FDNYOldGuy

I still don’t understand why anyone would sit down to an interview with Jon Stewart and not be fully prepared with their A-game to defend whatever it is that you do. He’s obviously shown up there for a reason and it’s usually not to say he’s thinking you’re doing a great job. Regardless of your love of the positions he takes, it’s rare that I run into too many folks that think the arguments he presents are not pretty well laid-out and backed up. Why anyone would show up not having at least an inkling he may make you look like an asshole is beyond me… Then again, I’m admittedly very biased and f-ing love him, as he’s been a tireless proponent for government support of 9/11 related illnesses for first responders and his actions have had direct effects on brothers I know and love. Without him AND THIS SPEECH, this battle would still be ongoing

That's huge! I didn't know that had happened. Thanks for the SA! Just makes sense that they don't force you to take it; the taxes are already paid, so you taking it doesn't benefit Uncle Sam at all. Thank you for this info, as well. I had thought that could potentially be the case, but I don't have any airline/real world experience with Roth 401ks, so was a little ignorant and going off of what the TSP/NYC Deferred Comp allows...which is not much. NYCDCP does have a self-directed option with TD for up to 20% of the amount in the plan, but even that only allows you to buy mutual funds, which doesn't make it that worth it. Great to hear the airlines let you boogie down with some riskier stuff and individual securities, though.

@ryleypavhas it. I am also just speaking for heavies, as I have no clue what pointi bois can do in-house vs at a school house. PIQ = Pilot Initial Qualification. The course, which you go to at the FTU. You learning to fly your newly assigned jet. FTU = Field Formal Training Unit. The schoolhouse and physical location you go to train. You'll go (mostly) go here for every big qualification/upgrade training related to your airframe; the number of times which varies greatly by airframe/qualifications/upgrades required.

100% this. As @nunya said, you can still do the backdoor option (sts) and it is legal, through the recent IRS paper, but it's got a few extra steps, one that could end up closed through legislation, and could potentially raise a red flag for audit radar purposes. But, definitely worth doing, if you're up for the extra hoops to jump through. That said, making sure you at least open a Roth IRA ASAP and working on pumping money into a Roth 401k that you one day roll over into the Roth IRA is clutch. You get (most of) the best of all worlds, with the exception being Roth 401k's don't really allow for as risky/nuanced/particular single stock investments and are usually whatever the Large/Medium/Small/etc funds are your company offers. But, no income limits, easy to put money in without a hassle, and usually reasonable fees, with the option to bail out and roll it into a Roth IRA upon retirement that helps you avoid RMDs and pick individual securities.

I also agree with this and usually try to convince new hires on FD to put money in Roth while they’re new/until they get to higher pay-grades. This is certainly one of my concerns, too. That said, if it gets to this level, we likely have much bigger financial/economic problems, this might be akin to throwing deck chairs off the Titanic. Bottom line, I’m a huge fan of Roth. 96.69% chance tax rates are higher in the future than they are now; which, in the scheme of things, are certainly on the low end of the spectrum. The unknown is how high taxes may be; the known is that you know exactly what they are if you pay now and use Roth. I’m a big fan of the demographics game, which leads me to believe taxes will have to go up because there just won’t be enough meat bags in the future to pay for us old meat bags’ entitlements/infrastructure/Mil/etc. at current tax %s, so they’re gonna have to go up. This is a bingo. All retirement accounts (401/IRAs/etc.) must be liquidated within 10 years of being passed down. At least with the Roth, your heirs can do so tax-free, so it still is a great option, but they just can’t keep it growing forever.

Used Bread Financial (Comenity Bank) savings account for about 6 months and worked fine. Paying 4.25% right now. They do have the $5k daily ACH out limit, if you're slinging big amounts back and forth. Guessing you can use whatever institution you're transferring it to's ACH feature and pull more, but never pressed to test. I just wired the money when I needed over that limit and it was processed the same day and fairly painless. Cost $25 to wire it, but the higher interest rate for 6 months more than made up for that cost.

Unless it's changed, you usually you go to Randolph for 5-7 days, 2-4 weeks before you start OTS for an admin spin up. Then 2-4 weeks later you'll start the whole 2.5+ year CONTINUOUS pipeline of orders with OTS.

Looks like it's all thumbs up there at the highest levels when it comes to handling classified documents... Classified Documents Found at Mike Pence's Indiana Home

So, very much what @brabus said. If they advertise a limit, it might not be worth your efforts to head out, as time is not your friend and you should focus your energy where it'll have the greatest effect...with squadrons that will be fine with Centrum Silver. Secondly, in regards to your interview and the jaws dropping about your age, best course of action is to EXPECT that and practice your response to why your age is an ASSET, not a hinderance. You certainly don't want to hide your age, but there should also be quite a few examples and supporting lines for how your greater life experiences through time on the planet will help you overcome obstacles, interact with others, etc. It's not a bug; it's a feature. Third, being old usually comes with extra entanglements that young folks don't have. You might have a sig other/kiddos that add to the expense or just general struggles with PCS-ing between schools, spending time studying, staying focused if they don't enjoy life/can't find employment in the middle of nowhere UPT bases are located, etc. You may be single and have no attachments, but you'll also have probably made more money/accumulated more expenses that can be tough to swing on a 2Lt salary; you wouldn't be the first to be "shocked" at how little military pay is. You may also not be as keen about getting berated at OTS or at UPT after a shitty sortie. It's not the easiest for many folks to swallow getting crushed by someone that may be 6-9 years your junior that never lived life outside of the military. The elderly are less keen to play the game and just shut up and color. Lastly, realize that a main reason many do not want to process a waiver is that it's extra work that they don't have to do if they go with a younger candidate. It's a lot of paperwork, explanations, and risk that, if you bomb out, the hiring board/squadron could be beat over the head with. "See, we did all that work and they failed out or quit." At the very least, it's a lot of paperwork to push a waiver (called an ETP), so you can certainly help your cause by figuring out what that paperwork is and promising the squadron you will do everything in your power to help complete it and push it along. Most people don't want extra work, so if you can show you're willing to minimize the extra work required to push an age waiver, then you'll help them feel a lot better about considering someone requiring one. Good luck!

I know these rates seem crazy, but we're still below normal for any time prior to 9/11. This chart showing rates since the late 50s and, besides for a ~3 year stretch in the early 90s, rates weren't below the 4% they currently are for any real sustained period from 1965-2001. The chart is also a little misleading, as the way rates have been established has changed a few times and they've gotten tighter (sts) on the range rates are in and frequency they're changed. (This is a good writeup about the recent history.) Rates just seem high because, like a junkie, we're addicted to low rates we've had post 9/11 and require them to continue to grow as we have. The low rates have made us feel rich; corporations borrowed a lot of money to spend on growth and stock buybacks to push up stock prices, mortgages were cheap and allowed housing prices to turn into investments and grow at rates not seen in the ~75 years proceeding, and consumer debt just kept growing because it didn't cost much. Our new normal wasn't sustainable and, yes, this is a pretty abrupt raise pattern that's gonna hurt, but we've been at new-pilot-on-final levels of throttle-rowing for the past couple decades in regards to interest rates and it's just not sustainable. It spans parties/administrations/Fed talking heads/etc.; no one wanted to take away the punch bowl and have things correct on their watch.

On one hand, it's an app/site that you can connect most (maybe all?) your bank(s)/investment/retirement accounts/credit cards/debts to and it'll show you all your ca$h monie$ in one spot. It can be used to track expenses to help budget/catch where you may waste money and it can show your net worth. It can be useful, if you find yourself in need of such things. DISCLAIMER: I've not used it in quite a few years, so maybe it'll wash your car now, too, with all the new features since I last messed with it. On the other hand, you're allowing one huge financial corp (Intuit, who owns TurboTax, Quickbooks, and who knows what other financial stuff) to have ALLLLLLL of your financial information. I'm guessing they use it to track enough of your metrics that would to make your head spin with that much access to your complete financial picture. Your net worth, spending habits, when/where/what you spend your money, debts, etc. that I'm sure is quite the valuable swath of info on a consumer you're allowing them access, track, and sell to others. On that end, I steer clear, cause Gator don't play.

Depends a lot on your need for brick and mortar/cash handling, as well as (unfortunately just recently) bill pay. I’ve used TDAmeritrade for my checking and investing mix for about 10 years. I love the investing platform (I use ThinkorSwim, but they’re tied together), they offer unlimited ATM reimbursements (seriously, used a $10 fee ATM in Vegas once and they paid me back), and they’ll send you checks/handle ACHs like any normal bank account. You can also photo deposit checks up to pretty hefty amounts and they clear pretty quick. Downsides are there are very few brick and mortar (mostly one or two locations in bigger cities), no savings account/they pay abysmal interest on cash balances (although, you can buy CDs or build a bond ladder and get higher than savings account interest), and they just killed bill pay a month or so ago with seemingly no replacement. It sucks USAA has gotten so bad, as it is about the only one stop shop with banking, investing, and insurance. There just aren’t many other solid options. But, TD offers at least two of them and have been good to me for awhile.

I don’t think you’re wrong on the bump. These things (usually) also take much longer to shake out than we think. Sept 2008 when Bear/Lehman collapse and bailouts started is when most believe was the GFC collapse. But, markets had actually peaked in late 07 and declined to their lowest point in March 09. It took a year and a half to shake out and head the other direction; with MANY crazy up and down swings in there. And it got better due to ~1.6T in stimulus. Trump and Biden combined threw ~$4T at COVID and it’s collapse lasted a few months before those injections drove a huge boom that brought us to late last year. I don’t think we politically have the stomach for those bailouts again, but who knows? Pepper in some very high (for us) political discord, a war in Europe, their energy crisis, housing imploding, consumer debt getting pummeled by high interest, that same interest likely slowing the corporate-debt-funded stock buyback binge, and whatever “supply chain” BS companies use to gouge the shit out of us for higher profits hurting consumerism…well, I don’t feel too rosy going forward. But, what do I know? Best bet is to not try to time it and just keep plugging away in TSP/CIV job match and hang on for the ride. We could go back to 4500 S&P next; or below 2500. Or anything in between.

I think this is the case, as well. I’m hard pressed to believe we don’t end up with much larger declines than that. Many houses in my neighborhood have flippers that have bought places 6-9 months ago and are now trying to sell them for 100% price increases. Ain’t no way they put that level of renovation work in over that short of time. Slapping a coat of wax, a new radio, and new tires doesn’t make a car worth double its value; people will realize the same when they’re not “forced” to buy whatever is available because what’s on the market is so sparse. That’s gonna be changing; interest rates continuing up or not. Spot on driver inbound that will be complimented by one other HUGE difference between now and ‘08: institutional investors and AirBnB investors. Institutional investors acquire/renovate a lot of these properties using lines of credit and shorter-term (5-12 year) commercial portfolio loans with balloon payments upon end of term. They’re staring down the barrel of refinancing at rates DRASTICALLY higher than they were in the past few years. Also affecting LoCs. AirBnB is the other = to ‘08 subprime issue inbound. I know there are some folks that said on this thread that they’re doing very well and have safely built their business; but there are certainly a lot of folks that haven’t that will quickly get in over their heads. The fundamental change AirBnB brought to the market has created an artificial housing supply constraint. *(BTW, they pay a metric fuckton of money to ensure they don’t get in the spotlight for this). These properties are rented short term for far more than they could be rented long term with a traditional renter and that higher potential income means those willing to take on the uncertainty are willing to pay a much higher than market price than a traditional buyer would. So, realistically, I don’t think we actually have a much-touted supply shortage of physical housing *(in most areas); we have a supply shortage of long term rental and owner-occupant purchase housing due to flippers and AirBnB investors. The very rapid and drastic (albeit brief) drop in housing/rental prices in March (until around July/Aug) of 2020 was a sign of these folks coming under strain. Having short-term rentals (STRs) when the world shut down scared the balls out of a lot of people into selling/longer-term rental offerings and flooded the market. A lot of these were rented at steep discounts that have since turned in non renewals (back to AirBnB) or massive rent increases at lease end. Are we likely to have another shutdown like that again? Probably not. But, what happens when the first few investor folks (AirBnB, flippers, or institutional) or Boomers that are not sure-footed/think they missed the boat start to break and unload properties? What about when the economy slows and we hit an actual recession? Or if (when) the stock market dips lower and 401k balances look less fortifying? Will it create a stampede toward the door and a chain reaction collapse similar to the times around the Financial Crisis? I think yes, but that’s just my smooth-brain opinion. EDIT: just to clarify, I’m not trying to bag on any of the folks that run AirBnBs. It’s hard to justify renting long term when you can make that much more as an AirBnB. I’ve noticed folks advertising properties where I’m a slumlord at 2-3 times what I’m getting monthly for LTRs, so it makes complete sense for landlords and I’ve certainly considered it. That said, I don’t know if I can square AirBnB being good for the average person looking to buy a home or rent long-term. It inflates demand and price above what the market can/would normally pay (without massive salary increases). But, it is here and a very profitable thing for many, so it’s hard to see it going away. It has likely just driven a fundamental shift in property demand that we haven’t adjusted to yet. How that plays out over booms and busts, I dunno.

