Estate Planning News

How Do U.S. Farmers Plan for Retirement?

Retirement and succession planning are of considerable importance to farm households and there are good reasons to believe that they are affected by savings and retirement policies in ways that are different from the rest of the Nation's households. For example, compared with the U.S. labor force, farm operators are considerably older. In addition to working longer past traditional retirement age, farm operator households tend to have several income sources and different forms of wealth, as compared with the general population. While fewer farm operators are covered by employer-sponsored pensions than are nonfarmers, a majority of farm operators save from current income on a regular basis and have accumulated diversified financial portfolios, including individual retirement savings.

New Tax Laws Benefit Farmers—The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 represents a major overhaul of U.S. Federal income tax laws applicable to farmers and other business taxpayers. A change in the law means a majority of commercial farms will pay lower Federal income taxes.

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	Did You Know?
	A "Living Trust" can be used to hold legal title to and provide a mechanism to manage your property You can select the person or persons you want -- often even yourself -- as the Trustee(s) to carry out the instructions you want in the Trust and name one or more Successor Trustees to take over if you cannot. Unlike a Will, a Trust usually becomes effective immediately, continues in force during your lifetime even in the event of your incapacity, and continues after your death. Most Trusts are "revocable" which allows the person who creates the Trust to make future changes, modifications and even to terminate it.