Wasatch Phantom

I don't know your individual situation and I'm not a financial advisor, so I'd recommend you consult with your tax professional.

That said, I do think tax rates are going up. I just can't see how they don't rise. Not only the individual rates, but I think more people will be paying at least "some" income tax. Our government continues to borrow hugely and sooner or later we, the taxpayers, will have to pay for their profligate spending.

I'm, as Clint Eastwood so eloquently put it, "on the back nine of life" and retirement planning gets a great deal of emphasis from me. The benefits of a Roth conversion are greatest for those whose tax rates are (relatively) low now and have many years for their Roth accounts to grow. I personally have a decent income and don't have that many years prior to mandatory retirement, yet I'm still going "all-in" on Roths.

As I write this Roth income is not "a tax preference item". What that means is it's not subject to the calculations involved in determining if you owe alternative minimum tax. Additionally, Roth income is not currently counted (as income) in retirement when determining what social security benefits are taxed.

Yet another benefit is one is not required to take minimum distributions from a Roth the way they are from 401K's and IRA's after age 70 1/2. So the benefit there is you can literally manage withdrawals from various income sources to minimize your tax bite.

There are also estate planning benefits that accrue to your heirs, but that gets complicated and somewhat convoluted.

Now the big risk is Congress could change the rules in the future and take away some, or even all, of these benefits. My "gut" feeling is they would most likely "grandfather" existing accounts (and their balances), but that's just my opinion.

No matter who you are I think you should take a hard look at a Roth conversion with the benefit of advice from a tax professional/financial advisor.

paxhauler85

In other news, your airline is now funding yet ANOTHER competitor.

Republic/Shuttle/CHQ just inked a deal to fly 53 E-175s for American Airlines.

They now fly for every single one of your competitors, except SWA. They also own Frontier.

It all goes to the same bank account.

Wasatch Phantom

Johnso,

I took Ferd's post to mean someone who spends a lot but doesn't fly much.

For example I have a good friend/snowmobile buddy who owns an excavating business. He doesn't really fly much for business or pleasure but he puts everything on his AMEX card...to the tune of about $1.5M a year. He and his wife/family often take great vacations and they fly first class on Delta everywhere using up those AMEX Skymiles.

Timbo

There is another game to play, when it comes to getting high time, but you have to be senior to do it.

Ever wonder where all those 2 day LAX trips in Open Time came from?

Go look at the Wide Reports, you'll see the Senior 777 Capts. bid the 2 day LAX turns.

Why?

So they can then Swap with the Pot, for high time 4-8 day trips. It's legal because there is no ALV + 15 cap on a Swap with the Pot type pick up.

So thes guys are bidding the 2 day, 10:15hr. trips, they get a 75hr. line, but then they swap them for the 30-45 hr. trips that nobody can white slip, it's too much time. But a Swap with the Pot works!


Presto; a 100hr. + month.

georgetg

My understanding the RJs-for-narrowbodies swap is a separate deal and would be accretive.

I'd put money on the 321CEO (current model CFM56 with sharklets)

Cheers
George

LeineLodge

You sure about that? I was under the impression that Swap with Pot went through PCS which is subject to the ALV+15 limit.

I've been wrong before, but I thought the only way to exceed ALV+15 was via Pilot to Pilot Swaps (as discussed a few pages back).

scambo1

You're right Timbo, I forgot about that. Isn't that also just "premonth" IOW, the silver bullet only works the day before regular swap with the pot kicks in?

scambo1

ALPA: "They aren't a single transportation system."

Now they are exempt so they dont count.

^^^^^^^^

In Europe, especially in the former Pact countries, You'd be walking along and see 2 lines going to the same thing. One was long, one was short. It's weird, but the psychology was that the long one was long because there must be something better at the end of it. The western mentality was to jump in the short line.

Republic is the DAL version of the long line...nothing to see here folks.

Timbo

Nope, there is no ALV+15 limit all month on a Swap with the Pot. That's why all month long, you'll see those 2 day LAX trips show up in open time, last minute...and the 45hr. HKG that was there in the morning, dissapears.

Go look at the wide reports, see who's bidding the short trips, and then go look at their actual scheule a few weeks into the month. If you don't want to get 'caught looking' at someone's schedule, just go back about 4 months and see what they are flying.

For a long time I coulndn't figure out why the senior guys were bidding a 2day that signs in at 0710, until I flew with one of them on a DXB, he told me how he swaps the 2 days for the big trips, "all the time".

dalad

Nope, you can do swap board pick ups and swap with the pot all month long. I fly with guys that get text or email alerts when something shows up in open time. You can swap a 6 hour turnaround for a 24 hour trip as an example. You can do it every day of the month.