America’s Land Auctioneer
Captivate and celebrate the dynamics of rural America, American Agriculture and inspire and teach others how to live a bold and abundant life in rural America. Background: The intrigue, endless opportunities, and romance of rural life in America have never been more on the minds of Americans. The recent pandemic and civil unrest have Americans of all ages earning for a more peaceful, less hectic life. Even billionaire Bill Gates is now the largest crop landowner in America. As many Americans look for peaceful refuge in the rolling hills and wheat fields they are faced with a richness of opportunities. But where do you begin to look? This show will highlight and feature endless opportunities in every state. What is it that is so unique about rural America, the land and what it produces? How can I live that life? The American Land Auctioneer will tell stories and weave into those stories a place for you to dream, live and enjoy the abundance of all that rural America has to offer.
America’s Land Auctioneer
The Financial DNA of Your Farm Legacy
The wealth that's been created in farming and the transfer that's coming is unprecedented, yet many farm families still put off crucial estate planning conversations. In this insightful discussion with senior wealth consultant Galen McGregor, we unpack the essential components of effective farm legacy planning and why it matters at every age – not just for the elderly.
Farm families face unique challenges when transitioning assets between generations. From deciding who gets which parcel of land to managing the delicate balance between fair and equal distribution among heirs, these decisions require thoughtful consideration. As Galen explains, "Once you have worked with one family, you've just worked with one family," because each situation demands customized solutions that honor both financial realities and family dynamics.
We explore the five core components every comprehensive estate plan should include: a last will and testament, financial power of attorney, healthcare power of attorney, living will, and potentially a revocable trust. Surprisingly, everyone needs the first four components by age 18 – something many farm families overlook until it's too late. The conversation also highlights practical strategies for asset protection, including structuring operations with separate LLCs for crops, machinery, and land to limit liability exposure.
Perhaps most compelling is Galen's emphasis on the non-financial aspects of legacy planning. Her recommendation to create a "letter of wishes" – a personal explanation of your estate decisions – can prevent misunderstandings and preserve family relationships after you're gone. As she puts it, "Sometimes it's not just money, but how do you want them to operate every day and treat others?" This perspective transforms estate planning from a purely financial exercise into a meaningful expression of your values and hopes for future generations.
Whether you're just starting your farming career or contemplating retirement, this conversation offers practical guidance for protecting what matters most – your land, your legacy, and your family's future. Take the first step today by writing down your three or four most important wishes for your farm's future.
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Contact the team at Pifer's
Welcome to America's Land Auctioneer. I'm Steve Link, broker for Pfeiffer's Auction and Realty. Thank you for joining us today and don't forget you can catch up on all our past episodes by visiting pfeifferscom and clicking on the podcast tab, or simply search America's Land Auctioneer on Apple Podcast or Spotify. And we want to thank our sponsors, pyfers Auction Realty and Pyfers Land Management. Whether you're looking to sell your land equipment or need help managing your farmland, get a free consultation from an expert. Nobody does it better than the team at Pfeiffer's.
Speaker 2:All right, so we have an on-point topic today with a special guest. Came originally locally North Dakotan, but since then does not live in North Dakota, but you are here all the time. I see you at our sales, I see you around everywhere, and so I want Galen McGregor to introduce herself and what your background is, and also Andy Murdock. He's here co-hosting with us out of Bowman. He made it to the east part of the state for some auctions this week, and so he's going to be our co-host, and we are going to pepper Galen with everything from wealth management to estate planning, to taxes and all the things that are topics in everybody's world. I don't care if you're a small farmer, big farmer, everybody cares about all those topics. So, galen, introduce yourself.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thanks, steve, thanks, much Thanks to Pipers for having me on today. My name is Galen McGregor. As Steve said, I'm a senior wealth consultant for Mariner, which is a registered investment advisor headquartered out of Kansas City, kansas. I am, as Steve said, I'm a Hettinginger, north Dakota native and both my husband and I are both North Dakota natives. Husband grew up in Grafton. We both received degrees at the University of North Dakota, which I'm a proud, proud North Dakotan. I've been in the wealth and trust business for the past 35 years I hate to admit it's been that long, steve and Andy, but it is and I just I like working with families to help them identify needs that they'd have in anything that relates to financial.
Speaker 2:So if you're from Headinger, you must have known Dwight Hoffland, our land manager growing up.
Speaker 3:I absolutely do. I'm familiar with his entire family and I've got a lot of really good dirt on him.
