I went with life insurance, 30 year term 1.5 mil for $403 a month. Will cover me to my mid 80’s
Most guys I have spoken to opted for life insurance,tax free and passes to your kids if you and your wife bite it.

Again, you would get a check at the end of the year for the money that wasn't put in your PRSP. For example, if you are under 50 and want to contribute the maximum to the PSRP this year, after the 9% B fund of $27,450, you have $33550 left before you max it out. You can contribute up to $20,500 tax free via your 401k. That leaves $13,050 left until you max out the contributions. If you are a WB CAPT with 15 years and a full disability bank, then the max sick buy back is $24160. You will get a check at the end of the year for the $11110 in excess of the max PRSP contribution. If you contributed after tax dollars to the account, you would get more at the end of the year. Also, it was grieved that you should be able to use that money for the catch-up portion if you are over 50. The company did not want to do that. We lost that grievance. So, if it were a true retirement benefit, why wouldn't you be allowed to use that money as part of you catch-up contribution?

Finally, it took you at least 9 years and 6 months without using a single day of sick to get a full DB. When you retire, you won't even get 50% of that back. If you use sick now, you get 100% of that money.

It's not a retirement and it is not company money - IT IS YOUR MONEY! (and you want to give half of it to the company)

Pilot A has max sick and gets paid 72 hours at the end of the year.

Pilot B has no sick bank other that the 72 added for the year and uses the 72 hours - Pilot B is home a full month more than pilot B while getting paid. I concede Pilot B is getting paid 72 hours less for the year.
If Pilot B wants the 72 extra hours of pay he picks up one 6 credit hour trip a month (no makeup bank required to do this). Pilot B now paid the same as Pilot A and worked the same.

At retirement Pilot B sells their sick for $0.50 on the dollar, Pilot B has zero sick bank. Who was paid more over the course of a career?

If you have a catastrophic health issue Pilot B goes on disability sooner that Pilot A, getting paid the "company money" you are so worried about. Another win for pilot B.

I really have got a lot to learn about retirement here. I thought everyone went on Medicare @65? No?

Like someone else said, retiring is more difficult than getting hired. Soooo many options and so much to learn.

Yes you go on Medicare at 65. Your spouse can stay on the fedex plan until they are 65. Your dependents can stay on
until 26.
Age differences in your family will have some on Medicaid and possibly some still on the fedex plan.

There are a few options so education and planning are the key…
If you are on a high deductible plan you can still deposit tax deductible money in your HSA until 65

When you and/or your spouse reach 65 the union will give you a monthly check from the fund that you have
been paying into to for a Medicare buy up plan

There are a dozen ways to take your pension

Have a plan, when I was at the union retirement seminar there were guys who were retiring and had never
looked at the retirement website, had no clue….some missed out on part of the bonus (yes there are two parts ….the
DSA part and the age based 20/30/40 bonus) because they had a empty DSA and did not give there one year notice
thinking they would get nothing..they were wrong…So they lost 40 grand.

Don’t be that guy

You may want to discuss this plan with an estate planning attorney. Unless you and your wife go at the same time, the insurance will go to her tax free as you said. But, when she goes, that insurance payout will now be just another part of her estate. Depending on how big that estate is and what other planning tools you've put in place, it may not pass to your heirs tax-free and may actually be subject to probate depending on the limits in force at the time. You may want to consider an irrevocable life insurance trust in addition to whatever living trusts you and your wife might already have set up.

I think everyone does go on Medicare at 65, unless they or their spouse have some sort of work related plan. You can’t remain on FedEx medical after age 65, nor can your spouse. But for those who retire at under 65 have an expensive medical bill to pay. I retired at 58, as did my spouse, so we have a long ways to go before Medicare.

And yes, there are a lot of options and many ways to lose money or make more money by optimizing choices. It’s not always clear, that’s for sure.

Everyone does go on Medicare at 65 whether you want to or not. The real suck factor comes when they calculate how much it will cost you. The guy who retires on his 65th birthday after crushing it his final few years flying will pay substantially more for Medicare than the guy who retired at 58 and has been judicious about managing his taxable income. Research IRMAA (may have messed up the acronym) calculation for Medicare. It definitely penalizes those with substantial taxable income in the two years prior to going on Medicare.

I don’t know that it’s that significant, really. For me it looks like a difference of paying $386/mo for my income bracket at retirement, vs $504/mo that I’d have to pay if I took Medicare right at retirement. Then again, who knows how those numbers will change in the future....not going down.

Disclaimer: I am not a certified financial planner nor did I sleep at a Holiday Inn last night.
So here is my financial advice in retirement. Burn thru your retirement savings as fast as you possibly can NOW! After that, go on welfare and enjoy the ride. If you have lived frugally and squirreled away a nice nest egg for your retirement, the taxman/inflation is/are coming for you. Your welcome. Rant over.