Financial advice please

[AR-15]

Ok so some years ago when I was bringing in real money I smartly bought an 80 acre farm to retire on. Unfortunately my career didn’t last long after but it really didn’t matter because by that time I was able to accumulate 30+ head of Black Angus cattle and the farm basically became a pretty self sustaining business. Hard work but worth it. Equipment repair was probably our biggest cost to be honest. Really good life for my family and we actually made just enough to live on.

So fast forward to the past few years and the government has just made it too hard for small time farmers to survive. Prices are just too high on everything and it’s only getting worse. Believe me if I could swing it I would. I love animals and I love country living plus I really wanted to be able to leave my kids something. I’ll probably never be able to leave them money so land is all I got to give them.

Anywho the last few years I’ve not been able to profit enough to justify having a farm anymore. Just can’t. I actually went another 20k+ in the hole this year just because I had to pay for hay rather than make it myself. Regardless I’m not here to whine or bitch about prices. I need advice.

So I see a lot of you guys seem to be very knowledgeable about money. I’m definitely not. I never had it until my late 20’s and that didn’t last long enough for me to learn or care anything about it.

So anyway I’m probably gonna sell all or part of my farm. I’d love to still live here though. I’m hoping that if I sell off even part of the land that cash will hopefully carry me awhile and also maybe help me open up a BJJ or boxing school in the future. It’s all I’m good at so I guess I should stay in my lane.

What type of person if any
do you guys recommend I go to to help me with this type of stuff? I guess an accountant would be one but to me that doesn’t sound like enough. They know about money but who can I go to that would be able to help me with the whole process? Is there a professional type out there that could maybe guide me through the whole thing? Selling, investing, retirement, that type of thing or am I gonna end up having to hire a whole slew of people which will probably result in one of them being a scumbag and me getting fucked over. I need someone Incan trust because I’m not gonna know if what they are saying is true or complete bullshit. Any financial advice would be greatly appreciated. Seriously thanks to everyone that takes the time to respond.

 

[tommygunz]

Professional financial advisor. They can help you at any level of planning, current and future. They all charge a fee (under 1% if possible) and some are more expensive than others. Many do not require a sizable starting sum, so smaller investment is fine. Get one who’s a fiduciary and not commissioned.

As to your farm sale I’d talk to the local farmers, they probably can steer you in the right direction. Maybe they have some insight on what other options that are available. Have you thought about leasing your land to create a revenue stream? Maybe sell the herd but keep the acreage.

 

[AR-15]

Professional financial advisor. They can help you at any level of planning, current and future. They all charge a fee (under 1% if possible) and some are more expensive than others. Many do not require a sizable starting sum, so smaller investment is fine. Get one who’s a fiduciary and not commissioned.

As to your farm sale I’d talk to the local farmers, they probably can steer you in the right direction. Maybe they have some insight on what other options that are available. Have you thought about leasing your land to create a revenue stream? Maybe sell the herd but keep the acreage.

Thank You bro. I definitely owe ya one cause other than an accountant I had no clue what was out there and what was real.

I’m gonna have to google the definition of “Fiduciary” and “commissioned” but it’s definitely still a good start!!!!

 

[dcdogz]

Thank You bro. I definitely owe ya one cause other than an accountant I had no clue what was out there and what was real.

I’m gonna have to google the definition of “Fiduciary” and “commissioned” but it’s definitely still a good start!!!!

fiduciary means they work on your best interest, commissions can be super hit and miss since they make money directly off your account and what you trade / invest in.

 

[Bolan]

Professional financial advisor. They can help you at any level of planning, current and future. They all charge a fee (under 1% if possible) and some are more expensive than others. Many do not require a sizable starting sum, so smaller investment is fine. Get one who’s a fiduciary and not commissioned.

As to your farm sale I’d talk to the local farmers, they probably can steer you in the right direction. Maybe they have some insight on what other options that are available. Have you thought about leasing your land to create a revenue stream? Maybe sell the herd but keep the acreage.