FTFY

Everyone's favorite...it depends. BLUF: Maybe get a quote on what the Term would cost you and compare that cost to what you'd pay in SBP reduction of your check. The SBP type coverage is usually very costly. If a comfortable Term amount costs less than the SBP, you might be better off with that route. Obviously when you keel has a big piece, but that's uncontrollable. The controllables that will make the biggest variations are: what are your other retirement/rainy day savings, spouse/heirs' income needs, your spouse's income earning potential, and what are your costs for a Term Life policy that would cover your family's needs? The last big one that is sometimes hard to ask and the most important...what is your spouse's FINANCIAL APTITUDE? Would they have the wherewithal to smartly invest a lump sum that a Term policy would pay out vs are they not great with money and be better off with an "allowance" that the SBP would provide? If the former, the Term life is usually a much better deal (depending on your insurability) and, if the latter, it's probably better to go for the SBP. I am trying to avoid going deep down the rabbit hole of the above questions, because it gets convoluted and focused on each individual scenario, but 96.69% of the time it's better to get the Term policy (*depending on your insurability/health and what that Term policy costs) over the SBP. Pensions take a pretty costly bite out of what your full monthly benefit would be to act as your "insurance." You are usually much better off to take the higher monthly payment and INVEST the difference between that payment and what your reduced SBP would be in an IRA (if you're continuing working) or even just using it to pay the Term policy costs, but that requires discipline and also ties great into your spouses' money handling capability asked about in the paragraph above. Lastly, one big further positive to the Term vs SBP: The Term payout is tax free; the SBP is (likely) going to be taxable income. Again, if your spouse is capable of managing a large sum of money showing up, the Term payout could grow to quite a nest egg for her later years. If she's gonna use it to buy a new boat/big house/diamonds/new gardner/whatever, it might not be the best option. FWIW, I am basing a lot of my knowledge on pension options off of my civilian equivalent of an SBP (albeit, they're all basically similar calculated annuity contracts) and I was never AD, so I do not know if there are major differences with the AD Mil SBP. That said, generally, it is usually way more costly to "pay" a pension to act as your insurance over purchasing a Term policy. YMMV, of course.

