Using Farm Assets for Retirement

This immensely helpful and well-written guidebook by Steve Richards, published by NY FarmNet, lays out concrete strategies for planning for retirement.  The guidebook is useful if you plan to transfer to the next generation, sell the farm or somewhere in-between.  It includes lots of worksheets and discussion prompts for you to work through in making concrete plans

From the book:

“Don’t get stuck in what I call the “five-year trap.” The five-year trap is a common syndrome among farmers and non-farmers alike. The five-year trap is this: when I ask a farmer when he or she will retire, they say, “oh, in five years.” When I ask the same question five years later, can you guess what the answer is? “In five years!” By not setting a firm date, retirement planning may never get done. “Retirement planning starts by picking a date for retiring from day-to-day farm duties and then planning what you need to do to be able to achieve that goal.”