Financial Advice for those wanting to be an O/O

I started working for a trucking company that brought in auto parts to build cars. I went to the same supplier 3 times a night for 3 years. Typical schedule was 5 days/nights a week for drivers and employees at the suppliers. At times the schedule would slow down to 4 days per week or speed up to 6 days per week. It was always amusing and confusing to see new cars show up in the parking lot on the first week we started working 6 day weeks.

One side of my family was weathy and prominent in a small town. The other half was poor and even had a bootlegger. Poor people spend money foolishly. If you are buying anything but fuel at a convenience store you are wasting money. If you are poor you cannot afford to waste a dime. I know how it feels to wish you could buy your lunch every daya= or do what others are doing. That feeling and then giving in to it will eventually become "buy a new car, I haven't had one is SOOOO long." The less money you have the more important it is you stop wasting it on ANYTHING like cigarettes, vapes, beer/liquor, expanded cable/satellite TV, smartphones for all the kids, and a thousand other things. None of those things impress the other people for which those things are normal.
Making excuses to keep spending money you don't have is what makes you poor. Even once your income doubles or more, a poor person will always bee poor until they break that psychological trap. Debt is a time bomb that will blow up. Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard and many others have great plans to break you out of poverty, but they cannot overcome the obstacles you keep putting in your own way. The only good reason to borrow money is for something that makes money. Any comfort item is not worth borrowing to have.

 

$5,000 car

 

My advice for any new o/o is to only work for those with set mileage prices such as $2.10/mile, $2.20/mile etc.. the perecentage base ones can tell you that you were paid $120/Load (80% of the load) mean whiles they got paid $2500 for that same load how do you know when they don't State the numbers on the statements? Just my 2 cents.

 

Dave Ramsey is a schill for Dave Ramsey.
His advice (basic) is sound, but it's no better than you'd get from someone close by.
Spend less than you make.
Save. Make YOU a part of your budget.
Stop buying stupid stuff.

Run through Nashville north on 65 and you'll get to see his big, pretty building.

 

I'm glad Ramsey's advice worked for you. I find him to be very self promoting and naive' hoping that the "rich" give back.

Dave might get you there spiritually as tithing to a good grassroots organization (Salvation Army) is a good thing but Clark Howard will make you money rich. I've never seen a man more focused over the years on how to "Save more, spend less and avoiding getting ripped off!"

 

do you own a truck?

I never have, nor will I ever, work by the mile

 

Well, bully for you.

 

Dave Ramsey has his place in the financial world and serves a useful purpose in it for people who lack basic financial literacy and can't control their spending.

That said, if you're going to be in the market for 10 or more years but ESPECIALLY for 15 years or more, you would have lost out on so much money (even with the 2022 downturn) by paying off low interest debt rather than by investing that money in a basic target date retirement account of index fund, or something similar. If you have an interest rate 5% or lower there's no point in paying that debt off early if you're not overleveraging yourself in the first place.

EDIT - This is my advice for company W2 employees who don't own their own companies/own equipment. If you're a business owner it might be different paying down business debt, but I'm just talking about your normal W2 company employee whose only debt is maybe a mortgage and a car loan.

Also, right now you can get a guaranteed (taxable) return on up to a yearly $10,000 investment if you buy government ibonds. That's still a better return than the 6% mortgage interest rates that we are seeing right now and most people probably have a 5% mortgage rate or lower.

Individual - Series I Savings Bonds

As I said Dave Ramsey has his place and his advice is certainly better than living beyond your means and getting into a bunch of unnecessary debt, but that doesn't mean his financial advice is necessarily "good" either.

 

Exactly and to your point.
Why does it make sense to pay off a 3% house note, and holding on to a 10% car note?
In many ways he's right and was very good advice about 20 years ago, now he's just schilling for his books, videos, and seminars.
The guy is a dick, much like that other douche Rutherford.

 

Yes, so when working by percentage does the carrier you're Leased onto show you what they they're paid for the load before they pay you?