This. I'm not an airline pilot, so I can't speak to the intricacies of the situation with any sort of inside knowledge. However, the "hurrr durrr debt too damn high" aspects are certainly as nuanced as @JS said. On a similar macro note, Ford was putting it all on the line circa 2007 by taking on a boatload of debt securitized by everything not bolted down and was widely derided for doing so...until 2008 rolled around. Their debt was high, but they utilized it smartly and shored up the company while GM and Chrysler both went bankrupt/required massive bailouts while F has sailed along just fine and greatly increased the quality of their products. AA has operated similarly (it seems...again, I'm looking from the outside in) to F in the mid-aughts and bought new iron/invested in growth with a lot of that debt while the other major airlines stayed more financially secure, but riding aging fleets that will eventually have to be replaced. So, they may be fine now, but they will be forced to make similar costly investments; likely through taking on more debt themselves. Lastly on debt: inflation helps quite a bit. The debt payments are (relatively...again, things get complicated) fixed and they're able to charge more for flights, which should mean higher revenues used to pay down debts that have stayed the same price. The same goes for houses/cars/the government/etc.; you take out debts with a fixed repayment and, as years progress, those payments (should be) an ever-dwindling portion of your income. Whether this is the exact case for AA, I don't know. I'm no expert. The higher debt load could sink AAL (wasn't it AMR in the past?), the company that runs AA. But, as others have said, AA is basically TBTF and, even if they go through Ch 11, they'll be bailed out and re-emerge on the other side largely intact, just under a new name. Sure, they'll probably use the opportunity to bang pilots over the head for pay rates, but it's not overly likely they fold as a whole and you're out on the street. At least from my nosebleed-seats view.

Had a good buddy at UPT that was Guard SIE (self-induced elimination) and he ended up staying with his unit but just just in a different career field. Knew of another guy in our Reserves batch that got almost to the end (or might have even gotten wings; can’t remember exactly), but never found a home (he was unsponsored) unit. Think he just walked away, but no idea if he was put on IRR or not. As @brabus said, talk to your squadron and see what your options may be. If you’re a Reservist, your hiring squadron doesn’t technically own you (the 340th FTG does) until you’re through PIQ, so I think it likely requires a little more work and coordination. Either way, it’s a lot of moving pieces, but can usually be somewhat flexible, depending whether you’d rather stay or go.

Random factoid unrelated to this thread and most probably have heard, but this dude (Tim Colceri) was originally supposed to play Gunnery Sargent Hartman. R. Lee Ermey was just an advisor, but Ermey did such a good job berating the shit out of people auditioning for the earlier boot camp scenes that Kubrick gave him the part over Colceri. SAUCE

Adding another Wendover video (cause they're really well done and they become a wormhole I've fallen down more than a few times) about fuel prices likely not going anywhere. If this video is correct we, the airlines and pax (or drivers in general), will have to factor in high fuel costs for the foreseeable. Not sure how that all dances with a (likely) economic slowdown/reduced travel, inability to lower ticket prices without being red for fuel costs, etc., but it could be something big in the calculus for potential hiring. It also makes sense when looking at the fact oil was, inflation-adjusted, north of $180/bbl in June 2008, yet prices were not this high at the pump.

Samsies as @nsplayr. Bought some for me and the better half. As stated, crappy website and $10k annual limit per SSN, but it's something in this sea of turd options. It's always Woulda/Coulda/Shoulda and that hindsight is always correct/you would have always played it expertly. If you'd sold at $80k you'd have felt like a genius looking back now, but you'd have gone through a stretch of kicking yourself when it rode from $80-$137 as "having missed the boat." I had a stock I had bought for $1.18/share and sold north of $8/share in my Roth and felt pretty good about a 700+% gain. Until it went up and hit a high of almost $250/share and would have been north of $300k in profit (if I'd actually held it that long; which I probably wouldn't have). Counter point: held another one (wasn't gonna miss out on those gains this time!) and watched it go from $30k in the green to about $1500 up now. It's all gambling with a longer timeline to help fix mistakes (if you don't buy a total turd). Just keep plugging away and investing in the simple stuff (TSP stock funds, ETFs, Mutuals, etc.) and sit for the long haul for a majority. If you wanna gamble with some, it's everyone's prerogative. But, 99.69% of us aren't going to play it perfectly, most of the folks that were loudly spouting their market prowess sure do get quiet when they're wrong which gives most an improper picture, and there's always a victor's bias with folks that "called" this or that move, while not addressing the majority of folks that were stone cold wrong (or even just right, but at the wrong time).

