I was honored to be one of the presenters at the Salt Lake Estate Planning Council’s Fall Institute on Thursday. I had a chance to teach other planners about the tools and techniques that can be used when planning for legacy assets, like a family cabin or a family farm. In attending one of the other presentations during the day, I was struck by this comment from Alan Gassman and attributed to Bob Burke:

The great Olympian Jesse Owens once said: "We all have dreams, in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort.“ I spent the day Wednesday meeting with farmers and ranchers from various parts of Southeast Idaho talking about succession planning. I am sure many felt overwhelmed at the prospects of starting to plan for the transition of the farm or ranch. But, like I always tell my kids, great things happen when you show-up in life and they showed-up. They were ready to start or continue the process of succession planning; and it is a PROCESS! It is not something you can finish in an afternoon. We all have unique situations, but with some effort and some grit, succession planning for a farm or ranch can be done successfully! At some point the transition will happen – whether by retirement, death, disability or some other cause. Will you be ready?

In his popular book Good to Great, author Jim Collins teaches that in business you have to have the right people on the bus and in the right seats – or in other words, you have to have the right people as employees and then have them doing the right jobs. A similar idea is important in planning for the transition of the family farm or ranch. We have to have all of the right people involved in the process and they have to be doing the right things for it to work. One way this manifests itself is with the need to figure out who actually owns “the farm.” A situation con commonly exists where the “Farmer” who his looking to transition the farm to his or her child, is still waiting to inherit some, or all, of the farm ground or other assets from his or her parents.

I was recently speaking with some folks from up in Grace, Idaho and they are deep into the Spud harvest. All across this great country as summer turns to fall; farmers are reaping the fruits of their labors. While many of our nation’s farmers will be successful at bringing in a bountiful harvest, the statistics indicate that same success does not exist in transferring the family farm to the next generation. Approximately 96% of the farms in America are classified as family farms. However, only about 30% of those farms will transfer successfully to the next generation and less than 10% of those will make it to the third generation.

One of the definitions of “charitable” is: “full of love and generosity.” Philanthropy can be defined as: “The effort or inclination to increase the well-being of humankind.” I am a firm believer in the benefits of philanthropy and charitable giving, not just to society as a whole, but to the giver in particular. We are taught by Peter in the New Testament: “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves; for charity shall cover a multitude of sins.” (King James Version, 1 Peter 4:8).

“The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”― John Bingham, No Need for Speed: A Beginner's Guide to the Joy of RunningI like to run. I do not run well. In fact, it may even be a stretch to refer to what I do as running. Maybe “lumbering” would be a better description. But, I put on running shoes and running clothes and I have been permitted to register for races – so for lack of a better term we can call it running. With running I have noticed two distinct challenges.