Hot Shot!

One of my favorite oft repeated words of advice is, “Buy things that pay you to own them. Don’t buy things that cost you money to own.” This is usually followed by a harangue about cell phones, cable TV service, and the like or encouragement to invest in stocks, bonds, and income producing property.

Yesterday I heard a story about a young man who magically turned something that cost him money to own into something that paid him a salary. This young man lives in Pennsylvania, somewhere North of Williamsport, in the heart of the natural gas boom. Like many young men living in rural America he owned a pretty nice late model pickup truck that came complete with monthly payments not to mention all the other expenses associated with owning a vehicle. He heard that the gas exploration companies were hiring “hot shot” truckers at over $100 per hour, so he went down to the local Ford dealer and traded in his truck for a Ford F350 Super Duty commercial pickup truck, a vehicle powerful enough to pull the 30 foot flatbed trailers used in this line of work.

Hot shot trucking requires a driver who can respond instantly to a customer’s needs at any hour of the day or night. The driver goes to the well site, or wherever. The customer hooks a preloaded 30 foot flatbed to the truck then sends the driver off to wherever the drilling equipment is needed. At delivery, the customer unhooks his trailer and sends the driver on his way. The driver needs to be willing to work crazy hours. Since time is really money in the oil and gas business, schedule is everything. That said, a young man with no education and a driver’s license can earn over $100,000 a year—easy.

This young man actually did even better. He had an accountant shelter his truck in a corporation. Now all the expenses of owning the vehicle are tax write offs. I don’t know how long the natural gas boom will last, but at least one young man is earning a very good living. More importantly, he has learned how to create and run a wealth producing tax paying business, lessons that will serve him well for the rest of his life.