Don't work yourself into a bad standard of living

Americans move from city to city much less now than they did even 20 years ago. Somehow the idea you can spend your whole life anchored in one spot caught on. I don't know if it's due to children being dependent on mom/dad for a decade or two later than in the past, or maybe the amount of internet-enabled jobs explains that.

 

I agree with everything posted here.

Been driving for over twenty years, been flatbedding for eight. Current debt load is student loans (bleah), a recent home equity loan, and a very, very recent truck loan. All my payments for the month can be made out of ONE week's paycheck as a company driver.

Decided to go the O/O route because I've peaked as a company driver. There is no further up for my ambition. I'm at pay cap for every carrier I have any interest in working for, and very few carriers promote to office from within. Besides, getting a desk job means a significant cut in pay.

So to feed my ambition, I bought a truck. Now it will be MY responsibility to maintain, and to be profitable. And I'm financially secure enough to get out there and succeed (or fail) while still having a safety net under me.

Wish me luck!

 

I like stories like this. Good luck, I hope it works out great for you.

 

Oh you don’t have to do that... but I can understand why you might not be earning what you feel you deserve... or getting that job you feel your entitled too.., or the work life balance you are so unjustly being deprived of.

Sad that we try and #### on those that key on what makes life successful. There are a lot of drivers here... and just people in general, who have made mistakes and try to help those from making the same.

This is after all an advice forum...if you don’t like it, don’t read it. Attitude is 90% of life... if you have a crappy one, you’ll continue getting crap.

 

Good luck br.... financial confidence helps in financial stability....

 

I enjoy these posts where I’m made out to be this holier than though.... work ethic guru who knows it all about everything.

I don’t.

I partied like most everyone. Fell in love a million times... drank beer... and spent freely.

When I got a job at Kenworth building trucks, I was making $11.50 an hour working nights... living high off the hog. Then I met a co-worker who was retiring. He had nothing of value. Aside from his pension, he had a large debt. He was working to be poor, and poor he would stay in retirement,

A friend of mine had bought a house. He was fixing it up and decided he wanted to rent it.... he did this twice and was working on a third when I asked him how he did this...

I began working for him during the day. I’d help him fix things in the house. In exchange for the work, he fronted me the ability to buy MY first house. It was NOT easy... I’d wake up at 6AM and work until 2:30 PM then build trucks until midnight.
My life was practically non-existent of any “fun”.

I made some mistakes with the house, but managed $100 profit every month renting it... this is after the payment. Then I VA’d my second rental property. Things began to pick up. I started making some extra cash.

Between what I was making at KW and the income I was earning from my rentals... I risked A LOT and bought 5 shares of Amazon at around $200-$400 a share. (I sold this stock when it was $950 a share.. I owned over 250 shares... you do the math) I didn't have the money to really be doing this... it was many nights with beans and weanies and macaroni and cheese. Every month I did this, for months on end.

I met my wife.. who is way smarter than I ever was. She liked me because I used to be a Ranger in the Army. We dated and she was working at Microsoft. I married her and when we had kids, I stayed at home and took care of them. Between what we earned in rentals and her MS salary, we began to build a potent portfolio.

We bought a house when you could get them for a song and sold when you got a kings ransom for them. My family is now on the cusp of moving to a much lower cost of living region, where the house will be paid for.

If you make smart decisions about WHAT you do with your money, you enable yourself to pick and choose what you want to do with your life... Its that simple. It isn't without risk... nor is it mistake free. You'll learn quickly that money can bite and hurt bad if you don't manage it right. It takes sacrifice and work.

Blah Blah Blah you say....I'll tell this because its advice. Every day I hear about somebody on this forum who is crying about the work.... How they can't back up a truck, about how they want to quit... How if only they had a shorter truck, shorter hours, more money. They're so in debt they can't buy a cheap record album. So many crybabies not only about the work but about someone dishing out advice. All I'm trying to do is help.

Some of you are willing to ask questions and some I'm sure are thinking about movement into something different. If all you want to do is pitch a ##### about how hard it is, how it sucks, or cry because someone is laying out whatever their story is so you can figure out what you're doing wrong... Great, more power to you.

You can ##### that I'm a Ward Cleaver. I offer up what my method is (Out of trillions of ways to make money) because I see how many young people and just people in general think your going to get rich in this industry without doing any work... physically or with the money you have right now.

But you don't have to read it.... If you do, at the very least, quit bellyaching about it.

 

That reminds me..
Talk to momma about a new H-D...

 

Born and Bred in Milwaukee Wisconsin... My home state!

 

There's lots of good advice in this thread. From everyone. Including Iowa80. I say that without joking.

I am not a fan of the narrative "people are poor because they're lazy" though.

One thing I don't like about America, there are huge gaps between the poor and rich here. You do not see that in most Western European countries.

I ask, with all seriousness, the people who Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen sing about in these two songs - Should these Americans have simply "worked harder" and stopped being "lazy"?





Or did their elites sell them out to the lowest bidder?

There are some things beyond a persons control. I think that is fair and worth acknowledging.

A lot of success in life is about creating your own opportunities, yes, but much of life is just dumb luck. Right or wrong place at the right or wrong time.

For every person making a fortune from their Seattle home, is another who lost everything in Detroit.

 

.... and I’m supposed to not make money on my home? I lived in Milwaukee.... I joined the military to get out. I would have wound up doing what most did there without college... dead end job making nothing.

I understand what you’re saying... but some of it isn’t hitting on all cylinders for me.... it’s the internet and some of what you say may not be exactly coming across right...

“One thing I don’t like about America”...

I’m just curious... if you like Europe... why not pick up and move there. I was there in the eighties....not impressed. But if it’s what you want... move.

I don’t think you want to wish Europe on America.... two way different animals. If you’ve never been there you probably should think about using it as an example.

Ever heard “The River” by Springsteen? I spent some time with a girl in Welch West Virginia..... so reminded me of “that” kind of life. A dead end coal town.

But I don’t have any control over what someone else’s conditions are there or anywhere else where jobs are gone and life is deteriorating because of industrial decay in middle America.

Is it an injustice that I worked hard to get where I have? It’s a little like reparations... am I to pay for the sins of those that made me the money? The renter? The buyer? The Amazon worker?

If you’re tied up wondering how to right the wrongs of the world let me give you some personal advice.... those demons will never be satisfied. Something always comes along to take up your time and money. A great example is global warming... no matter what you do HERE, the Chinese, Japanese, and Indians will continue to pollute.

I do what I can. I give to pet shelters, Cancer awareness, Hurricane relief, Red Cross. I try to be a good steward to the earth.

The human race can be awful... but don’t martyr yourself because you feel if you actually made some money you’d be a part of some system.

I read recently where they’re protesting for global warming. One individual said “all we have to do is live a little bit less comfortable so others can be comforted”

No one wants to live uncomfortably... when you’re 50 do you want to come home and have to live with less because some politician says so?

That isn’t America... and what you have to figure out is whether you take it or leave it.

I appreciate the response though... I’m getting older by the way.., I’m set in my ways. It’s just how it is... and I’ve got no hard feelings to your point of view. Whether we agree or not... at least we can have the conversation.