride this next upward hiring wave into a late encore career back to flying. This time the kids are grown so my furlough fall-back plan is an early (and bittersweet) retirement.... (and maybe get my CFI, just for the fun of it...)