A Trucker Still Driving in His Late 70s Can’t Afford to Retire

Hank Faber grips the handle of his 2009 Volvo with the practiced ease of a trucker who’s maybe spent more time on the road than off it. He adjusts the seat, checks the mirrors, and starts the engine. For Faber, this truck isn’t just transportation — it’s the reason he can keep paying the bills.

Faber and his wife live paycheck-to-paycheck on his trucking income, their Social Security, and his wife’s IRAs.

“I should be retired at my age,” said Faber, who was 77 at the time of his interview with Business Insider in late 2024.

However, being self-employed most of his career, Faber never had a 401(k) and spent all his retirement savings years ago on a vacation spot in Kentucky.

“There were weeks when I drove a little less and my wife said, ‘Hey, we’re running short,'” Faber said, adding, “I’ve had to hit the road and go pick up two, three extra loads to finish out the month to raise my income.”

At the time of his interview, Faber said his Volvo semi-truck, which he bought in 2009, had 999,740 miles on it. During his more than 35-year trucking career, Faber said he’s driven over 4 million miles accident-free, earning him the Landstar Roadstar award for safety and professionalism.

He’ll probably keep driving for as long as his health allows. “If my health would not allow me to truck, that would change our income drastically,” he said.

Faber’s situation is not uncommon. According to a BofA survey last year, an increasing number of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. The survey found that 25% of households spend over 95% of their monthly incomes, leaving little left for savings.

Faber’s big regret

Faber and his wife have about $6,000 in expenses each month. They haven’t taken any big vacations in years, only go out to eat a couple of times a month, and their medical bills are largely covered by insurance, Faber said. Much of their expenses are paying back loans.

“I had to refinance my house when we got in financial trouble back about 15 years ago,” Faber said, adding that “in 2020, we managed to refinance at an interest rate under 3%. If we don’t miss a payment, the house would be paid off when we’re 99 years old.”

In addition to home payments, Faber said he has land and car payments. He’s also paying back a $18,000 loan on his truck he had to take out when it broke down about three years ago. He said he was nearly finished paying it off at the time of the interview.

“If I could change things, I would have just stayed on the farm,” he said.

Faber’s farm

Before trucking, Faber said he owned a couple of farms in Indiana with 208 acres. He and his wife grew corn, soybeans, and wheat and raised sheep. In the mid-80s, though, misfortune struck two years in a row.

The first year, drought robbed them of their crops. “We had to take out federal crop insurance to protect us,” Faber said. The Farmer’s Home Administration gave him a loan with 13.75% interest, he said.

In the second year, a major hailstorm damaged their crops again. Unable to pay down the loan, it kept growing.

“It became $147,000. We could not keep going,” Faber said. “So the farm was sold for $50,000. It was such a small amount, it didn’t cover the mortgage. We lost money on that and still had to pay off the property tax,” he said.

Looking back, Faber said they should have tried harder to stay because the farmland would be worth a lot more today. “If we could have managed to keep it, I would’ve been probably retired years ago.”

After they left the farm, Faber began trucking.

Faber never had a 401(k)

Faber said he used to make well over $100,000 a year gross when he was driving a semi full-time, but after expenses like taxes, permits, and meals, he only had about a third of that left. “It’s quite expensive,” he said.

Being self-employed, Faber never had a 401(k) with any employee matching to help him grow a nest egg for retirement. However, “I did have a program where I put a small amount away a month for about 10 years,” he said.

He cashed in all of that money, though, to buy a vacation spot in Kentucky. “We bought this lot with a trailer house, screened-in porch, and a boat,” he said, adding, “Because I spent it all, I don’t have any retirement funds put away at all.”

So, Faber plans to keep driving for as long as his health allows. Hank has chronic lymphocytic leukemia, CLL, but it hasn’t required treatment in the nine years he’s had it, he said.

One day, he hopes to be financially stable enough that he can sell the truck and take a river cruise through Europe. “I would like to go to Portugal and the Czech Republic and stuff and take a cruise like the Viking cruise or something for my retirement.”

This story was adapted from Hank Faber’s interview for Business Insider’s series “Life Lessons.” Learn more about Swanagan’s story and others’ in the video below: