GROW MEMBERSHIP VIDEO LIBRARY

300 SERIES: Farm Succession Strategies

300 SERIES:  FARM SUCCESSION STRATEGIES

300 – Navigating Family Dynamics

301 - Fair vs. Equal

TOPICS COVERED IN VIDEO FOR GROW MEMBERS: 

  • Family members often define “fair” and “equal differently.
  • Learn the key points to consider for valuing farm assets between heirs.
  • Watch a real-world example comparing an “equal” distribution vs. a “fair” distribution.

302 - Communication: Do We Tell Everyone?

TOPICS COVERED IN VIDEO FOR GROW MEMBERS: 

  • Understanding who is in control, and who’s livelihood is impacted most.
  • Key factors to determine who should know the plan.
  • Family meeting considerations.
  • Bullet 4

303 - Communication: When Do We Share Our Plan? (VIDEO COMING SOON!)

TOPICS COVERED IN VIDEO FOR GROW MEMBERS: 

  • Tell everyone too soon, and your options to make changes later may be limited.
  • Tell everyone too late, and you may miss key input that might affect your decisions.
  • Learn the optimum time to communicate your strategies based on your goals, your operation, and your family dynamics.

310 – Farm Valuation Methods

311 - Farm Land Valuation

TOPICS COVERED IN VIDEO FOR GROW MEMBERS:

  • Explore multiple ways to establish discounts to the land valuation for estate buyout or equalization purposes.
  • Land values based on the income it generates vs comparable sales approach through an appraisal.
  • Pro’s and Con’s of fixed valuation vs floating valuations.

312 - Machinery & Equipment (VIDEO COMING SOON!)

TOPICS COVERED IN VIDEO FOR GROW MEMBERS: 

  • Key points to consider for establishing the machinery value for estate purchases.
  • See why pricing the machinery high might be advantageous in some situations.
  • Common buyout terms and stipulations for machinery purchase through an estate.

313 - Farm Entity Valuation (VIDEO COMING SOON!)

TOPICS COVERED IN VIDEO FOR GROW MEMBERS: 

  • Learn how farm entities can offer more flexibility for discounting valuation for gifting, purchase options, and equalization strategies.
  • Key points to consider for establishing lack of marketability and minority interest discounts.
  • Quick history of applicable discount options for entities, and where we are today.

320 – Farm Succession / Distribution Methods

321 - Purchase Options

TOPICS COVERED IN VIDEO FOR GROW MEMBERS: 

  • Learn the critical components of structuring a purchase agreement between the heirs.
  • “First Option to Buy” vs. “First Right of Refusal”
  • Why you might want to consider having a purchase agreement structured outside of your estate documents.

322 - Equalization Strategies

TOPICS COVERED IN VIDEO FOR GROW MEMBERS: 

  • Does it ever make sense to prioritize which assets go to each heir rather than splitting every asset into equal percentages?
  • Real-world example of an equalization strategy vs a purchase option strategy.
  • Pro’s and con’s of utilizing an equalization strategy of farm assets to the farm heir, and non-farm assets to the off-farm heirs.

323 - Farm Entities: C-Corp / S-Corp / LLC

TOPICS COVERED IN VIDEO FOR GROW MEMBERS: 

  • Understand the main purposes for owning assets in a formal entity.
  • Overview of entity types (C-Corp, S-Corp, LLC, etc.)
  • Pro’s and con’s of various entity types
  • Key considerations for transferring entity ownership through an estate.

324 - Gifting Strategies (VIDEO COMING SOON!)

TOPICS COVERED IN VIDEO FOR GROW MEMBERS: 

  • Current annual gifting limits.
  • When a 709 Gift Tax Return is required.
  • Pro’s and con’s of gifting assets today vs inheriting them through an estate.

330 – Consistency in Farm Management

331 - Establishing the Operating Terms (VIDEO COMING SOON!)

TOPICS COVERED IN VIDEO FOR GROW MEMBERS: 

  • Who will make the management decisions in your operation if the parents pass away or become incapacitated?
  • Learn how the lack of an operating agreement or management rules can disrupt a farm even before the parents pass away.
  • Know the ways to improve management consistency regardless of the owners, trustees, or financial power of attorney.
  • Understand the key points to include in your estate documents to protect both the farm heir’s and off-farm heir’s interest for managing the farm.

332 - Coordination of Appropriate Estate Documents (VIDEO COMING SOON!)

TOPICS COVERED IN VIDEO FOR GROW MEMBERS: 

  • Examples of how plans can fail without coordinated documents.
  • Distribution through ownership and beneficiary designations that compliment your estate estate strategies.
  • Management control through trustee powers, powers of attorney, and operating agreements based on asset ownership methods.

340 – Funding Your Farm Succession Strategies

341 - Traditional Financing (VIDEO COMING SOON!)

TOPICS COVERED IN VIDEO FOR GROW MEMBERS: 

  • Example of purchasing farm assets through a typical loan.
  • Evaluate the cost per acre, total cost, and age at ownership.
  • Review the pro’s and con’s for traditional financing as part of a farm succession strategy.

342 - Contract Sales (VIDEO COMING SOON!)

TOPICS COVERED IN VIDEO FOR GROW MEMBERS: 

  • Example of a contract sale for farm assets.
  • Key terms to include in a contract sale.
  • Pro’s and Con’s of a contract sale.
  • When a contract sale might make sense as part of a farm succession strategy.

343 - Leveraged Funding - Life Insurance Options (VIDEO COMING SOON!)

TOPICS COVERED IN VIDEO FOR GROW MEMBERS: 

  • Example of using life insurance as part of your farm succession strategy.
  • Total cost, cost per acre, and age of ownership using life insurance vs a traditional loan or contract sale.
  • Pro’s and Con’s of life insurance strategies.
  • Types of life insurance products that can make sense, and those that don’t, for farm succession.

344 - Land Values Changed. Now What?

TOPICS COVERED IN VIDEO FOR GROW MEMBERS:

  • Five considerations for your existing plan when land prices climb
  • Strategies for adjusting a purchase option through your estate
  • Alternative ways to fill the “gap” when land values increase

SERIES 300 VIDEOS

Using the right legal documents to organize your estate is important. But if the farm falls apart in the next generation because of strained family relationships, disagreements in management, or inadequate cash flow to fund a buyout, then what was the point? In this series, we talk about the family issues that often come up when creating and communicating a farm succession plan. We map out options to meet the parents’ income goals, maintain cash flow for the farming heir, and treat the farm heirs fairly/equitably based on the parents’ intentions.

More videos will be added regularly!

In this Series you will:

See the age-old “fair vs. equal” presented from multiple perspectives. Discover how to incorporate “family values”, rather than just “market values”, into your farm succession strategies. Learn what the key terms and valuations methods that should be considered when structuring a family buyout on farm assets. Know how to coordinate your gifting strategies with your farm succession strategies. Learn the steps needed to keep consistency in the operation whether parents are alive and well, incapacitated, or passed away. Put the pencil to the paper and evaluate which funding options might work best for funding your farm succession goals.

Learn the strategies that grow farms and keep peace between generations.

Join the GPS GROW Membership Today!

There is a way to successfully transfer your life’s work to the next generation.

Farm Estate GPS is the guide that finds your way.

Farm Succession Planning Starts Here

Our Grow Membership has hundreds of videos and other education material to help you be prepared for any farm family event. 

Congratulation on taking the first step towards securing your farms future through succession planning.  We will send you an email with great information shortly.