Career choice
Hello, right now I am stuck between two choices I have to make. One would be becoming a police officer, which is something I’ve always wanted to do, and make 74k starting then 103k after 5 years. My second option is staying at my current job as a Fedex driver, and becoming a contractor and servicing a specific area where I would manage my own employees and have my own trucks. I would have to take out a loan for this of about 400k. After expenses, my take home pay would be about 100 to 110k. Once the route is paid off I could be looking at 130k a year take home pay. I am currently 22, zero debt besides a car lease of about 500 a month. I have 30k saved up. What is the best advice you could give me upon making my choice of which to pursue?
Terry Says
Whoa — this is a tough question and a personal one. I’m so complimented that you asked, and I’m not sure I can give you any helpful advice.
But a couple of things stand out to me, from a financial point of view. (As a mother, I don’t want you to be in the line of fire, but I’m impressed that you want to serve!) So let me stick to finances. Think about these issues:
As a police officer you will earn a pension, and disability presumably. BUT your pension is funded by the city or state where you serve. And although there is a long-standing tradition of great pensions for public servants, many cities and states are woefully underfunded — and might even go bankrupt or be forced to cut pension in the future (and some might have to change their constitutions to do so). So while you have job security, you might not have retirement security.
The Fedex opportunity sounds interesting — but quite a financial commitment with no guarantee of future value. Iknow a lot of people are buying “bread routes” — getting up early to make deliveries of perishable items like bread And those “routes” have value in the resale market. But I don’t know if a Fedex route can be transferred/sold and thus has any resale value. You’d be your own boss in the Fedex deal– but that comes with unexpected costs, like car breakdowns. When you say you’re paying $400k, is that for someone’s route — and does that include the vehicles, and have you considered the cost of insurance?? It’s easy to project increases in value on a spreadsheet, but sometimes the unexpected costs blow your forecasts out of the water. A lot of this deal is in the financing contract you sign, so be sure to have a business lawyer look it over.
And now, it’s up to you! But thanks for asking — Terry
