Ok, my thoughts are - who better to ask than the men and women who are in the industry - here goes.
First a little backround. I'm 51 years old, wife is 39 years old and we are both in good health with clean driving records. (I have mild high blood pressure; on one prescribed medication) I've owned my own small construction company for the last 25 years and my wife has held various office and sales positions throughout her working career.
Like many fellow American's, life has a way of utilizing most of the funds we have earned over the years - divorse, children, homes, taxes - I'm sure all of you are familiar with the situations which require our financial attention.
Anyway, to make a long story short, retirement age is looming ever nearer and a plan must made. The primary positive to the trucking consideration is that the kids are grown and all but one son has left the nest. He is 19 and is working toward joining the electrician's union and will most likely be on his own soon. While discussing our retirement options one day, I suggested to my wife that we consider teaming up on an OTR rig and trucking our way toward retirement. At first she was hesitant about her abilities to drive such a large piece of equipment but has since warmed to the adventure part of the equation.
My question to all of you, especially the husband and wife teams out there is this: Is it possible to drive for 10, 12 years and earn enough to retire on?
I've seen on this site claims of husband and wife teams making over 150K per year, but are these claims realistic? Please know that I realize that there are a considerable number of variables involved and I also realize that you don't just hop on up and start driving at the top pay scale.
Respect for what you men and women do and the chance for alittle adventure shared with my wife has lead me to what I imagine might prove to be a rewarding way to fade off into the golden years. We would be most grateful if you would take the time to share your thoughts, ideas and real life experiences with us. Thank you all.

You could live like a hermit in your truck and do it. Husband and wife teams can make some serious money. But you're going to drop some serious money too.

If you're careful and watch your expenses. It can be done. I have several friends attempting it now. Not sure where they're at in their plan. I never see them.

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He has erected a multitude of new offices,
and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people,
and eat out their substance........

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution,
and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

Declaration Of Independence
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King George or Obama ????

If you do not have a house note/other misc payments yes. If you own your house, shut everything off, go otr and forget about seeing home more then 2-3 times a year its feeisble. But eating on the road in of itself is as much as a standard house payment. If youhave to pay a house note and for food, and for electric/water/etc you aren't going to h ave much left to save.

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I am a Camaro Girl because IROC!

You have unlimited chances to go too slow, but only one to go too fast.

Realistically you should make around $2,000.00 per week between the 2 of you. Of course this is dependant upon the miles you drive as well as the rate per mile you receive for pay.

It will take a few years to get to top pay scales and learn to drive 1000 plus miles per day. Couple that with learninghow to live on abudget and eat on the truck rather than at the truckstops and there is no reason in the world you cannot make that 150 grand per year mark. The key will be just how much of it you retained after taxes and expenses during the year.

If your smart you will take advantage of your employers 401k program especially if they offer matching funds. This will effectively reduce your taxable earnings and save for that retirement. I believe the current maximum contribution per person is $12,500.00 per year per person. If you both contribute the maximum amount you will be taking 25 grand off the table as far as taxes.

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Adapting to an ever changing world.

That is my husband and my plan also...he is already a driver ha been for 8 years..our plan is once kids are older to sell the house, and put stuff in storage, then go out together...we already have a strick budget for the truck....After five years we will build our retirement home...Its our dream but very realistic! Best of luck to you both!

wish2wander...thank you so much for posting your question!! My husband is 46 and currently a truck driver, I am 44 and planning on going to a truck driving school in the near future. Like your wife I go back and forth between being very nervous and excited. If I knew the money would eventually be there it would help me to know we wouldn't be wasting money on school. We don't make much right now but our bills aren't high either. Would love to make a good amount for 2-6 years to pay the house off and put some aside. We may be dreaming.....not really sure. Good luck to you and the wife

Have your husband ask teams what kind of money they are making . Many teams now are only getting what was considered good solo miles a year ago .

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2 Timothy 4:3,4–”For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

I still drive team with my spouse and our miles are off as compared to last year. We are making about 10% LESS over all per week.

Last year our route was from Camp Hill Pa out to Pico Rivera Ca and back. 2605 miles each way for a total of 5210 miles. Paid at .47 cpm (split) = $2487.70 + $22.00 for drops and hooks gave us a combined weekly pay check of $2509.70. Once in a while our route would be changed and we would have to go up to Joliet Il from the Los Angeles area and then to York Pa which would add a few hundred miles to the trip.

The customers in California cancelled several of our return trips so we were repositioned and given an alternate route this year. This year we run from Camp Hill Pa to Miami Florida twice a week. 1162 miles for each leg gives us 4648 miles per week. We now get .48 cpm (split) = $2231.04 + $22.00 for drops and hooks give us a combined total of $2253.04 per week.

562 miles less per week for a weekly reduction in pay of $256.66.

The good thing is no more California to deal with. Now we get home on Thursday nights as well as Sunday afternoons (usually) which gives us 3 nights at home each week plus a 34 hour reset between Sunday and Tuesday morning.

The bad thing is our Wednesday reload is not ready until 8 pm most nights meaning we had a 12 to 14 hour (unpaid) layover.

Our dispatcher does offer us extra work on Thursday nights but we usually decline the offer. My spouse would rather go home for the night than earn an extra hundred bucks or so.

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Adapting to an ever changing world.

Thanks so much for all the information!! That was the best detailed explanation I've seen yet. My husband gets paid per job & per backhaul where he works right now and it makes no sense to me at all. The per mile seems to be what most companies do. I realize with me being a new driver and since he only has about 3 years experience we won't make near as much as you and your spouse do but you are making a week what we earn in a month so there is hope for us.

We are doing this for retirement. We both lost our jobs when the place we both worked for closed. Husband went to trucking school, I sold our house and pickup, and since we were already debt free, we have no expenses other that the $190 for the POD (our stored furniture and things) internet for $57 and the cell phone, which is pay as you go. We spend about $400-500 per month on food (do all of our cooking and eating on the truck) and laundry. We have our car at my parents house and they have given us a room where we store our home-time stuff and extra seasonal clothing.

Living full time in the truck takes a lot of creative ideas to make it work smoothly. We are not team drivers, so it is easy for me to do the cooking, keeping the cab clean and so on. Being team drivers means you will both have to work and eat and keep "house). I had a touch of claustrophobia after moving from 1800 square foot home to a truck....but it soon passed.

We have been able to save a great deal of money by not eating in the restaurants and being frugal on our expenses. We eat out for a special occasion and do splurge a bit on home time on fun things to do. Our goal is to retire in 4 more years in Ireland. So far, we are hitting our financial goal of early retirement (5 years before pensions kick in). Best of luck to you!