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Arranging your affairs to suit yourself want to have a situation exist that would make it p054 note for a Child to take over the Farm. and this is mttch more likely to happen if there isn’t too much debt left it l'ather’s death. The use of “mortgage insurance" and "bank loan sorance“ is quite widespread now and is an excellent ‘- irm of protection. And quite recently a new package t group life insurance. dependents life insurance. and inability income insurance has become available to rmers. At present these group insurance packages ; available only to Ontario Milk Producers and On- trio Pork Producers although other groups such as c Ontario Federation of Agriculture may soon be a trticipating group and the group insurance would us become available to its members, The cost of this group insurance is very modest. vr example. a man up to age 29 could have 5100.000 tile insurance at a yearly cost oi$l40.00. At age 30 cnst would increase to $165.00 per year. and in- case again at age 36 and each 5 years thereafter till cc (it. This is term insurance. It has no cash values. It sly offers protection. But protection is precisely what young farmer needs. especially when he is using cry available nickel to pay for the farm. livestock. '-chinery. etc. Another good thing about this term xcrttge is that its cost is low at a period of life when till the ability to pay for insurance is low and when need for insurance usually is greatest. in thinking about insurance please don‘t overlook m,- need for disability income insurance. The same - \up program mentioned above will provide 8500. .r month income protection for a person under 40 ans ofage, after a 1 month waiting period for an an- .tul cost of $66.00. At 40 years of age the rates begin increase. You might think I‘m an insurance salesman. and in “case I am. I believe it to be a most important aspect estate planning for farmers. l have had the experiâ€" MIC of counselling the families of dead farmers that not had various amounts of life insurance and beâ€" “:vc me it is a much more pleasant situation where here was a good block of insurance protection. But. nly the farm family can determine what insurance to 'tty. and how much to own. Generally speaking. I built farmers should buy term insurance. in large hunks, and leave it to the other classes of people who rent investing in their own business. to buy the “sav- ings type“ ofinsurance. In trying to decide how much »i‘ buy both spouses should talk about “just how they would want things to be” if one or the other wasn’t there tomorrow. Then set about building an insurancti Program that would make it possible if the worst hap- pened. Then get on with the business ofliving with the peace of mind that comes with a good insurance pro- uram s . As farm income makes it possible. families will want to consider the use of Registered Retirement Savings Programs. That is. alter you have provided for the eventualities of untimely death and after you have the farm business going well. you probably will want to start thinking about retirement. One way to provide for retirement income is to put some money aside spea cifically to provide income during retirement ye'ars. Special plans such as R.R.S.P.‘s allow you to put dol- lars aside for retirement without first having had to pay income tax on them. There are a host ol dtfl'erent R.R.S.P.’s and you should exercise much prudence in buying them to be sure you are making a good buy. Farmers have some unique ways of providing for retirement income. ll‘ there are no children to take Over the l‘arm. then it can he sold to a stranger and a sizable amount of money would be available for re- tirement. In such a case. special income items such as: capital gains. recaptured capital cost allowance. sale of inventories of livestock and crops all are eligible for the purchase of forward averaging annuities. Thus such income is not subject to income tax until you re- ceive the payments year by year from the annuity and these may be purchqu for up to a 15 year period. And finally a word or two about succession duty. If you have had it successful farming career. have pro- vided for your retirement. then you are probably justi- fied in wondering about what will happen to your cs- tale, Right from the time you started farming or became married you should have had a will so that your estate would be disposed 01' according to your wishes. The federal government does not tax an estate and the province of' Ontario does not levy any success- ion duty on estates passing to a spouse. nor on any cs- tate of $300000 or less. if a farmer has an estate ol‘ over $300000 and by will he passes the farm and farming assets to a child or children. and it‘thc child or children uses them in farming then the succession duties on tlte portion of the estate made up by the value ol‘the farm and farming assets will be Forgiven. Because of the special succession duty treatment that is accorded to farmers it is important that a farmer have a well prepared will. Any of the Agricultural Representatives in Ontario would be able to advise you on SUCI‘I matters and you are welcome to seek their counsel. They can also explain the details ol‘ gifts that can be made without attracting gift tax. Estate Planning is a family afi'air. It starts with the creation of an estate and I have devoted most ol‘ this article to that aspect because it seems to me that is the area most often overlooked. yet the most important. Develop a plan that meets your objectives. and then get on with living. 27