Lately I ran into an old client sitting proudly in his new red pickup. He was from the old days when I was pretty new at helping farmers redesign their family farms for the future as a farm family insurance agent. I hadn't seen him for years.
He is a tiny bit older than me, still hanging around the farm, although he has just about turned things over to his youngest daughter and son-in-law,
His just turned sixteen years old grandson sat proudly beside him, incredibly it was his grandchild who was behind the wheel. I really couldn't believe it, I had to ask to see his license he looked so young.
I asked my old customer if he was nuts or what letting the kid drive his brand spanking new pickup, it had less than 3,000 miles on it. He did look a little nervous sitting there in the passenger's seat.
His response, "how else is he going to learn, his father simply won't take him out and his mother's too tied up., besides he asked if he could drive me to the coffee shop."
What drives folks crazy about youths is they're going to ask for what they want to do and we must figure out why they should not do it.
Three things came to mind a week or so later when I was reading about estate taxes and the proposition by some that estate taxes are a huge threat to passing down the farm to their next generation.
As the farm's greatest asset is the land, famously illiquid and whose price regularly climbs during good times and bad - estate taxes suck the heart out of the business at the worst possible time.
I am sure there are statistical data to "prove" that the final failure of otherwise successful farms is on account of these taxes.
It was fascinating to consider. My old client's father knew that all three boys wanted to farm and their John Deere Garage may not have the capability to make room for everyone. The additional land was the best solution, if only they could buy it right.
The old customer (actually it was his father) I was speaking with was able to double the scale of their holdings back in the 60's by buying the farm of a neighbour whose family had to sell up to pay their taxes and other expenses when the old man died.
Reputedly he had failed in the end, not thanks to the taxes, but because he failed to do anything to reduce them, divide them, delay them, or discount them during the time when he was alive.
The truth is that is wasn't the taxes fault. That was the law of the land and everybody knew it. They do not keep it a secret and surprise your heirs at your funeral.
My old client had seen how things had worked out for their neighbor and pushed his father to begin planning for their future. By the point I met him his father and mom had passed way and he was prepared to start the method for his folks.
The second thing that came to mind was a query. Why do successful farmers put off developing a succession method so that the farm business can survive from one generation to the following? Why do they do something that leaves the farm family in danger and sets up an unprepared next generation for failing?
Why are not more farmers and ranchers rushing to seek help developing a good succession and estate plan?
The kid behind the wheel gave me the solution to that.
He was not old enough to be scared to rap about it. He wasn't scared his grand pop would say no, and regardless of whether he did he would still have a chance to ask him again at the cafe in front of his friends.
As we age we find it tougher to sit down with family members and express what we need the future to seem like, for ourselves and the others.
If you are one of those folks that will wait for the government to do whatever it's going to do about taxes or anything more, your family will have the chance to sell your farm sometime at an auction where your neighbours will be there to pick up the pieces of your estate for 10 cents on the buck
On the other hand, if you are like that 16 year old kid and not terrified to discuss it, you just might be shocked with the outcome.
It's possible that just about everyone else has been waiting for your to bring it up.
Don't disillusion them.
He is a tiny bit older than me, still hanging around the farm, although he has just about turned things over to his youngest daughter and son-in-law,
His just turned sixteen years old grandson sat proudly beside him, incredibly it was his grandchild who was behind the wheel. I really couldn't believe it, I had to ask to see his license he looked so young.
I asked my old customer if he was nuts or what letting the kid drive his brand spanking new pickup, it had less than 3,000 miles on it. He did look a little nervous sitting there in the passenger's seat.
His response, "how else is he going to learn, his father simply won't take him out and his mother's too tied up., besides he asked if he could drive me to the coffee shop."
What drives folks crazy about youths is they're going to ask for what they want to do and we must figure out why they should not do it.
Three things came to mind a week or so later when I was reading about estate taxes and the proposition by some that estate taxes are a huge threat to passing down the farm to their next generation.
As the farm's greatest asset is the land, famously illiquid and whose price regularly climbs during good times and bad - estate taxes suck the heart out of the business at the worst possible time.
I am sure there are statistical data to "prove" that the final failure of otherwise successful farms is on account of these taxes.
It was fascinating to consider. My old client's father knew that all three boys wanted to farm and their John Deere Garage may not have the capability to make room for everyone. The additional land was the best solution, if only they could buy it right.
The old customer (actually it was his father) I was speaking with was able to double the scale of their holdings back in the 60's by buying the farm of a neighbour whose family had to sell up to pay their taxes and other expenses when the old man died.
Reputedly he had failed in the end, not thanks to the taxes, but because he failed to do anything to reduce them, divide them, delay them, or discount them during the time when he was alive.
The truth is that is wasn't the taxes fault. That was the law of the land and everybody knew it. They do not keep it a secret and surprise your heirs at your funeral.
My old client had seen how things had worked out for their neighbor and pushed his father to begin planning for their future. By the point I met him his father and mom had passed way and he was prepared to start the method for his folks.
The second thing that came to mind was a query. Why do successful farmers put off developing a succession method so that the farm business can survive from one generation to the following? Why do they do something that leaves the farm family in danger and sets up an unprepared next generation for failing?
Why are not more farmers and ranchers rushing to seek help developing a good succession and estate plan?
The kid behind the wheel gave me the solution to that.
He was not old enough to be scared to rap about it. He wasn't scared his grand pop would say no, and regardless of whether he did he would still have a chance to ask him again at the cafe in front of his friends.
As we age we find it tougher to sit down with family members and express what we need the future to seem like, for ourselves and the others.
If you are one of those folks that will wait for the government to do whatever it's going to do about taxes or anything more, your family will have the chance to sell your farm sometime at an auction where your neighbours will be there to pick up the pieces of your estate for 10 cents on the buck
On the other hand, if you are like that 16 year old kid and not terrified to discuss it, you just might be shocked with the outcome.
It's possible that just about everyone else has been waiting for your to bring it up.
Don't disillusion them.
About the Author:
Successful farm insurance agents play a vital role in the monetary security of the small company owner's organization and their family. They are the only people who bring cash to a crisis to replace the assets lost. To nc farm bureau insurance agents, providing security is their only mission.
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