How Many Expediters Retire With Money?

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
Expediting is an old enough industry now to have people in it who made it a 20-year career. I know of a few still in the game who go back to the Robert's Express days. I'm wondering about those who have retired as expediters. I know none of those but presume there are some.

Does anyone know of any retired expediters who made money in the trade and managed it well such that they are now funding their retirement with assets built while they were on the road? I don't need names. I'm just wondering if anyone out there has done this.
 

Dynamite 1

Moderator
Staff member
Fleet Owner
we have been at it going on 12 years and our expedite career is well on its way to funding our retirement along with what ss we will draw. we have 8 more years to be at it the full 20 but unless some unforseen circumstances arise we should make it. in this business you have to provide for your own retirement money and see to it all the living necessities are paid for. we could probably manage to live off of ss at retirement but no sense in taking a gamble, especially with the cost of living rising as much as it does.
 

Monty

Expert Expediter
My retirement from trucking, all facets, was a plan from many years ago. The fact I did not work for union companies, and was self employed since 1985 lead to my wife and I creating a plan where she carried the insurance and retirement plans. I earned the cash for our living expenses. She had a bring home pay that was really low, most of her compensation went toward the retirement.

Hence I, (personally), have only Social Security to rely on, as a couple we have done quite well.

Now that retirement is in progress, (she already has), I am at her mercy! Hope she does not prefer a cabanna boy in Aruba and drops me like a hot potato!

Can expediters retire? I dunno .... I would think it takes a couple working a plan, and seeing it implemented. As a single operator .. I'm not so sure.
 

AMonger

Veteran Expediter
<laughing at the notion of people believing social security will exist very far into the future>

2012: Ron Paul or not at all.
The lesser of two evils is still evil.
 

zero3nine

Veteran Expediter
Not retiring any time soon, but I'll be set when I do.

Roth IRA and 401k. Add my cash stash to that.

Been at it for 21 years and will go another 20. Been contributing for 15 years and will have about 1.4 million between those 2 accounts by 2030.



Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
 

OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
<laughing at the notion that some people believe Social Security will be gone in the near future...>:p
 

purgoose10

Veteran Expediter
Wait a minute. I thought you retired to be and Expediter, not the other way around. You retire and spend all your money buying a fancy truck instead of an RV and haul freight while visiting the part of the country you haven't been too. Man am I confused.:confused:
 

davekc

Senior Moderator
Staff member
Fleet Owner
I guess it would depend on what someones version of "money" is. We have had several teams over the years that went to permanent retirement and are currently doing well.
I am mindful though that many choose expediting as a second career. Many (my self included) have other sources of income as well. I retired from another business but get a pension and still do some consulting work to that non-expediting industry. Everyone has a story. Proper financial planning is the key. Even more so in a treacherous economy.
 

Monty

Expert Expediter
So am I purgoose ..... I'm having a hard time with this "retirement" thing ..... I'm just not ready, though the "clock" says I am.

At 67, thank goodness, I am in perfect health except for some joint issues. It's "time", but I'm just not ready for the rocking chair.

The wife can not run team with me, since she is insulin dependent, and can't get a cdl .. so it would all be on me, even if she was willing, (which she isn't!)

Somehow, in the back of my mind I have always had 70 as a target date for full retirment, and it's hard to break that mindset!

I don't need to be out here, but I WANT to be! That make sense?
 

davekc

Senior Moderator
Staff member
Fleet Owner
<laughing at the notion of people believing social security will exist very far into the future

I would agree with that. If planning for retirement, I wouldn't be counting on anything from SS. Just about due to go broke.
 

OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
I would agree with that. If planning for retirement, I wouldn't be counting on anything from SS. Just about due to go broke.
I every confidence they will pump it up with taxpayer money...;)
The Can. SS WAS broke at one time just like this one is now....now in a surplus.....it CAN be fixed....
 

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
Perhaps I should have worded the original question differently. Let me try again. Based on your observations, what is your best guess? Of the retired expedieters you know and know about, what percentage of expediters retire with money (meaning that they made and kept enough money as expediters to fund their retirement lifestyle of choice)?
 

Dynamite 1

Moderator
Staff member
Fleet Owner
so, do you only want info on ones already retired that are using money they made from expediting.
 

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
so, do you only want info on ones already retired that are using money they made from expediting.

Yes. That's what I am primarily looking for. The info I seek is simply a best guess on a statistic. Of the retired expediters you know, how many of them -- what percentage -- are living on money they saved from their expedite earnings?

No names needed. The percentage figure is what I seek. And I ask only for a best guess because that's about all there is to go on with a question like this.

Your story is interesting and commendable, but it relates only tangentially to to the question about expediters who are retired (you are not retired).

Personally, I know only two expediters who worked the industry for many years and then retired. Except for maintaining contact with a small number of expediter friends, old expediters seem to fade away.

Both teams that I know worked as married-couple teams. One team retired as paupers, living in a paid for house that is worth a fraction of what it once was, driving a very old car and living government check to government check.

The other team may not be retired at all, depending on the definition of the term. They are as old as many retirees are but they now work full time in another field having nothing to do with trucking. They took that job because they were concerned about their retirement and expediting was not paying the freight, so to speak. The job they took provides health care and other benefits.

So my answer to the question is zero percent. I know of two retired expedite teams and neither one is living off money saved while expediting over many years.

EDIT:

Thinking about this a little more, two other older teams come to mind. They also left expediting but whether you could call them retired or not is open to debate.

One team did fairly well as expediters, doing it for a long time, paying off their house and earning a decent living. They also accumulated some money but ended up "lending" it to their children, admitting that they will probably never see that money again. Last I heard, they were doing some non-expedite driving but health issues were limiting that or threatening to do so.

The other team has no money and never did. They made money while they were on the road over many years as expediters but always found ways to squander it away on the next great business opportunity, new truck, new toys or whatever. Like all of the others mentioned above, they are cleanly out of expediting (sold their trucks) after doing it for many years but are not living on expedite earnings.
 
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Monty

Expert Expediter
Retirement planning, whether it be from expediting or working at McDonald's is not a process of the working enviroment.

It is a clear decision made many years prior to the event. By saving a simple $10.00 a week for a liftetime can garner a small fortune in the years to follow.

But .... the IRS will claim much of that as you retrieve it .... it was taxed once, (when you earned it, unless it was pre-tax income), and now it is taxed again, such as my SS payments.

I truly think expediters could as easily retire with income generated in this field, if they simply planned to do so.
 

OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
I can't think of anyone that has truly relied 100% on expediting alone....I mean there are those with Military pensions....some sort of company pension....a spouses income or pension...
 

purgoose10

Veteran Expediter
Perhaps I should have worded the original question differently. Let me try again. Based on your observations, what is your best guess? Of the retired expedieters you know and know about, what percentage of expediters retire with money (meaning that they made and kept enough money as expediters to fund their retirement lifestyle of choice)?

This is getting better and better. Expedieters. Now we're loosing weight and retiring. Next we will make it on a thousand a month SS. LOL!
Just kidding.:cool:
 
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