Seasoned Drivers...'What if there is another Recession ?'

Haul food and a recession won’t matter,

 

Hey all you younger guys out there, what do you think about this...??

 

i’m 36. not young with regard to this conversation. perhaps it’s the company i keep, but everyone i know except 1 guy has their own home, at least 1 paid off vehicle, kids and everything to go along with it. i have a close knit group of friends, whose friendships span over half my life. i know them personally and their financial situations. 3 of them are cops, they don’t make much. none of us were given more than an opportunity. for people like us, real money is made with investments like the stock market and property.

i think opportunity now is 10x what it was even when i was 25. with new services, companies and the dot-com stuff going on, making money now is easier than ever. you don’t even have to leave the house to be “successful”. trucking is an aging industry and very narrow minded. there aren’t many ways to move freight via trucks. but there are new ways to do just about everything else.

this is the age and land of opportunity. i’ve seen so much new money pop up around here it’s almost sickening. it takes very little diligence to keep that new money and make it into something more.

 

I think the price of college tuition went up because of the government backed student loans. The college's are able to charge more and still get higher enrollment.
Student class size increases should have lowered tuition per student. At the least had no increase.

I know several "kids" that have received their degree with no student loan debt.
They worked in between classes.

Problem with some students, they think free money! I don't have to live in a dorm and I have all this money to party with.

I know some college student aid counselors just include loans in a students financial package without explaining the expenses and debt being incurred.

Counselors goal is to keep as many students in school (for profit) not necessarily in the students best interest.
Look at the universities endowment
Fiscal year (FY) 2016
Institution Rank order1 Market value of endowment (in thousands of dollars)
Beginning of FY End of FY
United States, all institutions $553,509,685 $542,240,202
Harvard University (MA) 1 37,615,545 35,665,743
Yale University (CT) 2 25,542,983 25,413,149
University of Texas System Office 3 22,548,856 23,861,771
Stanford University (CA) 4 22,222,957 22,398,130
Princeton University (NJ) 5 22,291,270 21,703,488
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 6 13,474,743 13,181,515
University of Pennsylvania 7 10,133,569 10,715,364
Texas A & M University, College Station 8 9,754,202 9,858,672
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 9 9,809,705 9,600,640
Columbia University in the City of New York (NY) 10 9,639,065 9,041,027
University of Notre Dame (IN) 11 8,784,381 8,748,266
University of California System Admin. Central Office 12 6,950,190 8,367,764
Northwestern University (IL) 13 7,588,029 7,478,167
Emory University (GA) 14 6,787,163 6,902,625
Duke University (NC) 15 7,296,545 6,839,780
Washington University in St. Louis (MO) 16 6,889,230 6,526,726
University of Chicago (IL) 17 6,553,571 6,121,266
University of Virginia, Main Campus 18 6,098,997 5,774,744
Rice University (TX) 19 5,573,038 5,354,508
University of Southern California 20 4,709,511 4,608,714
1 Institutions ranked by size of endowment at end of fiscal year 2016.

Recession.
Lower your expenses before it happens.
Get out of debt. I see car and truck ads, financing for 7 years, wow. Buy a cheaper used vehicle.
Buy a lower cost house.

I see too much of the "entitlement" attitude. Not just among the younger folks. Hands out for free this and that.

Trucking in a recession.
2008-2010 . Because of trucking I was able to grow financially. Provide good service. Helps if you have direct customers, not just broker board freight.
With that said, load board freight was all I hauled 10 years ago.
Now I have a seasonal customer keeps me busy 6 months a year. Which is enough.
Good luck to all.

 

Don't try to predict markets or the economy because even economists who do it for a living can't do it accurately. How many so-called experts predicted the housing bust and subsequent recession? Not many.

Best thing to do is keep your debts low and always make a habit of saving/investing. Dollar-cost averaging is your friend. Stay invested but if you feel prices getting a bit too steep, than maybe pare back your equity investments and bump up the cash. Look at Warren Buffet, his Berkshire Hathaway is sitting on over $120 billion in cash right now. One of his famous quotes is: "price is what you pay, value is what you get." They just can't find anything to invest in right now because prices are too high. I've followed Buffet for years and even own some Berkshire. His wisdom about markets and investing are well worth looking into.

Another thing is to diversify your revenue stream. Some truckers have started YouTube videos and have seen success there. Others have a side business or skill they can utilize besides trucking. One guy I know owns 7 rental properties. When the rates are bad, they simply park their rigs and maybe go back to wrenching trucks or investing in their other businesses.