If you find one, let me know! Haha. All kidding aside, always down to discuss ideas, experiences, and options when it comes to investments/wealth management/managing businesses/etc. I miss being able to talk about investment ideas that are a little more complex and in-depth than, "Buy GME/Bitcoin/TSLA and print money!"

Yeah, if you’re waiting on a recruiter to make things happen quickly, you’re gonna age out. And, FWIW, the age waiver is for the moment you start UPT; not the date you’re hired, so it’s likely gonna be on the radar of hiring units, anyway. Especially with Guard’s disjointed process, there’s a chance they make you run a waiver anyway. I know you’ve got a little over a year, but with the process hiccups and high competition (not to mention if you’re trying fighters), I wouldn’t feel overly comfortable that you’ve got it locked without a waiver and maybe get out ahead of that process before you interview, too. Especially if you don’t have medical done/scheduled yet. Try what @NABO said above, or call every ROTC unit within the distance you’re willing to travel and plead your case. No guarantees they let you, but at least you’re trying and not waiting on a recruiter to do the heavy lifting. As for the database sharing of scores and what not, I’m not 100% sure. I remember there being an issue with Res and Guard with who “owns” your MEPS packet and, I think, that also applies to FC1 (more so with who pays for it “owns” it). Good luck!

My guess is it might be from the other aspect: the Bobs think they won’t attract the talent with that level of commitment. OTS-UPT-PIT is a little shy of 2 years and then another 4 years on that. Sure, that’s not epic, but for CFIs looking to bang out hours and head to the airlines yesterday, maybe they think a short commitment will allow folks to take the job knowing it’s perhaps better than building hours at the regionals or as a CFI in a 172? Not that the GS commitment they’re asking for is much different, but less of a “we own you” in a world where airlines are hiring folks with a pulse at mins. And the hiring boom seems to be greatest before the end of the decade and with seniority being huge, airline-bound folks are probably very averse to getting to the party too late, leading them to be set on max hours/min time. I’d guess it plays better on a resume, too, having “instructed AF Pilots.” The AF gets “cheap” single-digit GS help that fills a need and will likely bounce before they get too close to/spend too long in the higher GS levels. Lather. Rinse. Repeat; choosing a conveyor belt of cheap, newly-minted CFIs as opposed to (potentially bitter) FAIPs that are not headed to filled needed MWS seats. Note: I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

As @Jon - Trident Home Loanssaid, you can't do VA loans on a co-op. There was a bill on the books in NY (not sure if that's the major financial metro you're talking about, but it's certainly the co-op capital) a few years back to have the VA allow co-op loans, but that never went anywhere. I reached out to my NYC rep...but never heard anything back. Plans changed, so I dropped it. That said, you mention co-op and condo in your post, so just to clarify if it wasn't a typo, they're different. Condominiums you own everything from the walls in and can do with the place what you will (within HOA guidelines, of course). So you're getting direct title for a unit, which the VA can wrangle because they can easily foreclose on it. Co-ops you own shares in the company that owns the building and the number of shares you own allot you an apartment of comparable size to the number of shares you own. It's rare and never really happens but, theoretically, the co-op board could move you out of the unit you have lived in for years and into another that was the same size (amount of shares-worth) if they wanted to for some reason; regardless of what renovations you've done/comparable conditions of each unit. It's why people dislike co-ops, as you don't actually own the unit you live in. There are a lot more hoops to go through to upgrade your unit since, the company that owns the building has to be willing to allow your upgrades. Obviously further into the weeds, this causes different foreclosure processes and layers of financial fitness to look into (is the board/company properly run and financially solvent), which is why (I'd imagine) the VA is pretty hands-off. Anyway, it sucks they don't, but always worth reaching out to any reps or checking on any potential laws in process.