If I had that acreage Id call a buddy and build houses or apartments.
The housing market is crAAAAAZY in this state.
I bought my home (after the divorce) in 2011 for 107k....Which is not much
but I also don't have any city perks.. Trash, close stores ETC.
I was offered 500k for it and I did nothing other than paint and a new roof
put on. Real estate is insane!!!
Another close friend bought his "dump" in 2019 for 95k and he sold it
last year for 300k and the only updates he did was new hardwood floors and paint!!!!!!!!!!
Think its time to start my retirement.... If I sold my home that's almost 400k profit plus what I sold the gym for last year.... Going to talk to a realtor and see if there's any land on water for sale, build my dream house and
die there.

 

[cdubw44]

You’re gonna need to buck up and learn. What is your farm zone for? There’s about 80 million questions that not one person’s gonna be able to answer for you .You’ll need a financial advisor, a mortgage guy, a realtor, and the list goes on. How you set up your trust and future businesses you need to learn to avoid tax’s. There’s some good real estate investors out there that could help or biggerpockets.com. The farming thing you’re gonna have to go to a farmer..

 

[AA Solutions]

I'd suggest that you involve a family member if you don't have the time or willingness to sit down and learn.

And, wait until you're off tren before making any important decisions if it tends to make you impulsive

 

[AR-15]

You’re gonna need to buck up and learn. What is your farm zone for? There’s about 80 million questions that not one person’s gonna be able to answer for you .You’ll need a financial advisor, a mortgage guy, a realtor, and the list goes on. How you set up your trust and future businesses you need to learn to avoid tax’s. There’s some good real estate investors out there that could help or biggerpockets.com. The farming thing you’re gonna have to go to a farmer..

OMG!!! Yeah nevermind. I can tell already I’m fucked with all that. Appreciate you being straight up though.

 

[AR-15]

I'd suggest that you involve a family member if you don't have the time or willingness to sit down and learn.

And, wait until you're off tren before making any important decisions if it tends to make you impulsive

Appreciate the feedback brother!!!

I feel like I should point out though that me asking for help has nothing to do with me not being willing. I’m 1000% willing to do whatever it takes. I just can’t trust myself to retain enough or the right information to go at money alone. Family isn’t an option for me but you’re right I definitely could use someone close to rely on.

Sounds like maybe just going to a realtor and selling the whole thing at once is a smarter option for me. I’m told it’s worth 5x more than I paid for it so hopefully that’s true. I mean it’s 88acres (Probably 40% of that has virgin timber), a large recently remodeled farm house, 3 very large garages. 2 barns, 2 large ponds stocked with bass and bluegill, 2 water wells, a gas well, (no royalties except free gas for life).

I never had it professionally appraised though. I think I’ll make out ok but who knows.

Thanks again bud. Really appreciate everyone’s time!!!

 

[AA Solutions]

Appreciate the feedback brother!!!

I feel like I should point out though that me asking for help has nothing to do with me not being willing. I’m 1000% willing to do whatever it takes. I just can’t trust myself to retain enough or the right information to go at money alone. Family isn’t an option for me but you’re right I definitely could use someone close to rely on.

Sounds like maybe just going to a realtor and selling the whole thing at once is a smarter option for me. I’m told it’s worth 5x more than I paid for it so hopefully that’s true. I mean it’s 88acres (Probably 40% of that has virgin timber), a large recently remodeled farm house, 3 very large garages. 2 barns, 2 large ponds stocked with bass and bluegill, 2 water wells, a gas well, (no royalties except free gas for life).

I never had it professionally appraised though. I think I’ll make out ok but who knows.

Thanks again bud. Really appreciate everyone’s time!!!

If I were you I'd try to look into what @Bolan said. If the market is hot and the location ok, you might find a developer in need of land to build on. That way you don't need to sell everything, it sounds like you enjoy your current situation?

Consultations are often free, so unless you're pressed for time - talk to as many qualified people as you can and don't do anything rash.

 

[lottalead]

how old are your kids? have one of them learn for you--also i don't know where you are located but what about building a couple high dollar homes at the other end of your property?

 

[chadmack282]

I am no financial advisor & u & i have traveled very similar paths it appears but i wouldnt want to sell, i would look to lease all/most all the land & stay in the house.

