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Lenay: Hello, and welcome! The date is August 5th and you’re listening to the 59th episode of Big Rig Banter. I’m your co-host, Lenay Ruhl.
Troy: And I’m your most favorite co-host, Troy Diffenderfer.
Lenay: (Coughing and laughing). Oh hey! I can’t believe I forgot to use my favorite in there.
Troy: I know. How are you, Lenay?
Lenay: I’m good. How are you?
Troy: Good. I’m ready for fall already. It’s like…
Lenay: What?? Is it too hot for you?
Troy: After one week of a heatwave, I’m over it. Like, immediately. I’m like, alright, you know, when are the leaves changing? You know? When’s it gunna be a little colder? But, after like five days in a row of 90 degrees, which it feels like we’ve had 30 days in a row, I’m like totally over it already. I’m much more of a… I’m one of the few, I think, that likes fall and especially winter more than, you know, the summer months.
Lenay: Yeah, I don’t know. Fall is my favorite season. When I lived in Florida I did not mind 90 to 100 degree days. But, I think that’s because you could just go to the beach every day. Whereas here, it’s hot, it’s humid, and there’s not really anywhere to go to get in the water, so I feel you on that. I love fall. And like I said, I don’t really need the heat when I’m not swimming or whatever so, I get that.
Troy: Yeah and I would much rather be colder than hot. Because like, you can put layers on, but you can only take so many layers off. You know…
Lenay: Yeah.
Troy: Especially, you could get in legal trouble too.
Lenay: Yeah, that’s true.
Troy: Depending on how many layers you take off.
Lenay: (Laughing)
Troy: So, I definitely prefer the cold. But, speaking of like sunniness and, you know, being somewhere where the weather is nice. We’re gunna do an episode today all about retiring as a trucker. And things to consider before you retire and things like that, but I wanted to ask you, what… and I mean, I’m sure this is if we retire given the economy and stuff, but if we do get the chance to retire, do you have any retirement plans or something, are you gunna move away somewhere else? Or are you gunna, you know, travel the country. What about you? When you retire, what’s…
Lenay: Oh man.
Troy: What’s your ideal, you know, scenario?
Lenay: I don’t know. I don’t know. This is tough. Like, I’ve always dreamed of not having to work ever again, but I’ve never thought about what I would do when I retire, per say, because I feel like, when you retire, you’re older and you’re really, I mean unless you, stay in really good shape, which, let’s face it,
Troy: (Laughing)
Lenay: That won’t be me. You really can’t do as much as you can when you’re young. So, like, my mentality has always been to travel and do as much as I can now and not wait until later, but I do know that a lot of people see retirement as that time to travel and see the world and stuff. I guess like, considering I have traveled a lot, I think if I did retire I would probably, just pick a nice little beach town, you know, somewhere I could walk everywhere. And just completely relax. You know, I’m not one of those, like right now, today, I would go live in an RV, right now, absolutely.
Troy: Yeah.
Lenay: I think that would be awesome, but maybe not when I’m, when I retire I’m wanna relax. Right now is when I wanna go do all the things. So, I don’t know, that’s just my perspective. What about you?
Troy: I’ve thought about it before and it’s tough because, like, my instinct is to say, you know, after me and Lyd took our honeymoon up north, I fell in love with that area. So, like retiring to Maine, you know, being somewhere on the water. Enjoying that would be great, but, like I think just about, you know, how close I am with my family, so like right now I could never picture moving away from like my parents or at least, you know, somewhere super far away, where I couldn’t visit them every weekend and things like that. And I feel like I’m gunna be the same way, you know, when we do have kids, where I wouldn’t want to be far away from them, even if they are grown kids.
Lenay: True.
Troy: That’s a tricky thing. I definitely would like to, you know, find some cool hobby, whether it be getting my pilot’s license or maybe I’ll conquer my fear of flying that way.
Lenay: A pilot’s license??
Troy: I don’t know.
Lenay: That’s hilarious.
Troy: Something different like that.
Lenay: Yeah.
Troy: Or even starting a cool charity. Or something like that. I think that’s one way I’d keep busy because, you know, my grandfather is retired and I can tell that’s a huge thing that he goes through. Just trying to stay busy and active and finding things to do and finding a routine, cause I think I’d be so easy to just, like, sit at home all day, and you know…
Lenay: For sure.
Troy: Eat the same thing for lunch and things like that. You know…
Lenay: Yeah.
Troy: That would be my biggest worry. So, I think just finding a way to be involved and, you know, connect with people.
Lenay: Yeah.
Troy: I think that would be really cool to like start some kind of charity initiative or something where you don’t necessarily need to put 40hrs a week in, but it’s still gunna be something impactful.
Lenay: Right. Absolutely. Have you ever seen the show Grace and Frankie on Netflix?
Troy: I have. A few episodes. Yeah.
Lenay: (Laughing) I can so see myself being a Frankie type. But, anyway, they are both, I guess, technically retired and they go on this whole business endeavor together which is kind of funny.
Troy: That’s what we can do! We could start a business together. The old versions of us.
Lenay: Right?
Troy: Or maybe the podcast will still be going. It will be like, 30 years and we’re still covering different trucking topics and things like that. You never know. Maybe this will like blow-up and, you know, we’ll own an entire multimedia podcast company one day.
Lenay: Maybe. You never know. But, for truck drivers, specifically, there are some important things to consider, obviously, when you go from driving, especially if you’re a long haul driver to preparing to retire. There’s lots to think about, so we’re gunna talk today about five things that you should consider when retiring from trucking. Number 1 being financial security and I don’t think this is unique to truck drivers. Planning for retirement, saving for retirement is a huge, huge part of getting ready to stop working. And, obviously, as much money as you can save now, the more it will benefit you later. So, that’s just, kind of, self-explanatory. Although, I do struggle in the saving money department.
