A rational family sitting down for a budget discussion should raise savings, reduce the risk those savings face when invested, and make a point to keep up with every twist and turn of emerging U.S. tariff and tax policy.
Oval Office intrigue drags on farm-level decisions
Farm Financial Planner: In the churning world of U.S. import policy, tariffs stalk Canada’s bewildered farmers
Farm machinery market now a riddle without a punchline
Farm Financial Planner: Tariffs will pile up on new equipment crossing borders en route to final assembly
Current market turmoil is rooted in U.S. tariffs and that uncertainty cascades down to combines, harrows, tractors, trucks — you name it — leaving farmers, at the tail end of the process, cautious.
Making sense of tariff terror
Farm Financial Planner: Tariffs’ effects on Canada’s sales of actual goods to the U.S. should not be as catastrophic as feared
If you see Trump’s tariff war as a man-bites-dog story, you’re right. The history of U.S. tariffs is a tale of tragedy and “we shouldn’t have done that” economics.
Farmers’ sons have no interest in taking over family farm
Farm Financial Planner: A tax-light liquidation of a farm calls for some planning well in advance
Jack and Mary need to retire, but a sale of their farm will the only way to get there because their grown children have no interest in farming. A tax-light liquidation of a farm, though, will take some planning well in advance.
Parents retiring, leaving farm to two sons
Farm Financial Planner: A sale of personal assets to a farm corporation is subject to a now-increased capital gains exemption
A couple we’ll call Jared, 68, and Leanne, 66, from eastern Manitoba, have built a successful grain farming operation. They have three sons: Josh, 40; Craig, 38; and Shawn, 36. Jared and Leanne want to work toward retirement. The plan is to have Josh and Craig take over. Josh and Craig have both been farming […] Read more
What will a Middle East war do to your costs and prices?
Bonds and Risk: Expect fuel costs to be up, interest costs down
Farmers are caught in a developing cost squeeze. Global oil costs are threatening to balloon from about US$80 today to over US$100 per barrel, which would be a 25 per cent leap. On the other hand, interest rates in the U.S. and Canada are scheduled to decline by as much as 1.5 per cent by […] Read more
What good are bonds?
Bonds and Risk: The price for the greater security bonds provide is that they do pay less on an historical basis compared to stocks
Bonds have long been scorned by investors lured by the seemingly higher returns of stocks. To be honest, on a historical basis, comparing returns over decades, stocks do pay more than bonds — but those stocks pull off this feat with much more pain and suffering. With the higher reward goes the higher risk. For […] Read more
Two brothers want to merge two farms, simplify ownership
Farm Financial Planner: Maximizing the proceeds from their estates for the benefit of charities will take some planning
In south-central Manitoba, two brothers who we’ll call Herb, 75 and Fred, 60, have farmed for more than 40 years. They’ve raised cattle and produced mixed grains. Neither has married and there are no children or other obvious heirs. In their four decades of farming the brothers have built up substantial off-farm assets. There’s enough non-registered […] Read more
Limited income, large hanging debt, retirement plan in jeopardy
Farm Financial Planner: What a couple in their early 70s needs to do to retire
A couple we’ll call Frank, 72, and his wife Helen, 71, live on a farm in southwestern Manitoba. They have 486 acres with mixed grains and cattle. Their present income — Frank’s Canada Pension Plan payments of $3,680 per year, Helen’s CPP benefit of $2,400 per year, two Old Age Security payments totaling $17,000 per year, […] Read more
Six quarters and two sons
The problem of fairness in an estate plan
Rob, who is 65, and Sarah, who is 61, farm six quarters of grain and pasture in northwestern Manitoba. They have two sons, Michael and Steven, each in his 30s and married. However, Steven, who has a town job, has decided he would like to try his hand at farming. The issue in devising a […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