 

[tommygunz]

Appreciate the feedback brother!!!

I feel like I should point out though that me asking for help has nothing to do with me not being willing. I’m 1000% willing to do whatever it takes. I just can’t trust myself to retain enough or the right information to go at money alone. Family isn’t an option for me but you’re right I definitely could use someone close to rely on.

Sounds like maybe just going to a realtor and selling the whole thing at once is a smarter option for me. I’m told it’s worth 5x more than I paid for it so hopefully that’s true. I mean it’s 88acres (Probably 40% of that has virgin timber), a large recently remodeled farm house, 3 very large garages. 2 barns, 2 large ponds stocked with bass and bluegill, 2 water wells, a gas well, (no royalties except free gas for life).

I never had it professionally appraised though. I think I’ll make out ok but who knows.

Thanks again bud. Really appreciate everyone’s time!!!

One word TAXES.
Don’t sell it without a plan for the money unless you want to part with 25% or better.
Capital gains suck and unless you have a bunch of business receipts, repair invoices and improvements to pare down that profit, you’ll pay them. Is the place in your name? LLC?

These are things a realtor won’t address. Start with your accountant/tax guy.
Selling is the easy part.

 

[HFO4]

bro, Im reading emotions after emotions. slow down, the sky isnt falling. The first option I would check is leasing land to grow more hay to not only supply yourself but the others who will need it those $500prices you spoke about one day on here.

You have a lot of options and laying the decisions in the hands of a man you dont know who is making a profit from what you decide to do is not the best answer imo. It maybe a very good one, but you need to sit and prayerfully consider what you have been given to steward over and know your options keeping it simple first is always best. God has the answers, he took me from the backseat of a 1968 Camaro in 10th grade to owning several properties in the USA on a GED that pay for a very nice life

selling is a losing net worth. The only reason I haven't had to work since 2011 is because I kept as much Real Estate as i could keep and today I still own those properties, its equivalent to owning several cash cows so its not the end bro, the latter shall be better than the former... ask me how I know haha

besides, once you sell that it, no more income bro youre just spending and 4-500K is gone before you know it. I spent that remodeling (income producing assets), vacationing and buying a C8Z51 in the last 36 months.

Never ever sell your assets while they are producing, if they stop producing, fix the problem and make them produce.


****dude of the top of my head in 2 seconds I would put 2 trailers for rent on two separate corners of your property for market rent, buy them cheap and do a quick remodel, they’ll rent in a no time flat.

 

[squat to death]

You could use part of the land as an RV park assuming you can get water and electricity put in. Ten RV's in an RV park at $500+ per month would bring in a good amount of extra income.
Could also do some cabins to rent on Airb&b.

 

[AR-15]

how old are your kids? have one of them learn for you--also i don't know where you are located but what about building a couple high dollar homes at the other end of your property?

Kids are in their teens. They are all smart as fuck but just a little young at this point. Tech advice - absolutely. Triangle chokes- perfect. Financial stuff - maybe not so much…..yet

That’s actually a really good idea. @HFO4 had the same thing but with trailers. I can see either one of those things getting easily approved but no way something like a housing plan would ever get approved by the township. My 88acres is pretty much right in the middle of probably 2000 other acres of farms. Someone tries to sell commercially here they are in for some major push back from everyone at every level. I do appreciate all the info but see this is where I start to show I fucking stupid I am. I mean how the hell do I even build something with no money to do anything with? Can I borrow against the property? I’m not even sure if that’s a real loan I just heard something like that on a podcast the other day.

I’m dumb but I’m atleast smart enough to know I’m way way over my head with this.

Maybe I should go recheck my lottery ticket I bought the other day. I spent like a week trying to manifest my way into being a billionaire but nope. Didn’t even get one number.

 

[AR-15]

One word TAXES.
Don’t sell it without a plan for the money unless you want to part with 25% or better.
Capital gains suck and unless you have a bunch of business receipts, repair invoices and improvements to pare down that profit, you’ll pay them. Is the place in your name? LLC?