Troy: For sure. And just to go off that, number two is, is your nest egg big enough? And that’s another financially stable thing you need to consider and that starts as early as when you first get into trucking. Is trying to put aside some savings, and you know, I’m right there with you, Lenay. Especially just recently buying a house, I feel like I’m kind of just treading water here and trying to stay afloat and it’s definitely hard to think about 40 years in the future when you’re trying to just survive the present. And, obviously, given the rough economy now, it’s something tough, but that’s definitely something you really need to consider, is your nest egg enough? Yeah, you might have a pension, or you know, social security coming in, but you’re not going to have that steady, you know, working man’s income that you would normally get, so you really need to consider how long your savings is gunna last you. You need to budget out. And figure out how much you’re going to be spending each month and that’s really, really important.
Lenay: Yeah. I agree. And, just thinking about, you know, what you spend and what you normally do, day to day. So, as a driver out on the road, maybe some of your meals are comped and stuff like that. So, thinking about lifestyle changes you can make to get ready for retirement. So, what can you live without? And what do you definitely need enough money to maintain going forward? Obviously, other than your living expenses, right? Like, do you want to retire and then be able to travel to Florida every winter? You’re gunna need more money than someone who just wants to stay and retire at home. And then, the third thing is, to think about healthcare. So, everyone’s favorite subject, right? Think about if you have medical expenses. What you might have to pay out of pocket for that. A lot of times, when you retire, you qualify for Medicare, but depending on your situation, you might want some kind of supplemental insurance to go along with that, so definitely think about medical expenses for yourself and the people, you know, your dependents and your family, whoever that may be. Getting ready to retire, that can be something that people, honestly, that’s probably a huge thing that stops people from retiring early, right? Is that they would lose their health insurance…
Troy: Yeah.
Lenay: But, they don’t quite qualify for Medicare yet, so that’s a really tough one. So, definitely something to think about long-term.
Troy: Yeah and just to go off that, you know, with these medical expenses, and stuff, you can rack up debt really, really quickly. And, that’s the fourth thing to consider. Do you have a clean slate? You know, a lot of truckers might retire, but they still have all of this debt they have to pay off. So, you’re not, one, you’re not even making a working income and then, two, you’re forced to pay off all these, whether it be medical expenses or maybe you had leased a rig or  maybe you even purchased a rig. There’s truckers that have done that and that puts them in a tough situation. They might, you know, purchase a rig and plan to pay it off in 20 years, but if you retire in 15 years, that’s still, you know, five years you’re paying off a rig that you’re not even using. And then, you’re looking at, you know, selling it for less of a value, or trying to figure out a work around. And, that can definitely put you in a tough situation. So, try and consolidate your debt or at least clean your slate as much as you can, that’s definitely something to consider. And, in many cases, selling your rig is gunna be the best option.
Lenay: Yeah. For sure. And then the fifth thing is to think about life insurance. So, this is something that, you know, you probably want to think about even before you retire. If anything were to happen to you, you want to have life insurance, sometimes you have this through your job and so you want to look at maybe getting it when you retire through a private account or something like that. But, just so that you have some kind of protection for your family should anything happen to you. And then, there are also additional things to think about other than these five things. You know, like when you’re retiring. Are you ready yet? How are you feeling? Are you burnt out? I know the industry has changed a lot. So, there are a lot of people out there who are maybe feeling like it’s not worth it anymore. Or, it’s changed so much that they just can’t keep up with all of the technology. Things like that.
Troy: And I think the biggest thing is being honest with yourself as well. You know, we’ve all been there on the road where you get behind someone and you pass them and look over and you’re like, “How is that guy still driving? That guy should not be on the road.”
Lenay: Oh yeah.
Troy: Because he looks like he’s 300 years old…
Lenay: (Laughing)
Troy: So, that’s a big thing and I know, it’s tough to say and it’s tough to talk about, but…
Lenay: Yeah.
Troy: You have to ask yourself if you can physically still keep up with the demands of the job. Are you putting people in danger when you’re out on the road? That’s something you need to ask yourself. And, of course, I know you truckers are really prideful and you want to work until you possibly can’t, but that’s definitely something you need to ask yourself. And, one last note, I wanted to bring up is you know, this truck driver retirement is really affecting the driver shortage as well. And, you know, I’m not saying it’s a good or bad thing, but, we’re seeing a lot of truck drivers aging out of the industry. And many people think that’s a huge reason why there’s been a driver shortage, and you know, obviously, we want to get the new truckers up and running and we want to encourage younger people to enter the industry, but we’re seeing a big wave of truckers who are retiring. And, you know, a lot of these truckers are irreplaceable.
Lenay: Yeah, absolutely. So, I would say keep trucking as long as you can, but like Troy said, be honest with yourself about when it’s time to let go. And, honestly, you know, get information out there, talk to people about your experience as a truck driver and maybe you’ll inspire someone else to sign up.
Troy: Yeah and we really want to know what considerations are you making before retirement? You know, we want to hear from you on social media, use the #BigRigBanter. Contact us via email. You know, let us know some additional tips for truckers maybe looking to hang things up for good.
Lenay: Yeah, and definitely if there’s other resources out there, let us know that as well. And if you have a free minute or if you are retired and are looking for something to do, leave us a review!
Troy: Yes, we appreciate each and every review. They are really helpful to the podcast and we want to put out the best product possible. But, I think that’s all I have, Lenay.
Lenay: Yeah, me too. I think that about wraps it up. Thanks Troy!
Troy: Yep! And, once again, I’m your co-host, Troy Diffenderfer.
Lenay: And, I’m your favorite co-host, Lenay Ruhl.
Troy: And this has been Big Rig Banter.
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