Originally Posted by SkyHigh
At least a medical doctor can find a good paying job in most any town. Don't forget to subtract for lost wages, training costs, lost years in school and the potential that the money has to serve you better invested someplace else.
You don't even know if you will ever get a job. It is my opinion that most do not. Even if you did a regional gig is likely to be years off. Perspective pilots love to assume on the high side. A better plan is to estimate low and hope to do better. You don't even know if there will even be a Horizon Air in the future. By the time you get there everything will have changed. Possibly for the better however most likely not.
There is a reason why firefighters, police, heavy equipment operators and other working class people have campers, boats, own homes and have the time to enjoy it all. They have earned a good wage from day one and do not have a mountain of student loans to pay back. By the time a pilot is lucky enough to attract a major airline his peer who joined the army at 18 is ready to retire. It isn't the size of the paycheck that makes a difference but the duration of earnings and benefits versus costs of employment. We can make money mistakes but going heavily in debt for a job that most likely will not pan out and at best will leave you employed but destitute is nonsense.
SKyHigh
Well..don't go in debt then. I mean for my pilot training I don't intend to go to an ERAU, DC, RAA or the such. Really isn't a point other than to spend money you do not have.
And yes someone who enlisted in the army at 18 can retire at 38..but enlisted pensions are crap and you will be working well after 38 I guarantee it. And most police officers do have Bachelor degrees, a lot of masters and even some have JD degrees as well. So they are far from uneducated formally.