These are things a realtor won’t address. Start with your accountant/tax guy.
Selling is the easy part.

I’m not 100% sure how it’s all set up but I know the cattle is through an LLC. I honestly don’t remember a lot but I know we had an attorney set it up some fancy way to keep the land separate from any of the businesses. I guess I’m gonna have to go kiss the X’s ass to figure all this shit out. Just keeps getting better and better.

Being a homeless bum is looking better and better. Lol

 

[BBruce]

Have you thought about renting out some of your property or all of it?

My grandpa was a farmer and when he was too old to run it himself he rented it out to other farmers. My grandparents still lived in the main house but his barns and fields was rented by other farmers. That could be an idea if you still want to live in your house.

 

[MindlessWork]

I am no financial advisor & u & i have traveled very similar paths it appears but i wouldnt want to sell, i would look to lease all/most all the land & stay in the house.

This may be a good option if a local farmer needs more land they can do a lease and the property stays in the owner's control. The land not including the house could be the thing and at the right price could get a farmer doing the farming and paying for the privilege of using the land.

To me this might be the nicest option so win-win for @AR-15 and a lucky farmer has extra land for his crops. Maybe some corn and such as payment too along with money

 

[Jbswole40]

Thanks @AR-15
U always have something interesting to read,real issues etc.
These fn other threads bore shit out of me,

 

[MindlessWork]

Thanks @AR-15
U always have something interesting to read,real issues etc.
These fn other threads bore shit out of me,

AR's world is quite wacky wild and totally bizarro no doubt sometimes with some wit thrown in!

 

[Syntha Claus]

Do they not have those federal farm loans you never pay back?
I seem to remember many different types years ago.

My buddy’s cousin bought a pear farm that was dying with a government loan that he only paid back if he sold it or it had a certain profit margin. He just wanted the 50 acres to build his dream home in the middle of. They had to keep operating as a farm though. The point was to just stay afloat with no real profit.
Damn Mexicans ended up turning it around and it became one of the most productive pear farms on the Sacramento delta.
He had a contract with Del Monte that they would buy any and allmpears he produced. He was also the largest small producer of Bosch pears around.

There must be a county ag agent that could steer you toward those grants and “loans”.
Can’t just let the homeless “advocates” get that free money.

 

[tommygunz]

I’m not 100% sure how it’s all set up but I know the cattle is through an LLC. I honestly don’t remember a lot but I know we had an attorney set it up some fancy way to keep the land separate from any of the businesses. I guess I’m gonna have to go kiss the X’s ass to figure all this shit out. Just keeps getting better and better.

Being a homeless bum is looking better and better. Lol

You better involve the wife, at least to the extent that you were married and all those pesky community property laws and shit. Pretty sure she’s gonna get a chunk of any money you see.

You need a lawyer.


Getting more attractive to keep the bitch.
The the farm that is

 

[oldbull]

Ok so some years ago when I was bringing in real money I smartly bought an 80 acre farm to retire on. Unfortunately my career didn’t last long after but it really didn’t matter because by that time I was able to accumulate 30+ head of Black Angus cattle and the farm basically became a pretty self sustaining business. Hard work but worth it. Equipment repair was probably our biggest cost to be honest. Really good life for my family and we actually made just enough to live on.

So fast forward to the past few years and the government has just made it too hard for small time farmers to survive. Prices are just too high on everything and it’s only getting worse. Believe me if I could swing it I would. I love animals and I love country living plus I really wanted to be able to leave my kids something. I’ll probably never be able to leave them money so land is all I got to give them.

Anywho the last few years I’ve not been able to profit enough to justify having a farm anymore. Just can’t. I actually went another 20k+ in the hole this year just because I had to pay for hay rather than make it myself. Regardless I’m not here to whine or bitch about prices. I need advice.

So I see a lot of you guys seem to be very knowledgeable about money. I’m definitely not. I never had it until my late 20’s and that didn’t last long enough for me to learn or care anything about it.

So anyway I’m probably gonna sell all or part of my farm. I’d love to still live here though. I’m hoping that if I sell off even part of the land that cash will hopefully carry me awhile and also maybe help me open up a BJJ or boxing school in the future. It’s all I’m good at so I guess I should stay in my lane.