Speaker 2:if you'd ever need to have that, Can we share it over the air or is that a tough? That's probably a sensitive subject Segment number four, segment number four. So everybody hold on for all the dirt for segment number four.
Speaker 3:There you go, there you go, but you go, no but yes, I've known Dwight and known that he's been an expert in this industry, which is actually between knowing Dwight and seeing the consistent advertising in the back of the UND alumni magazine is how I got introduced to Pfeiffer.
Speaker 2:Interesting, interesting. So Andy's from Bowman and Scranton. You guys are probably rivaled, or not, scranton, but Headinger or Scranton, you're Headinger, right, you're Headinger, and so there's a little bit of rivalry there. And then UND, oklahoma State I'm NDSU, so we are covering all parts of the country and I like that. So, galen, okay, so you're a senior wealth consultant. That can get confusing to the common person. Break it down in layman's terms If I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm farmer Joe that's that lives in Carrington. What, what, what kind of things could, could you help me with?
Speaker 3:So, as a you, so as you said, the senior wealth consultant can mean a lot of things. I would tell you in layman's terms. I do business development for our firm. I've been an advisor in the wealth space for, like I said, some time. But what I like to do is meet with families, specifically farm families, because I'm a farmer at heart, I'm a farm girl, heart. I'm a farm girl. I like the dirt and but I listen to what families needs are what their concerns are. Listen to you know, how do we take care of our kids? How do we think about, you know, planning for our retirement while keeping the farm and the family, or maybe ultimately selling it if children or theirs owners aren't interested in keeping it as an asset anymore?
Speaker 2:Yep. So when I'm out and about with our land sales, I get asked a lot. When people are trying to plan what the next steps are for their farm operation. If they have a child, that's maybe farming or not farming and they're like, where do I start? And so I'll throw that to you. Where should they start? What do they? I mean, sometimes they're overwhelmed. Maybe a loved one died and they're just overwhelmed, or maybe they have a bad diagnosis and need that. Where do they start?
Speaker 3:I think it's starting with your trusted advisor. So I think about what you do here at Pfeiffer. You're a trusted advisor for them and a lot of times people say I know what I want to have ultimately happen, but they're just not sure how to implement what their real wishes are. So I always say the place to start is usually just a piece of paper and a pen to say I want this ground to go to this child, or I want to sell this or I want to plant, like write down the three or four things that you really want to have happen. And I think that that's usually the starting point, because people get overwhelmed with what's the right information. How much do I need to have in information? Don't worry about that. Those three or four wishes, I think, is the launch point to then have a greater discussion to determine what information do we even need to gather.
Speaker 2:And so that's a really easy way to call estate planning right. I mean, that's what you're doing, is you're planning? Talk about some of those components on the estate planning.
Speaker 3:So I always think about. A good estate plan has five core components and I'll list them off just in order. So everyone, no matter who you are, needs a last will and testament. I always say if we don't have that, the government's going to give you one that you may not want. So everyone wants a last will and testament.
Speaker 3:Last will and testament Everyone needs a financial power of attorney, a financial, I'm sorry a healthcare power of attorney, a living will and a revocable trust. The last one I left specifically for last. We'll talk about that last, but those first four last will and testament, financial power of attorney, healthcare power of attorney and living will. Let me go through those. The last will just says here's who I wanted you know, for lack of a better term receive the assets that I have.
Speaker 3:The second piece, that financial power of attorney if you become incapacitated or you're not able to take care of your own financial affairs be it temporary, like maybe you just had a surgery or maybe it's more lasting that you either don't want to or can't it's someone who can make your financial decisions for you.
Speaker 3:Health care power of attorney, just like it sounds. It's any kind of medical attention that you may need, that you may not be able to make those decisions for yourself may need that you may not be able to make those decisions for yourself. Number four that living will is what I'd say, things that you'd like to have in your final phase of life for pain management, nutrition. You know, burial requests like those are all things kind of end of life, but those for every person needs. And sometimes people say, well, when should I do that? At the age of 18. Everyone who is of age of majority needs to have those four components. So sometimes you think about well, my kid just graduated from high school and he or she is only 18. They should have all four of those components in place at the age of 18.
