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.
Tag Archives Farm Financial Planner
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
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.
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
From a private business to the family corporation
What’s left after harvest depends on how the farm is organized and taxed
The idea of the family farm is just that — a concept. The reality is that tax rules, inheritance law, good business practice and the fundamental problem of making a living have changed the family farm from a private business to the family corporation. Organization and tax rules are now almost as important as farm […] Read more
Farmers could benefit financially from this trend
Farm Financial Planner: Urban dwellers pay high prices for small land parcels
There is a trend for city folk to buy country property to get away from the COVID-19 virus, city lockdowns and everything else associated with the world pandemic. It’s a pattern of outmigration from densely populated cities. Farmers are potential beneficiaries. They can sell small parcels at relatively high prices. I have found city folk […] Read more
How to keep the farm together, a complex generational transfer
Farm Financial Planner: Parents devise a plan for middle-aged children to keep the farm whole
A couple we’ll call Max, 75, and his wife, Betty, 70, farm 1,000 acres in western Manitoba. They have three children who are 40, 48 and 45 years old. The eldest and youngest have city jobs and no wish to farm. The middle son, who we’ll call Brian, will take over the farm. The issue […] Read more
Farm Financial Planner: COVID-19 farm relief programs
Programs are blessings in bureaucratic disguise, valuable and complex
Federal relief programs for economic losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic including job losses, business interruption, nonpayment of wages, unemployment and illness are being addressed by a web of federal and provincial programs. Farmers can benefit from several plans, provided they can document losses and, in some cases, pay back some part of subsidies. What […] Read more
Farm Financial Planner: A COVID-19 plan could save the family farm
In a term of illness, a succession plan can provide for farm management
Death may be inevitable, but the new reality of COVID-19 is that it can strike long before the end of a planned retirement. Conventional preparations like having a will and a plan for distribution of farmland and machinery, inventory, and financial assets, such as stocks, bonds and bank accounts, are usually done as distant contingency […] Read more
Farm Financial Planner: Retirement income and inheritances
How to create a retirement plan and leave a legacy for your children
In central Manitoba, a couple we’ll call Jack, 57, and Susie, 54, have found themselves in a crisis. The couple left active farming and now rent their land to a neighbour. Sixteen years ago, Jack got a city job and sold 480 acres of the farm, half its original 960 acres, to pay debts and […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
