Originally Posted by
Pineapple Guy
Caddis,
Those pilots who were hired at DAL or NWA after the DB plans were frozen have seen improvements to the DC plans that were in place on the day they got hired.
The rest of us, hired in a DB world, have had the retirement plan that was in place when we got hired dramatically reduced, via either termination or freeze. That was my point. Any of the pilots hired at NWA or DAL since 2006 have an excellent DC based retirement currently in place.
I'm simply trying to make the point that the new hires have nothing to complain about, when it comes to the retirement section of the contract. Can it go higher? Sure. But ramping up to 14% is a pretty good start.
This is an excellent point. Many of our pilots don't realize or appreciate exactly what we have at DAL. Our Fidelity BrokerageLink setup allows us access to a much greater variety of investment choices than the vast majority of 401(k)/defined contribution plans at other companies. What we have is something that is a growing trend but is still fairly rare at this point.
It definitely sucks to lose a pension when you're halfway through your career. But, with the BrokerageLink and the boost I got from the note and claim, I (at age 50) am on track to have pretty much what I would have had with the pension. But, in this case, the money is mine and cannot be taken away through bankruptcy like the pension was! Now if we could just get some decent pay restoration (and therefore get those contributions amounts higher into the plans), then many of us (even the senior guys) could come out better than we would have had with the pension.
Of course, some will argue that the returns necessary to achieve success with our plans is not guaranteed. Well, a pension certainly isn't guaranteed either.... as we have all found out the hard way. And, like Pineapple said, it's a real no-brainer for the new guys. I just wish we had had this setup from the beginning for us older guys!