Lawro, you lucky bugger. Wish I had 12 months left. Instead I have about 30 years left (at the moment. This is before the government in 10 years' start b*ggering around with the retirement age again).
Picking up your point, there was an article in the FT yesterday. Some guy was writing that when he bought his house, he was a university lecturer on a salary equivalent to £40,000 today. Now, the area he lives in London is characterised by houses (and flats) with 7 figure price tags, beyond the reach of even the relatively well paid.
Us pilots fall into the "relatively well paid" category. Yes, our contracts these days are nothing like the contracts of old. More's the pity. However, take an F/O at Eastern, who's probably on about £30K. That still puts him/her in the top 20-25% percentile. CityFlyer, about £43K. Top 15 percentile. Jet2, £50K.
What's gone wrong in the meantime is the transfer of wealth from the factory floor to the boardroom. Executive pay is now 183 times more than the lowest paid people, up from about 160 times 3 years ago.
In all that time, the property price inflation in the UK has exacerbated the problem, drawing disposable income away from the workers.
What I'm saying is that this industry is no different to any other industry. And, in summary... we're all f**ked.
PS take your pension early before the stock market crashes, mate!
