Farming is full of investments, but those investments aren’t in traditional things like stocks and bonds- they’re in things like land and machinery. Matt Roberts, chief planning officer of the West Des Moines-based Syverson Strege, said that’s why it’s even more important for farmers to have financial plans.
Succession planning is a very important part of that financial plan. Roberts said there’s no silver bullet when it comes to succession planning, but having open communication can help to make a potentially very emotional decision a little bit easier.
It’s also important to get those succession plans done as soon as possible, especially since the future of the estate tax is uncertain.
Even if your farm won’t have an estate tax problem, Roberts said it’s still a good idea to have buy and sell agreements so that the farm heirs will have some added flexibility.
For more information, visit Syverson Strege at onlyworkforyou.com.
