reandld

I don't have a wife or kids, so the pension is not a huge deal for me at FDX. I can get by if just throwing some income in DC plans and regular investment accounts. Another vote for FDX though.

Kebert Xela

that makes sense to me to a certain extent. However I think about the back door roth and how (my assumption) a B plan will ‘keep up’ with inflation (cause Wall Street won’t want their money to be worth less) over 30 years versus a stagnate pension with no inherent increase. I’m not part of ALPA so haven’t see that comparison and not trying to argue. But wouldn’t a 30 year career of back door tax free money in retirement from a B plan actually be worth more?

caveats: back door roth is allowed for the next 30.

I do agree the shorter your career the more valuable a pension of any value is over a B plan.

BoilerUP

This isn’t an either/or.

UPS has a 12% DC, FDX has 9% DC.

tnkrdrvr

Investing loop holes like the mega back door Roth and back door Roth IRA absolutely increase the value of what your investment grows into. However, neither result in an increased company contribution to your retirement. Which is the discussion topic. The legal max your company can contribute to a tax advantaged B plan retirement is $57k. The ONLY common way to increase your company’s contribution above this is to contractually require them to fund a pension. There are several flavors of pension that they could legally fund. The only two extant examples in our industry are Fred’s FAE based pension that has been effectively capped at $130,000/yr at 25 years for several contracts and Brown’s flat dollar benefit which would pay a few dollars less at 30 years but has grown the last few contracts. ALPA appears to be interested in exploring some other pension varieties since they know that they have effectively maxed out what a B plan can do. Unless ALPA can figure something out, B plan only ALPA pilots will find their company funded retirement benefits steadily shrinking relative to their rising pay rates. In other words, don’t expect the IRS cap on your B plan to rise as rapidly as your hourly compensation.

John Carr

1) The airline that hires you
2) The airline that hires you, and you make it your career destination, hopefully without hiccups
3) The airline that hires you, hopefully without hiccups, and you saved/contributed AS MUCH AS YOU COULD. Especially early on/when young.

Halon1211

what about Antonov equipment?

tnkrdrvr

We peons can’t compete with you Antonov drivers. Aeroflot is the standard we all aspire too.

Reese

What’s the worth of your pension retirement when your spouse/you die at age 70? $0

whats the worth of your DC/401k/IRA/cash over cap money/accounts when your spouse/you die at age 70? Potential millions

id take the money today, vice a big ole I.O.U. 20-30 years from now in retirement.

fedex/UPS are no more bullet proof than Pan Am/Northwest/United/American. There have been dozens+ of industry tightens and their respective pensions that nobody thought could/would fail. With modern tech/speed of innovation, you’re taking a pretty big gamble. Might pay off, might not.

So if I had it my way, I’d take my bird in the hand(B fund money in MY name), vice the two in the bush (IOU).

And I’m a FedEx guy who says let the A plan die and show me the 25% B fund/cash over cap!

Kebert Xela

I’m not arguing with you and take note I’m not part of ALPA so I have different information. All I can say is 130k guaranteed in 2051 the same as now, in terms of worth; “purchasing power”? In the 60’s you could buy a Mustang for 2k. That’s a 3 day now for a junior guy.

A guarantee of a pension with no further increases to inflation is not MY best retirement. Pension with correction with price index I’m happy to be a part of, I doubt the company, any company would agree. I’ll take an increase of B plan in my name versus we’ll pay you in the future; and it’s gone.

one mans opinion

tnkrdrvr

I hear your inflation complaint and I don’t disagree. However, your B plan company contribution isn’t growing commensurate with inflation either. I’m all about getting every nickel out of my employer that I can. There are a number of different strategies and a number of different tax consequences. The key is your union representation needs to negotiate the smartest compensation package it can for today’s legal environment. I’d like them to negotiate the best compensation for the next twenty years legal environment, but they aren’t any better at predicting the future than the last with a glass ball.