Retiring Early To become a Trucker... Should I Yes or No???

since you warned us your story was gonna be long, i did not read it.

that being said, stay at your current job, and get full retirement SS or pension benefits, THEN get into trucking.

the job of trucking just ain't worth it, and this from me, retired after 48 years.

 

I'm with @CoachGKJ , life is too short to wait.
Several of us on this forum have homes overseas also. Great plan he has there.
I met a Schneider driver that bought a home in Costa Rica and married a woman there. When I talked to him he planned to retire and move there within 24 months.

 

The OP won't recover the investment in three years.

Ought to just sell the high priced real estate right now, before it tanks and interest goes up again, and head to the Caribbean now.

 

www.OOIDA.com is a business website for the owner-operator.

 

You said five years, and that you are 57. Are you going at 60, or 62?

I would worry more about the potential loss on the house if it were me.

 

Please make sure to check out the Owner-Operator section and the Hotshot section, in addition to New Drivers and Experienced Driver sections. I would suggest you work as an employee in a company doing the type of "trucking" of most interest rather than consider jumping in as a one-man band and planning to "learning to swim" before the "drowning" is complete. Let someone pay the expenses of the business while you learn the business. I've only ever been an employee, or company driver, and never Owner-Op or trucking business. I would think that the smallish start-up costs of establishing the DOT/MC company couldn't hurt. There seems to be a significant benefit of having a somewhat "aged" DOT/MC number. I commonly hear that new O-O have some difficulty getting business during their first 90 days as certain brokers won't do much/any business with "new entrants". Once past that 90 day period more/better brokers are available. I don't kow if you have ongoing expenses for the DOT/MC number while it "ages" and you keep doing your current gig. I hear brand new semi-truck owner-ops quite insurance figures of $20,000 per year and up. I would think that the benefits of an "experienced" DOT/MC number probably would not overcome the cost of maintaining insurance for a 180-360 day period if you needed to maintain insurance. I don't know.

IMO, the economy is starting to slide and it appears we are headed toward a recession much worse than 2008. I'm overly cautious by nature so I would always be slow to make any change, but it seems the consensus of economic recession is accepted by almost every source I know of. As to the "early" part of the early retirement question most financial experts strongly warn no to do it in most cases. Virtually all I know of the matter is in relation to Social Security and not state/govt/company retirement. As I remember the numbers are about 70% of those collecting Soc Sec retire at the early retirement age and this is a clear financial mistake for the majority of them. Mistake as in they are collecting a significantly smaller monthly check and the results of that smaller check, and smaller COLA, only catch up a couple of decades after that early retirement. Early retirement makes the most sense if longevity is highly doubtful or current working conditions are unbearable. In most cases "toughing out" the years between early retirement and full retirement age is the better financial option. Consider the COLA issue. A 5% increase of a larger monthly benefit i(available when retiring at the normal or full retirement age) is more dollars than a 5% increase on the benefit available when taking early retirement. In retirement, the effects of inflation are often the more important consideration than the monthly benefit. The good news, all you need to know to make the smart decision is the exact date of your death and the inflation rate for every year between now and then. Easy peasy. LOL

 

@CoachGKJ

Since you mentioned you’ve been researching You Tube and what not, I have 2 contrasting interviews on new authority zero experience startups on a channel I started.

The Showme Kiwi Trucker is my handle there,

New Authority nightmare, and Zero CDL experience new authority are the 2 that may give you some valuable information.

Good luck whichever way you go.

 

@staceydude is another interview I need to have because his is a good story similar to what the Coach is considering here.

 

Yup….. I go with this plan


Forget trucking

 

You know - that's what age and experience and everything in between have to offer on here.

@Oxbow ain't a spring chicken - I'm but 47.

There's a time where you have to look at the clock and realize it's running out, and act accordingly.

All the mathematical equations in the world won't save any of us from Father Time.