Real Numbers For The First 5 Months.....

It will also affect what is used in determining your Social Security benefits.

Very true. The less taxable income you have the lower social security that is paid in. While we know S'S is struggling at the best of times it's still a program that has to be taken into account since you still have to pay into it.

With my past jobs and the income I have made in the past right now I would qualify for $1600 a mouth from social security. That's basically a minimum wage job when I retire. Now through in my 401k that I have been actively doing since 18 and that adds in another $1600 a month. I think I can live very well on $3200 a month in retirement.

Here's some useful info on what the cost of living does over time with the average inflation rate of about 3%. At 3%, the cost of something will double in 24 years. A $1.50 soda today will cost $3 in 24 years using that inflation rate. The inflation rate is an average because not all items go up at the same rate.

So say a person retires at age 65 and lives to be 85. During that time span the cost of living will almost double.....electric, water, groceries, gasoline, insurance, etc. So if a person starts out being able to live on a certain amount, and it is not indexed for inflation, or the invested money (if there is any) is not earning enough to keep pace with inflation, then there can be an income problem as time goes on. Some things will not be affected, like a paid off house, but for the most part, what we spend our money on does feel the effect of inflation.

This is why so many old retirees are hard pressed to get by these days. Their old fixed pension and SS from when they first retired no longer cuts it. So what do they do? Many of them have done reverse mortgages to add to their income. So when you plan for your retirement income, make sure to take that into account. Me, I'll probably just work til I die.

As most know I drive for Werner and run teams with my brother. Just thought I would show what I have grossed for the first 5 months of the year from 1/1/14 to 5/1/14. The pic below is a screen shot that I took from the Werner website as you can see in the header of the page. Now I could tell you what I have done so far this year but I thought I would post a pic of my YTD and let y'all do the math for yourself. It only shows 5 months but if you do the math and assuming that each month would be exactly the same week after week so......Not so bad for just being a company driver for a company that ,going by that "Other Websites" negative reveiws, is a horrible company huh? Just goes to show that either Werner is a bad company or that some people on the net are liars and drivers really can do well with any company if they are willing to put in the work and do their job.

$4350 a month. $1087.50 a week $21,750 for 5 month.

Now assuming that the same is true for the last 7 months of the year @ $4350 a month x 7 would be $30,450.

Totalling $30,450 + $21,750 = $52,200 gross for the year.

I think a few things need to be taken into consideration here. 1st as a team driver the company is more likely to give you longer runs. With two drivers the truck should almost always be moving. As a solo company driver I rarely get the 1900 mile runs that you probably get so often. As a solo driver my runs are between 400-900 mile runs with the occasional 1200 tossed in. Another thing to take into account is your home time. Taking 4 days home time every 4-5 weeks will curtail that nice annual number. Still, if you run hard and get along with your dispatcher good miles are available for solo drivers. As an example I got my CDL and truck this past November. My checks from Jan-May are a bit over 15K so far putting me on track for a 45k year. Not a 50, but still nice. The point is the money and miles are there if you're willing to go get them. As a side note, I started the year running hard thaki g home time every 8 weeks or so and my numbers were equivelant to guys. On track for 50+ but that was a bit much these past 2 months I've been taking home time every 4-5 weeks to be with the wife.

As most know I drive for Werner and run teams with my brother. Just thought I would show what I have grossed for the first 5 months of the year from 1/1/14 to 5/1/14. The pic below is a screen shot that I took from the Werner website as you can see in the header of the page. Now I could tell you what I have done so far this year but I thought I would post a pic of my YTD and let y'all do the math for yourself. It only shows 5 months but if you do the math and assuming that each month would be exactly the same week after week so......Not so bad for just being a company driver for a company that ,going by that "Other Websites" negative reveiws, is a horrible company huh? Just goes to show that either Werner is a bad company or that some people on the net are liars and drivers really can do well with any company if they are willing to put in the work and do their job.

$4350 a month. $1087.50 a week $21,750 for 5 month.

Now assuming that the same is true for the last 7 months of the year @ $4350 a month x 7 would be $30,450.

Totalling $30,450 + $21,750 = $52,200 gross for the year.

I think a few things need to be taken into consideration here. 1st as a team driver the company is more likely to give you longer runs. With two drivers the truck should almost always be moving. As a solo company driver I rarely get the 1900 mile runs that you probably get so often. As a solo driver my runs are between 400-900 mile runs with the occasional 1200 tossed in. Another thing to take into account is your home time. Taking 4 days home time every 4-5 weeks will curtail that nice annual number. Still, if you run hard and get along with your dispatcher good miles are available for solo drivers. As an example I got my CDL and truck this past November. My checks from Jan-May are a bit over 15K so far putting me on track for a 45k year. Not a 50, but still nice. The point is the money and miles are there if you're willing to go get them. As a side note, I started the year running hard thaki g home time every 8 weeks or so and my numbers were equivelant to guys. On track for 50+ but that was a bit much these past 2 months I've been taking home time every 4-5 weeks to be with the wife.

we roughly average about 6k in miles a week. 3k per driver as a team truck. Sometimes up towards 6800 to 7000k miles a week.When I was a solo driver with JB Hunt I was doing 3k every week.

Its very possible to do this amount of miles a week if you want to as a team and 3k or so a week as a solo driver.

One note most solo drivers should be getting between 2500 to 2800 every week without fail not counting breakdowns. If your not getting at least this amount then you are either a new driver and have not learned yet to be efficient which will come with time or something else is happening and you need to figure it out fast cause your leaving money on the table.