Originally Posted by tallpilot

All that stuff is nice, total earnings and retirement account balances matter at the end of the career. On an annual basis though it's just the cash compensation that matters because that's how you pay your bills. That number for 3rd year FO is about $225k without consistent premium trips every month. Decent living but pretty far from rock star level and I think we earn every penny of it. The days are mostly long, the sleep schedule is rarely consistent and short when it is.