I lost $180,000 in retirement savings on Wall Street. Now I drive Uber and Lyft 75 hours a week.

This as told essay is based on a conversation with Bill Lewis, 58, an Uber and Lyft driver who lives in the Poconos and has completed approximately 43,000 trips. He previously worked on Wall Street and owned a Nestlé Toll House franchise. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I’m 58 and working harder than ever. I driving for Uber and Lyft seven days a week, about 75 hours total.

I didn’t expect to find myself in this position.

I once owned about $180,000 401(k)built over a career that spanned more than twenty years on Wall Street.

I started out as a runner on the American Stock Exchange in 1989 and eventually became a broker dismissed in 2013 when algorithms reduced the need for humans on the trading floor.

After Wall Street I decided to try something completely different going into business for myself.

I put all that retirement money into a Nestlé Toll House franchise, a dessert bakery chain. I didn’t know how running a business and I thought buying a franchise would help because I could trust the structure of the company.

Sales weren’t the problem. In my first year, the franchise experienced strong sales growth compared to the year before. However, it felt like the mall was just too expensive for me to make a profit.

I ran the company for four years. By the end, I had earned less in those four years than the seven dollars I made during my freshman year Uber ride.

I keep riding for freedom

I make about $75,000 a year driving for Uber and Lyft. The main thing that keeps me DIYing is the freedom.

If something happens at home, I can stop driving. If my brakes need to be repaired, I don’t have to call a boss. I have always loved driving and I learned how to make a living doing it.

Yet I know how quickly things can change.

I absolutely regret having my pension savings in the Nestlé Toll House franchise. That decision is the reason I work harder now than ever.

If I hadn’t put the money into the business, I would probably still have my retirement fund and be a lot better off.

So for now I’ll keep driving. There are parts of the job that I appreciate and parts that frustrate me. The largest is the how Uber treats drivers.

I’ve started taking more Lyft rides lately

I started driving for Uber in 2017, and I learned that making a living from this has to be selective.

Uber gives me about eight to ten seconds to look at a ride and calculate what I would make per hour, consider the mileage and return trip, and decide if it’s worth taking.

That’s part of my frustration with Uber.

I understand that Uber is a business and needs to make money. I worked on Wall Street, so I’m not against big companies. I just want drivers to be treated fairly.

It’s frustrating when it feels like the company has all the information, while I have seconds to figure out if a ride makes financial sense for my bottom line.

I’ve seen deals for around $80 to drive 75 miles to Brooklyn, for example. If I count the return journey, gasand about $25 in tolls, I might actually lose money by accepting that trip. That’s why I haven’t taken an Uber ride to New York City in five years.

I’ve gotten better at protecting my bottom line by only taking rides that meet my $30 per hour goal and using Lyft more often.

Lyft shows me an estimated hourly rate for each ride, making it easier for me to quickly identify deals that meet my goal.

Since I’ve become more selective about the Uber rides I choose and take more Lyft rides, I’ve increased my pay by almost 25% since earlier this year.

An Uber spokesperson told Business Insider: “We want to make Uber the best platform for drivers and regularly engage with them about their experiences. Drivers have full control over whether to accept or decline an offer made to them. Where Upfront Fares are live, drivers see the most important details before accepting a ride, including exactly how much they will earn and the passenger’s destination, so they can decide if a ride works for them.”