Speaker 2:They should have all four of those components in place at the age of 18. Oh, I'm writing this down because I have an 18-year-old who is starting college and actually moving in a week from today. So, yeah, now I have another to-do on my list and spray the weeds in my yard and get some of this planning done for my 18-year-old.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I always say the sooner you do it the better. And then the fifth one Steve and Andy, I left for last is revocable trust, sometimes based on complexity of assets or specific wishes that families have. Think about it as an extension of that living will. That's a little bit more in depth, complex. Not everyone needs that, but I always think the one case that I'm pretty adamant that you do have a revocable trust for any kind of family that's a blended family. I just think it really makes for easier transition and maybe what I always think is the most important is that keeping that family harmony in place.
Speaker 2:Okay, so that is a lot to unpack so far. If our listeners are hearing any of this, with 18 year olds, or blended family or you know, worried about power of attorney, when, uh, when they can't um, when those things, if those things resonate with you, um, you really need to start, start, start the planning process and and, like you said, so, um, what, uh, um, what, what? Okay, so you, you talked about this. Figuring some of this stuff out Is, if you talk to a tax person or if you talk to an attorney, and all of them have their own specialty, can they put all this together or does it take somebody that has knowledge in all of those facets?
Speaker 3:I always think, think about, think about. I'm going to give you an analogy of a contractor. A contractor has a lot of different subcontractors. You want to. You want a financial planner or a firm or an individual to actually quarterback that.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:And then and then from there parcel out different opportunities for each of those individuals.
Speaker 2:All right. So, okay, we just started this conversation and we're already out of time in the first segment. This is very fascinating for me and I know it's going to be for our listeners here. I think it's easiest to contact me at Pifers and I can put your contact information. I can reply your contact information back to you, but we'll be back after these messages in the second segment. But I want to thank Pifers Auction and Realty and Pifers Land Management for sponsoring the show today. So stick with us for the second segment.
Speaker 1:We'll get further into estate planning.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to America's Land Auctioneer. I'm Steve Link, co-hosting with Andy Murdock, and we have Galen McGregor here with us and we've been talking about estate planning. Again, a big thanks to Pfeiffer's Auction Realty and Pfeiffer's Land Management, your partners in protecting what matters most to you your land, your legacy, your livelihood Right, andy.
Speaker 4:Yeah, without a doubt. You know I'm sitting here. I'm obviously the youngest one, you know, in a big group of people in generally. But you know, like you said, everybody needs to start thinking at this, even at a young age. I've got a young family, two kids, three and five, and you would think it'd just be kind of a slam dunk that, no matter what happened to me, that your family's going to get it. Like you said, you don't want to leave it up to the courts, you don't want to leave it up to the government to decide how your equity is going to be transitioned.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, Andy. You could have said it better. I just think that level of engagement with your family, you want to help make those decisions and I always think the best gift you can give to your spouse or your family is making those decisions together.
Speaker 4:And, as we talked about, with the 18-year-old, or in my case, a 25-year-old or 40. And if you're doing this at 18, at what point do you need to update it? Because at 25, your goals and life change. At 30, your goals and life change Upon marriage, your goals and life change Upon first child, last child, Andy spot on In a really lighthearted way.
Speaker 3:I always say if you're sending flowers or a card you probably should be looking at your estate plan and kind of dusting it off the shelf and kind of making sure that it still meets your wishes. So that's first and foremost. You talked about it A lot of times retirement. People say do I have enough? Like what is enough? When can I pull away? That's certainly probably when we seem to talk to a lot more folks. But as you have birth of children, grandchildren, change in a role or job or compensation, maybe you go from variable compensation to salary or vice versa, like those are all reasons to kind of sit back down and say does this still meet my goals and needs and the resources that I have today?
Speaker 4:You know, because that's what we talked about earlier you know, no matter what happens in your life situation, you're going to go back to your trusted advisors and, yeah, we end up being trusted advisors in a lot of situations. You know probably not as much as you and your team, but you know, you become confidants in a lot of situations and the one thing that is guaranteed is that no two situations are ever the same. No-transcript, different philosophies, that no two people. There's never the one answer.
Speaker 3:I've always said once you have worked with one family, you've just worked with one family, because the customization and the needs and the wants for those families are totally different.
Speaker 3:And what you guys do a great job here at Pfeiffer is you meet clients where they're at and listening to what their real desires are and understanding nuances of families. Or you know tenuous relationships like how, how do you work through those and, instead of just ignoring it, actually just having a conversation and giving techniques and strategies to kind of work through that. But coming back to your original question of how often it's, it can never be too often and I think one of the things we do at Mariner, we have attorneys on staff we can help guide through that process. We don't replace the attorney that your clients may be working with, but giving what I say like a second opinion, it's nice to have someone else giving an opinion, helping guide through like what are we seeing? What are best practices that are out there that a local attorney may or may not have heard of? And that's I always think collaboration with a whole lot of folks makes for a better end decision.
