-
When Average is Great
Uncle Sam offers a tax advantage to farmers and fishermen that no other taxpayers receive. When your income is very high compared to previous years, the tax laws allow you to assume that you were able to average all of your farm income over a four year period. This can save you several thousand dollars […]
-
Farm Lending–Which Type Are You?
David Kohl, ag lending consulting, divides target farmers and ranchers for future agricultural lending into four categories and percentages: 10 percent approaching $600,000 in annual revenues and planning to grow this toward $1.5 million in revenue 30 percent that will be scaling down to a rural “lifestylers” or those commonly living on five to twenty […]
-
Stimulus Package May Benefit the Ag Industry
House Democrats proposed last week an $825 billion stimulus measure including $275 billion in tax breaks and $550 billion in spending that touches almost every area of the economy including agriculture. The bill included $245 million for the Farm Credit Service Agency to purchase a computer system to considered necessary to implement the 2008 Farm […]
-
Millennials−Are You Ready?
I was one of the last baby boomers (missed the 1950’s by 28 days) and all of my four boys will end up being known as the Millennial generation. Many of these will end up being your employees and the type of compensation and feedback that works for us does not work for them. Chris […]
-
Congratulations to My Childhood Hero
Jim Rice, an outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, was finally voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame today. I was in high school in the mid to late 70’s when Jim Rice was playing for the Red Sox and he was by far my favorite baseball player of that era. He retired almost 20 […]
-
Don’t Wait Too Long
The Department of Agriculture released many crop reports today. As a result, corn, soybeans and wheat prices were sharply lower on the cash and futures markets. In many cases, the drop was 10% or more. Prices has steadily risen over the last few weeks and there were many chances to lock in a profit on […]
-
The Mustard Seed
I have given many financial seminars where I start out with the story of two employees.. Each employee is giving the option of receiving $1,000 per day in wages for 28 days or starting with a penny and having their wage double each day. Most people assume the $1,000 per day will be a much […]
-
Super Bowl of Farming
The Super Bowl of Football is coming up in about two weeks. I have always thought that the game of football has many similarities to the business of farming. During the off and pre-season, the team is acquiring talent based upon their needs and goals for the upcoming season. As farmers, during this off-season, we […]
-
The Rule of 72
During several of meetings with clients during each year, a client will ask me a question about how much money they will have in a number of years. Sometimes, for fun, I will try do this in my head and I will generally be very close. For example, they will state they have $100,000 to […]
-
Down Time is Go Time
This time of year for most farmers is a period of down time. There may some crops that are planted, but dormant. Some farmers spend time maintaining their equipment for the new year. I think this time is what I call “Go Time.” This is the time to: Prepare and review your operating budget for […]