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If you thinking about farm succession planning, this is a good source to start with. This is under 100 pages, so it was an easy read. It had a witty parable using wolves to examine the challenges and possible solutions that farmers face when dealing with passing the farm down to the next generation.
Heather covers the reasons behind the planning. One of the first things she tells readers is that planning early is key to maintaining successful family relationships and keeping everyone happy. If everyone knows what to expect, there won’t be any unforeseen surprises that one member of the family thought was going to be a plan, when another member thought the opposite. Essentially, this planning will keep harmony in the family, as much as possible.
Also, planning is necessary for the farm or business to maintain financial integrity. It would be tragic for generations to put all that work into this and have it go bankrupt because of a family feud that couldn’t be resolved.
Having the right team is also a key to success. Not only do you need the right Financial Advisor, but having a CPA and Attorney is essential to flawlessly passing things to the next generation with as little tax implications as possible. With those three key people communicating on your behalf, planning can be done seamlessly.
Heather offers tips to get you started in your succession planning and what type of people you want on your team. The fun and witty wolves parable was an easy way of telling a normally boring story. My particular favorite was the squirrel though, who was a wise and cunning character.
Heather Venenga helps readers answer the following questions:
- Who do I need on my team to get a solid generational farm plan in place?
- What are some best practices for getting my husband/wife/parents/in-laws involved and how do I get them to move forward?
- What are possible solutions to resolve the fair/ equal dilemma that many families face?
- How do I avoid the pitfalls I see so many farm families face such as losing farmland to the nursing home or divorce, being forced to sell the farm through the transaction process, or having to get a loan for land that the previous generation had paid off, or inheritance causing complete destruction of the farm and the family
- What is the first step of the process to get started?
This book will take these heavy topics and show that there are solutions that are proven to work as long as you take action.