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A Light at the End of the Tunnel?
For the agribusiness owner, retirement should be a light at the end of the tunnel. For some it’s a sense of freedom and reward. But, for others it’s an oncoming locomotive at full speed. Regardless, any business – be it a farm, agribusiness and large operation – is only as valuable as the return (monetary, and beyond) a person is able to derive from ownership. It’s not uncommon for an owner, after 40-s...
Succession Planning - the Basics...
Planning Ahead for your Farm Transfer from the Pennsylvania Center for Farm Transitions provides a good concise summary of succession planning for farm families. The article begins, "Because of the complexity of farm transfers, they require considerable thought, discussion, and planning beforehand... With the plan developed, when retirement starts to approach, your farm and family will be ready to make a transfer that not only meets everyone's needs but is transacted smoothly and with a...
Design Your Retirement
USDA recently released its 2007 Rural America at a Glance report. One segment addresses the critical trend of Challenges from an Aging Population. The points made include that, "Growth rates from aging-in-place... will triple among the nonmetro older population from 6% in this decade to 18% in the 2010s." Furthermore, "Compared with their metro counterparts, nonmetro older Americans generally have less income... creating greater demand for... financial assistance." Far...
Strategizing for Agribusiness Retirement
The University of Nevada Reno Cooperative Extension offers good information on "Retirement Strategies for Agribusiness Owners." Authored by Kynda R. Curtis and Margaret W. Cowee of the UNR College of Agriculture, the article covers concerns that are specific to farm and ranch households. A few excerpts: "Due to the nature of farm business, farm households have different savings habits and more diverse financial portfolios than typical U.S. households... Retirement planning...
Retirement... some day!
If you are a family business owner, additional pre-retirement elements come into play - including all-important decisions about owner and management succession. Because your family identity, as well as your household financial support, is tied to the business, there is an even greater depth of consequence to the objectives. Among the issues to be considered are: - When do you wish to transfer ownership? - How can you maximize wealth accumulation (Investment program? College ...
Choose to Save.
American Savings Education Council's "Ballpark Estimate" is a quick planning guide to help you gauge your progress toward your retirement goals. Incidentally, ASEC also has a great menu of calculators available to help you with decisions on everything from mortgage rates to college savings. You may find some of these tools to be useful to you as you design your succession and retirement objectives.
Goal: A smoother transition
"Sooner or later, everyone wants to retire." So begins Succession Planning Issues for Family Businesses by Susan Ward on Small Business:Canada. Ward lists six specific succession planning tips for family businesses, which we summarize here. (I recommend that you click though to the linked article to read the complete version.) "1) Start business succession planning early. 2) Involve your family in business succession planning discussions. 3) Look at your family real...
It's time to get started
Why some families postpone the inevitable from the Toronto Star (Ellen Roseman, February 25, 2007) outlines a complex family business scenario. No two sets of family circumstances are alike, and each may change from one year to the next. Comprehensive, guided succession planning addresses the needs and wants of each participant as your vision becomes reality.
When do you plan to retire?
Ask a farmer that question, and chances are he'll chuckle and make a comment like, "Who'd run the place?!" or "What else would I do?". All the while, he's just hoping to avoid the real issue - that he's completely unprepared for retirement. A farmer wants his agribusiness passed free of encumbrances to the next generation, but needs a plan designed to allow financial independence for his own retirement. Retirement planning can seem like a chess game in which a move here...