2007 Pilot Retention Rates
11-05-2007 | 04:41 AM
#82
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Joined: Oct 2005
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Moose,
I agree with you...that retirement check is nothing to sneeze at. Buds at my company always have a smile on their face when they walked to the mail box that day to get their check (for having a pulse). Of course there is a tradeoff...they will have ten years of less seniority compared to me when I am their age.
As a it has been mentioned before on this thread...you will eventually collect that check also....(but way down the road and with a much shorter life span to compound). You will hopefully have that second defined benefit pension to look forward to also (maybe this is wishful thinking...who knows). It all depends on what you want to do for the rest of your life. Sticking it out in the AF for 20 will give you options if you want to explore other careers while still having that retirement income to fall back on while you transition. Seems like once you start the airline gig you are locked in. I am having trouble imagining what it would be like to have the same airline schedule for the next 30 years of my life.
The reserves are must to keep your foot in the door while still accumulating active duty points...hopefully that window of opportunity will open up for you and AFPC will announce "we need experienced dudes back...here is the bonus". Not sure if this will ever happen again...but we've all seen mother AF make stranger decisions.
I agree with you...that retirement check is nothing to sneeze at. Buds at my company always have a smile on their face when they walked to the mail box that day to get their check (for having a pulse). Of course there is a tradeoff...they will have ten years of less seniority compared to me when I am their age.
As a it has been mentioned before on this thread...you will eventually collect that check also....(but way down the road and with a much shorter life span to compound). You will hopefully have that second defined benefit pension to look forward to also (maybe this is wishful thinking...who knows). It all depends on what you want to do for the rest of your life. Sticking it out in the AF for 20 will give you options if you want to explore other careers while still having that retirement income to fall back on while you transition. Seems like once you start the airline gig you are locked in. I am having trouble imagining what it would be like to have the same airline schedule for the next 30 years of my life.
The reserves are must to keep your foot in the door while still accumulating active duty points...hopefully that window of opportunity will open up for you and AFPC will announce "we need experienced dudes back...here is the bonus". Not sure if this will ever happen again...but we've all seen mother AF make stranger decisions.
11-05-2007 | 07:12 AM
#83
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 40
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From: Trophy Husband
There are certainly days when I regret having gotten out. Those days are few though. Talking to buds who are still in and hearing there deployment schedule reminds of why I am glad to be out. I think I could have done it with the pre 9-11 lifestyle, where you could plan your deployments on a 3 year calendar. There is just too much sea time nowadays. Staying in another 10 may have been better financially, but I wouldn't want to miss the best years of my 3 young kids' lives.
11-05-2007 | 08:40 AM
#84
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Joined: Apr 2007
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The work load for everyone has increased dramatically. JO's with 3-4 jobs (not flight related), DH's with 4-5! 7-9 month standard deployments...followed up by workup for surge...followed up by weps det for sharp numbers......If you are flying anything off a boat you are gone so much, its really not funny. Cant speak for other services but I am sure they are in the same predicament.
11-05-2007 | 08:51 AM
#85
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Joined: Apr 2007
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That's a tough question and each guy's situation is different. If I could rewind life a couple years and have the 20 year ACIP bonus available again, I'd do it in a heartbeat. With half up front, the compound interest and/or investment growth works out to be quite a large sum. Even going back on AD today without the bonus available I'd still come out well ahead financially. With each passing day and active duty pay period with the AFRES, the incentive gets larger. Time value of money is they key here.
Try this: find an online retirement calculator. Input some numbers to answer this question: "instead of an O5 pension starting at age 43 (or whatever your 20 year retirement age is), what if Uncle Sam paid me cash to invest, so that starting at age 43 I could withdraw it at an amount equal to said O5 pension until age xx (where xx equals your expected age at death)." Put another way: Let's say you're age 33 now and have 10 years to AD retirement. How much would you have to invest each of those 10 years in order to withdraw it for 40 years (or more - 3 out of my 4 grandparents lived past 90) at the rate of O5 retirment pay to end up with zero remaining at death? The result will blow you away, and that's essentially how much your pension is worth in addition to your salary.
Then again, I'm the breadwinner in the family and my wife has a very portable (but not very well paying) job and could work anywhere in the country. If she earned a bunch of $$ and PCSing all the time would hinder that earning potential, then it may have made sense to separate so our combined earnings would surpass my reduced earnings. Such is not the case in my family.
So to answer your question, yes I'd go back on AD. It may suck, but 6-7 years is a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of your life. Of course as soon as I'd sign the paperwork, UPS/FDX would start hiring again and call me the day before I left on a 1 year remote
Try this: find an online retirement calculator. Input some numbers to answer this question: "instead of an O5 pension starting at age 43 (or whatever your 20 year retirement age is), what if Uncle Sam paid me cash to invest, so that starting at age 43 I could withdraw it at an amount equal to said O5 pension until age xx (where xx equals your expected age at death)." Put another way: Let's say you're age 33 now and have 10 years to AD retirement. How much would you have to invest each of those 10 years in order to withdraw it for 40 years (or more - 3 out of my 4 grandparents lived past 90) at the rate of O5 retirment pay to end up with zero remaining at death? The result will blow you away, and that's essentially how much your pension is worth in addition to your salary.
Then again, I'm the breadwinner in the family and my wife has a very portable (but not very well paying) job and could work anywhere in the country. If she earned a bunch of $$ and PCSing all the time would hinder that earning potential, then it may have made sense to separate so our combined earnings would surpass my reduced earnings. Such is not the case in my family.
So to answer your question, yes I'd go back on AD. It may suck, but 6-7 years is a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of your life. Of course as soon as I'd sign the paperwork, UPS/FDX would start hiring again and call me the day before I left on a 1 year remote
. Just something to think about....BTW I would not be surprised if both UPS and FDX start hiring late spring or early summer.
11-05-2007 | 09:05 AM
#86
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Joined: Oct 2005
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I didn't realize the promotion numbers for the folks that returned to active duty were go grim. Anyone else heard/experienced otherwise? Also, I agree...you may soon see FDX hiring directly into the foregin domiciles...maybe even MEM depending on what some of the over 60 dudes do.
11-05-2007 | 09:15 AM
#87
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Joined: Sep 2007
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From: C-17, DAL 737B
I didn't realize the promotion numbers for the folks that returned to active duty were go grim. Anyone else heard/experienced otherwise? Also, I agree...you may soon see FDX hiring directly into the foregin domiciles...maybe even MEM depending on what some of the over 60 dudes do.
11-05-2007 | 09:29 AM
#88
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Joined: Apr 2007
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Nope. I only know of 1 of 6. The others are homesteading which may have something to do with it, but make no mistake, a break in service is most often considered "disloyal." Before I got out I heard others say that they couldn't believe that this disloyal dude got promoted...things like that.
The word I heard was "Quitter". Most of the guys I know immediately got sent overseas for at least 6 months on some "hard fill".
11-05-2007 | 10:09 AM
#89
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Joined: Jul 2007
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From: HMMWV in Iraq
Most of the reserve guys I know throw the "quit" word around with pride. Usually in association with an IA, or the fact that they won't take one, ie "they can offer me an IA, but I won't take it. I quit once, I'll do it again..."
11-05-2007 | 12:45 PM
#90
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Are reserve guys where you are getting IA hits?
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