GROW MEMBERSHIP

A: Well this is a loaded question! Everyone has an opinion on their version of “fair”. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter how we define “fair” at Farm Estate GPS. What matters is how your family is going to define it! The first step is to recognize the difference between “market value” vs “family value”. For the very small percentage of families, we’ve worked with over the years, there is no difference. They run everything through the family farm operation at competitive market rates. An overwhelming majority of families have some form of discounted rent, cost share, and/or purchase valuations. The key is to set up a strategy that cash flows for the farming heir, provide adequate income for the parents, and treats the off-farm heirs fairly/equitably based on the parents’ definition of “fair”. When you think of fair and equal, do you mean equal pieces of the pie across every asset class in the estate? Do you think of equal total value distributed among all the kids? Do you think of equal income streams regardless of the underlying asset class? Equal usefulness of the principal? How about equal management responsibilities or equal risk? Check out many of the videos in our Grow Membership Video Library for examples.

A: We have designed our Grow Membership to provide great information to farm families who are looking to educate themselves so they can ask better questions and understand their options. We get paid by the annual subscription. For those that are ready to roll up their sleeves and apply these tools to their own situation, we offer our Harvest Membership. We help families develop their goals, review their estate and farm situation, identify the gaps in their current plan, and map out a customized strategy to accomplish their goals. Then we work with their attorney and accountant to make sure the everyone is on the same page. We do charge a fee for this service at a customized rate. Please contact us to receive a quote. Lastly, there are financial products such as life insurance that often come up in optimizing a farm succession strategy. This may be in the form of funding a leveraged buyout, a cash equalization tool, or debt coverage. Quite honestly, we’ve come across a lot of junk products that benefit the financial company more than the customer. We’ve been doing this for over 18 years. We know what works, and what does not. We are not into the products with a lot of bells and whistles. It simply must do the job it’s needed to do at the lowest cost reasonably available. For those that are interested in coordinating their life insurance with their farm succession plan, we can shop it out to over two dozen carriers to find the best tool for the job. We get compensated by the companies we represent if or when life insurance is needed.