Jeff Barath never had a need for a financial adviser. Then he retired last year at 65, and it threatened to unleash a tidal wave of taxable income.

Like many of his fellow airline pilots, Barath spent much of his career bound by a rigid seniority structure that came with similarly rigid compensation and retirement benefits. When he left United Airlines after 35 years, he was inundated by more financial decisions than he ever expected upon entering the profession.

He has a partial pension, a brokerage account and a $3.5 million 401(k). Once he starts taking his required minimum distributions, his income will be well over $300,000 a year, including Social Security, which is more than he earned most years while working. He needed to know how much to take out, where to pull from first and how the decision would affect his taxes and his Medicare premium.

"It's a high-class problem," Barath said.

The U.S. is in the middle of a record wave of people turning 65 years old. That also happens to be the Federal Aviation Administration's mandatory retirement age for pilots. An average of about 4,300 airline pilots will reach that age each year through 2042, according to FAA data.

Many pilots leave the workforce as millionaires thanks to generous pay and 401(k) contributions from their employers. But they face lots of pitfalls, too. They typically work for the same carrier their entire careers, and in a volatile industry, working for the wrong airline at the wrong time can take a major toll on earnings.

Pilots' union contracts with the airlines are also renegotiated every few years, meaning an ever-changing roster of benefits. They must submit to regular FAA-mandated medical exams, and ailments such as cardiac conditions or diabetes could permanently disqualify them from flying far earlier than age 65.

Millions of workers' finances hinge on the rapidly changing landscape of retirement savings plans and union negotiations, but few professionals have as much money on the line as pilots. They are unique in that they earn on average more than four times the average worker, but they have little control over the management of the company they have wedded themselves to, often for life.

Such risks require careful financial planning, even when pilots are in the middle of their peak earning years, advisers who work with them say.

"You plan for an engine failure on the ground," said Annette VanderLinde of Liberty Wealth Advisors. "Twenty-thousand feet is not where you should be coming up with your contingency plan."

Like many pilots, Barath got his start in the Air Force. He joined United in 1991.

United and other airlines rank pilots based on seniority. The lower the number, the more choice they have in which plane to fly, the higher their hourly compensation and the less risk of layoffs or furloughs. When Barath joined United, he was near the bottom. By his retirement, he was at 800 or so out of around 13,000.

For much of his career, he flew the Airbus A320, choosing the smaller domestic workhorse over the widebody planes that fly internationally. That meant lower pay but more preferential schedules and vacation days.

Seeking more input into his contract, Barath started volunteering for the local pilots union chapter in 1998. He was later elected to the group that represented all United pilots.

He helped negotiate the contract in the year 2000, then known as the industry's most generous ever. He was making about $250,000, with a pension that promised to pay him about $100,000 a year for life after he retired and a 401(k) with an 11% contribution from United, no employee match required.

A year after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, United filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The majority of pilots were pushed into lower-paying positions and sustained cuts to hourly rates. Some had an effective pay cut of as much as 60%.

Barath had to sell a Chicago condo he had just bought. He was senior enough to be spared the airline's furloughs, but he enrolled in an executive M.B.A. program and considered leaving for a career on Wall Street. He stayed and eventually returned to flying. Single and childless, Barath determined he could adapt his lifestyle to lower pay.

United pilots Alan Bewley and Dan Lohmar both had families at the time of the bankruptcy. "You miss out on recitals, baseball games and Christmas," said Bewley. "You're gone when the basement floods."

The bankruptcy also dealt them a major financial setback, which ultimately prompted them to pivot. In 2005, the two started United Wealth Management to help pilots invest their 401(k)s. That same year, United terminated its pension plan, making financial planning a more important component of their work. Bewley and Lohmar continue to work as United pilots as well.

The younger the pilot, the more of an emergency fund they should have, a minimum of six months worth of living expenses, Bewley and Lohmar advise their clients. You never know if there will be another furlough. But many clients don't come to them for advice until they are nearing retirement.

What's more, many pilots are feeling flush, particularly after they inked a series of lucrative contracts recently.

Pilots with seniority can make as much as $100,000 in a month if they live near a hub, fly the biggest planes and can pick up a lot of flights that pay overtime rates due to weather-related events, according to Timothy Pope of wealth manager 360 Aviation Advisors.

United, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines now make 18% nonelective retirement contributions to pilot 401(k)s, with most offering cash-balance pension plans to absorb extra dollars after the 401(k) maximum is reached.

Pope tells pilots to max out their 401(k)s and then save in other ways, including via backdoor Roth IRAs and through tax-efficient investing in a brokerage account.

Some instead choose to spend on boats, fast cars and planes, said Max Palmer, a Southwest pilot since 2019. Palmer, who co-hosts a podcast for professional pilots with his brother-in-law, a corporate pilot, said he sees "lifestyle inflation" after pilot incomes rise significantly.

"The longer this business sees good times where we have tons of pilot hirings, the more people forget the past," he said.

Barath, who is still single and now lives in Bronxville, N.Y., has remained conservative with his investments. On the advice of a financial-services executive, he avoided high-cost mutual funds with a spotty performance history. Instead, he put about 75% of his plan into an S&P 500 index fund. The remainder he spread across a value fund, a small-cap fund and a money-market account.

He left it there until a couple years before retirement, when he moved more into the money-market account. A Charles Schwab adviser who took over managing his money a few months after his retirement helped Barath create a budget to determine how much he would need each month. The upside is that he has plenty to live on. The downside is that almost all of it will be taxable.

Barath's adviser recommended he put 60% in stocks and 40% in fixed-income investments.

"I lived by the union credo: Whenever we get a pay raise, always take half and save the rest," Barath said. "You never know when you're going to get laid off."