Pitfalls of Not Retiring

Pitfalls of Not Retiring

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report after this.

Many farmers and ranchers only half-jest about dying while on their tractor or never retiring. Although that is a good sign that the older generation enjoys what they do for a living, it can spell doom for both the individual and their farm operation future success.

Jolene Brown, farmer, professional speaker, author, and family business consultant warns members of the older generation who never want to quit farming to beware of three common pitfalls of not retiring.

Brown: “There are three things that tend to happen. Here is the first thing, you are going to have a health problem. I don’t know about you but the older I get the tougher it is to keep up with the machinery, and the technology and the livestock move quicker. And all of a sudden I have a health problem--either a stress, mental, worry problem or I’m going to have a physical problem trying to keep up. The second thing that will happen is that you will drive your successors absolutely nuts because they are going to do things differently. They will be take more risks and you do want them to do that because you want to be secure. The third thing that will happen if you don’t move along is you will bring the business down. Because agriculture today must function on the edge of calculated risk. The older I get, the less risk I want to take. And yet, the business needs to move along.”

Brown says it’s important that the older generation’s financial security in retirement be separate from and not rely on what the next generation does with the farm or ranch.

To read more of Jolene’s wisdom and humor go to www.jolenebrown.com.

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.