Dl4—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 24,1983 Brockett’s Ag Advice By John E. Brockett jH Farm Management Agent Lewistown Extension Office Estate Planning Tools I find that I use the word ‘tools’ a lot, perhaps too much. However it is a very handy word. It has so many meanings. In its simplest form we think of hammers, saws or wrenches as tools. Some people consider cultivators, harrows and discs as tools, hence the word tool bar for hitching rod. Thus a tool could be an implement. It can also mean a person used by another person for that second person’s purposes. Another meaning is “something that is necessary or useful to a person in the efficient carrying out or performance of his or her job.” In estate planning this last one probably is the best definition. Selection In your business of farming you select the best tool available for the job you want done. Example: If you had a field to prepare for seeding and your only available equipment were a disc, a mower and a cultivator, which would you use and why? Or we might ask if you could borrow or buy a plow would you use it? Or you might be able to hire someone to do the job. These are all tools. In estate planning we also use tools. The tractor that pulls everything else would be the will. The will gives you the opportunity to steer everything in the right direction. A trust is like a silo or grain bin. We pub things in it for future use. A sales agreement or partnership (or corporation) can also be a tool of estate planning. It would be similar to an elevator or conveyor where we transfer assets from one generation to another on a gradual basis while both generations are working, (think of the two generations as a self unloading wagon and a feed bunk). Insurance is another estate planning tool. Think of an ad justable wrench as the parallel tool. It doesn’t do the job as well as the real thing and there are sub stitutes for it, but it is mighty handy when you’re in the peach orchard and the gizzmo breaks. Or think of it as the guard around the PTO shaft. Sometimes it gets in the e're Friends with Dairymen, Inc. Contact your BMA or Dairymen, Inc. representative Co ma) Business Men’s Assurance 1301 N. Hamilton Street, Suite 108 Richmond, VA 23230 (804) 355-7447 Serving men than Si way (costs too much) but it does protect against sudden disaster. Or put it on a parallel with that new tractor. You can buy a wide range of packages. Some contain more Hp (end value), some more chrome (gimmicks), some more options (fringes) and some just cost more. Buy it with the same thought you put into buying a new cow or forage harvester. What do you really need (debt coverage, operating expenses, taxes, etc), why do you really need it (business i ■ aa for more information would be lost or damaged), who needs U most (you or your wife or both), how much? Do not be “sold” a package -do some comparing on A cost (premium minus dividend), w amount of actual insurance (face value less cash value) 5,10 and 20 years from now, convenience, interest paid on cash value and interest charged on loans. Finally before buying look at your alter natives - savings, readily saleable farm assets, other investments - then decide. (»** T GIRETTE The All Purpose P M hr • Pruning Height Up To 18 Ft. • 39° Swinging Boom • Hydraulic Individual Wheel Brakes • 9.5x16 Tractor Type Tires • Caster Wheel 670x15 lancaifer Count's Only Denier Specializing in Sprayer Sales & Service LESTER A. SINGER, RONKS, PA 717-687-6712 || Mon - Fn. Bto 5. Saturday By Appointment 11 • Major Medical • Hospitalization • Group Insurance • Life Insurance • Disability Income • Pension Plans • Estate Planning SDairqmen Middle Atlantic Division I 1717GwynnOak Ave. jfe Baltimore, MD 21207 W (301)944-6800 I 1000 aqri-pnduesn I
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