Welcome back!
I think that the circular trade route (shifting rare goods around the systems) has lost a lot of appeal - it took me ages to get an A rated fsd for my trading AspX...
Nowadays there are transport/salvage missions that offer far more credits than trading rare goods, so a couple of those missions and I'm heading to an updated FSD.
Use your existing reputation to find a matching port, then look at the missions available. If your reputatuion is high, then you can get a decent payout.
Alternatively, look at the passenger missions, but beware of taking a "wanted" criminal out unless you perfected sneaking into a space station (thrusters on full, heat sink, request permission and pray that there's not a Clipper coming out!).
I'd recommend you join a non-PvP group (e.g. Mobius) or fly in Solo when approaching Engineer sites/community goals/popular stations until you're happy with the new engineered modules and happu with PvP.