Speaker 2:So I want to repeat that. So if I have a relationship with an attorney that I have had for years and they've been my trusted advisor, I can still go to you and that attorney can draft the documents.
Speaker 3:Absolutely so. We honor all the relationships that you have in place and I think it's being respectful of that. So I'll use your example of the attorney. Like I said, we do not draft documents, so that attorney is still going to be your drafter. What a lot of our attorney colleagues like is that we bring our expertise to the table and we're not trying to take business from them.
Speaker 2:So it really is collaborative, with the client being first and foremost, which should be all of our intent, which is funny because these regions that we do a lot of work on are small towns, client being first and foremost, which is what we, what, what, what should be all of our intent, which, which is funny, because these small, these regions that we do a lot of work on are small towns and the attorney's expected to know everything from A to Z.
Speaker 2:And I'm looking at them going I, God bless your heart, You're doing, you're doing a really good job, but there's no way you can, can stay up on everything. I mean, I don't know how many pages the big, beautiful bill was, but you tell me an attorney that in a small town that can take care of their clients and and understand that from A to Z. And so I think there's a, I think there's a real need in a lot of our trade areas that we work with, that that can have that, that, that extra, that extra knowledge and and yet use the local resources so that that they're comfortable with.
Speaker 4:And, if anything, you know you're collaborating together, you're building each other's businesses up and working together and and you have to rely on you, know they would rather have somebody, or you know your client would rather have somebody that can walk in face to face and sit down with. I would say nine out of 10 of the people that we deal with you know on a daily basis would rather sit across the table like this rather than, you know, over a Zoom meeting or just over the phone in general.
Speaker 3:Agreed, and I think that's where we just augment the current relationship they have. We're not looking to replace it, and that's a very different business philosophy.
Speaker 2:How many times do you have to talk about family and family dynamics? Business philosophy how many times do you have to talk about family and family dynamics? How many times do you meet with, um, I'll say mom and dad, and then you meet with, uh, meet with the children and and and talk to them and and and figure out really what the best plan is. And you can't maybe do that until you talk to talk, talk to all the players in the in the field, huh.
Speaker 3:Yes, and, and I would say the the more, the more success we have with families is, the more we can have family meetings, have open dialogue. Typically that starts with matriarch and patriarch being very respectful of what they have amassed over time and how much do they want to share. How much do each of the kids know, if anything? A lot of times we see that older generation keeps things pretty close to the vest and it's getting them comfortable to know what we can share, what they want shared, what they don't want shared. But, Steve, to your point, we meet with typically all generations just because we want to do generational planning, because sometimes what's good for mom and dad isn't good for second and third generation and vice versa. So we really want to look at those in a generational way to maximize value for every generation, but keeping the family harmony first and foremost.
Speaker 4:And it's a challenge, because not always the goals that the matriarch and patriarch have are not always the goals that the children have.
Speaker 3:Exactly, andy, you couldn't have said it better. So it's getting every generation to understand why another generation may not feel the way they do, and finding giving ideas so that they can all come to a happy ending, versus coming in with a decision already made and it's my way or the highway. I like it that they say oh, I haven't really thought about it. And sometimes it's easier coming from an outsider than a family member, be it mom and dad to kids or kids to mom and dad. You know no different than your business. Sometimes I'm like we're we're more, um, we're more, we're more of a coach, um and and um psychologist than we are financial planner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, uh, it's. It's incredible on on that, and I've talked about this a lot too when the parents are not sharing things and they want everything to be equal, they're not telling anybody what's happening and it ends up maybe not being fair, and equal isn't always fair, and fair isn't always equal, and so that's an interesting concept. Well, we are out of time here on segment number two. We'll be back to further this conversation about estate planning and we'll maybe get into some strategies on taxes and trusts and this and that, and so stay with us. Again, thanks to Pfeiffer's Auction and Realty and Pfeiffer's Land Management for sponsoring the show. We'll be right back after these messages.
Speaker 1:And here now. What are you going to do now?
Speaker 3:What's going?
