1261 days to go!

[Whataburger]

The ocho. Diez y Ocho.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ7dUlRUJIM

 

[Quimby]

Did someone say 1 0 0 7?

 

[Quimby]

1 0 0 6

 

[Whataburger]

Only 1006 days left?
Its already been 255 days since this thing was started? Time flys.
One week til we party like its 999!

 

[JI Gone OH]

Man, that time change last night really sped things up.

1005...

 

[Quimby]

1 0 0 4


Time to get the most important thread on here back to the top.

 

[Quimby]

1 0 0 3

 

[GuppyWN]

1 0 0 3

Hee Hee. I'm getting giddy.

Gup

 

[Andy]

Wow; been about 6 months since I've been to this website. I've been furloughed for my second time (five years first time) for almost a year now (Apr 2009). After looking at the list of pilots senior to me that are currently on furlough, I figure that I am looking at recall sometime in 2015. Cool; I turn 55 in 2015. I'm probably not coming back; there are easier and better ways to make a living.

Before my last trip I talked to a Capt in the crew room at MDW. He is approaching 62 yrs old this coming Jan. He told me "I won't be able to retire at 65! I've got to figure something out, and figure it out fast!". This is coming from a man who has had 40+ years as a financially productive adult to prepare for what will probably be 5-7 years of retirement. Retired Mil as well. Unbelievable.

The guy's an idiot. A debt slave for life. Anyone out there who is not banking some of their paycheck is setting themselves up to end up the same way. I don't care if you're a first year regional FO or a widebody captain, you should be banking at least part of your paycheck every month to save for retirement.

Now, because of the current situation with the eliminations of the defined benefit retirement (pension) plans, age-65 is really what every pilot has to have to financially survive. Nowadays, in this economic market for pilots, quitting (retiring) early is no longer an option. Age-65 retirement has become a necessity driven by big businesses efforts to crush the pilot profession of high paying jobs. In the future, pilot careers will be at school teacher wages.

No, age 65 is NOT what is needed for pilots to survive in retirement. They need to live below their means; stop being a debt slave. Anyone who still has a mortgage when they retire is a complete idiot.
I've spent a lot of time collecting unemployment over the last decade and I've still got a large enough nest egg saved to not only buy a house with cash, but also to live on for several years. It can be done; it's not that hard to spend less money than you make.

The change to age 65 is one of the biggest gifts that pilots could have given to airline management in terms of controlling pilot costs. We have created a massive glut of highly qualified pilots that will be in place for the next decade at a minimum.
The upshot of this is that pilot wages will continue to decrease. Anyone thinking that widebody captains are going to still be making six figure wages in another decade don't see what's coming.
There will be another attempt to raise pilot retirement age before 2020; you can bet on it. It won't happen until most of the furloughees are recalled. But it will be the same tired line; there's a pilot shortage. Folks, there's never been nor will there ever be a pilot shortage. Airlines simply raise and lower the minimums to ensure that there's no shortage.

I went to ALPA's website today and pulled down the retirements from United's System Schedule Committee report. Here are the monthly retirement numbers that I was able to locate:
Feb 2008 2
Mar 0
Apr 1
May 3
Jun 0
Jul 3
Aug 0
Sep 0
Oct 1
Nov 0
Dec 0
Jan 2009 1
Feb 0
Mar 0
Apr 0
May 0
Jun 0
Jul 0
Aug 0
Sep No Report
Oct No Report
Nov No Report
Dec 0
Jan 2010 1

That's 12 retirements over a 21 month period. Once retirements resume at United, it should be ~25/month.

For everyone ticked off at the age 65 change, let go. I fought this thing as hard as anyone, but the battle's been lost. And the next time that some moron captain whips out his 'I love me' pictures, ask him how much money he's got saved for retirement. After he rambles through that, ask him how much debt he has. Chances are, he's so deep in debt that he'll never be able to dig out.
My wife and I have zero debt; both cars paid off. We rent; home prices will continue to decline for the next few years. When we do buy a house, it'll be cash. My wife and I refuse to be debt slaves.

 

[Whataburger]

As 999 nears, I wanted to make sure the GeezerMeter is accurate. As of this second we have:

1004 days, zero hours, and 23 minutes remaining.

WWMCD?
what would mc hammer do?