What type of person if any
do you guys recommend I go to to help me with this type of stuff? I guess an accountant would be one but to me that doesn’t sound like enough. They know about money but who can I go to that would be able to help me with the whole process? Is there a professional type out there that could maybe guide me through the whole thing? Selling, investing, retirement, that type of thing or am I gonna end up having to hire a whole slew of people which will probably result in one of them being a scumbag and me getting fucked over. I need someone Incan trust because I’m not gonna know if what they are saying is true or complete bullshit. Any financial advice would be greatly appreciated. Seriously thanks to everyone that takes the time to respond.

I hope that through our exchanges on this forum, you’ve come to realize I consider you sort of a kindred spirit, so please take this advice in the (positive) spirit in which it is intended:

Selling your farm to invest in a martial arts school or gym would be a TERRIBLE idea. You might as well just throw your money in the toilet with that huge turd your cleaning lady left you.

Agricultural property is probably the safest and most likely to appreciate way to park your money that exists. Meanwhile, a gym or MMA studio can fail for reasons beyond your control and be worse than worthless — if the economy turns south or not enough people in your area are willing to join, you will probably end up throwing good money after bad and end up in debt on top of being penniless.

Hold onto and protect that farmland tighter than you would your own cock and balls from a vicious marauding pitbull. In this scenario, the metaphorical pitbull is an ill-advised MMA study or gym.

If raising cattle isn’t profitable, then just stop but hold onto the land — try delivering meals through DoorDash or anything else to earn money on the fly. It sounds like chump change but the beauty of it is you deduct most of your mileage expenses, so you don’t end up owing a lot of tax.

The only way anyone should ever invest in a gym or MMA studio is if they have completed an exhaustive market study and come up with a bullet-proof business plan. You’d need to really study the number of potential clients, who you’re competing with, come up with an effective promotional campaign, etc. It’s not at all a safe investment, much like opening a restaurant or any other retail business, as they typically fail even with a solid business plan.

Trust me, you will DEEPLY regret selling your land if you go that route — there is literally no upside to it that I see.

Not to get too political, but the Trump administration is basically totally deregulating cryptocurrency because Trump has learned to make an easy buck off of it.

I could easily see investors going apeshit and creating all kinds of complex derivatives for crytpo that will cause a financial crisis, much as occurred during the housing crisis that preceded the Great Recession around 2008.

If that happens, gym memberships are the first things people cancel to make money. You’d end up broke, while the farmland will keep its value through any financial crisis…

 

[Syntha Claus]

I second not getting rid of the land by the way.
Look into other ways to make that land profitable.
I know estate wineries making decent profits on half that land.

I am too far removed from that world but it seems to me that if you have solid angus stock, you could sell them off and invest in a lesser but still profitable breed, like polled Herefords or something. Even buying only drop calves to raise for meat.
Does Angus beef demand that much more of a premium?
Also, not having to watch you back around those fuckers would be nice I bet?

We had a Gurnsey cow that could nurse three Holstien drop calves. She stayed lactating and rarely did we get a calf from her.
She even nursed our Herefords that had shitty mothers and wouldn’t allow sucking.
That cow was also an awesome “pet”. She protected us children from our mean ass Shorthorn bull.

You can still get the overall satisfaction of farming without the overhead of modern farming methods and pimp breeds.

 

[Rajput]

Sell your land. Invest with an investment firm. You will get monthly returns. They aren't too great but low risk and less hard work

Sent from my SM-S908E using Tapatalk

 

[heckler7]

sublet your land to other farmers, sometimes neighbors will rent your property to expand their own crops. I dont know anything about farming but I will give you the same advice I give my coworkers. It takes money to make money, you cant invest what you dont have. Your a blue collar working man and the only asset we have is time, you need to trade that time for money, get a easy job that like security that doesnt wear you down and get a paycheck coming in before you get deeper in debt

 

[squat to death]

I think the easiest thing you could do is rent the land to another farmer and get a blue collar job.