Speaker 1:on here now. Who's been $500,000 a bit. I'm in 500 and I'm going to put $50,000 over here now. $600,000 over here now.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to America's Land Auctioneer. I'm Steve Link, with your co-host, andy Murdock, with Pfeiffer's Auction and Realty, and thank you for joining us. And again, don't forget, you can catch up on all visiting Piferscom and clicking on the podcast tab or search America's Land Auctioneer on Apple or Spotify, and there's a lot of deep topics that we're coming, that we're talking about here, and if you don't catch it the first time, you can re-listen to us on any of those podcasts or Spotify. But I also want to thank Pifers Auction Realty and Pififfer's Land Management for sponsoring this show. All right, so we unpackaged a lot. I personally, like we talked about, have an 18 year old in our house and when we first did our estate planning, of course, he wasn't considered at all as being a potential caretaker or something happened to my wife and I. Well, that's changed. Right Now he is older, maybe mature enough to be that. But how do you break all that down? What are some of the things that you're seeing out there in the real world?
Speaker 3:You know, what we see is I think one of the best practices is having you know I'll use your son being 18, you know, if something were to happen to you and your spouse, you really haven't had a chance to really train him on how to take care of the financial assets and what's the real legacy that you wanted to leave.
Speaker 3:Maybe money's only part of it.
Speaker 3:The other piece is you know how to give to charity, how to like.
Speaker 3:There's lots of things to learn and so what we see is having that you know son, daughter be a co-trustee, where I call it the training wheels, like a given training wheels for three, four years that say you're going to work with a co-trustee to learn this and then maybe up until the age of 30, you're going to work with a co-trustee to learn this and then maybe up until the age of 30, you're going to work with this co-trustee so that you can learn the responsibilities of having you know wealth or farmland or whatever that might be, and being a good steward of what's been you know, left for you as an inheritance.
Speaker 3:Like I like that setup a lot because what we see is kids want to really do right by their parents and they want to be responsible, and sometimes we see kids paralyzed that they don't know what to do and so they do nothing, and sometimes that's not right either. So by having some guidance that you as a parent can't provide, by having some guidance that you as a parent can't provide, let them give them a guidepost and typically that's a trust company, it's a financial provider Just to walk with them through a season that they've not experienced yet what?
Speaker 2:okay, so for somebody, can we, for our listeners that haven't heard some of these terms before what is it? What's a conservator? I mean, what's that term? What's a guardian? You know some of those type of things.
Speaker 3:You know. So you bring up too that. Andy, you mentioned having you know younger children. A conservator and guardian are in place only until children become the age of majority at 18. So a lot of times people confuse those two terms.
Speaker 3:Conservator, think about that. I always think about estate planning being heart and head. The conservator is the head, is the financial, math type person, but they would actually manage the resources and the assets within a conservatorship for a minor, and the guardian is more the heart, which is where you know that's the person actually physically taking care of the children. So I'll put this all together. So if I have, you know, a five-year-old and something happens to my spouse and myself, my conservator and my guardian don't need to be the same individuals and that's something that we see as a mistake done a lot because people think they have to. You know, maybe brother's really good at finance and sister's really good at being a nurturer. Well, maybe that's how you want to divide their talents. So knowing what those roles are really important and knowing you can divide those is even more important.
Speaker 4:Is that only in the scenario where both mom and dad have something happen to them? Otherwise, one becomes both.
Speaker 3:Exactly, exactly, right. So unless you've put something in your documents you don't think they're of, if you've got a health issue, et cetera. But no, I would tell you. Or you can have a conservator or guardian for an elderly parent. So sometimes what we see is you know, you think about a parent that maybe is compromised because of health? Is you know you think about a parent that maybe is compromised because of health? Maybe a trust company, financial provider is the conservator managing all the family assets and one of the kids or someone else or nurse is taking care of all the medical type issues?
Speaker 4:Yeah, becomes your nurtured guardian? Yes, without a doubt, and I think it's important to realize that this happens at any age. Without a doubt, and I think it's important to realize that this happens at any age, you know, at 40, I've certainly had friends who have been in farming accidents. We've collectively had friends who are, you know, in their 20s and 30s and early 40s who've been in farming accidents and you may not have the future plan.
Speaker 3:Estate planning is not for the elderly. It's not for the elderly and so it's. You know. I'll come back to your comment, steve, about, you know, the 18 year old son. The best thing I ever did for my kids was had an estate plan run, because at the age of 18, we're sitting in an attorney's office and explaining exactly what's in front of them that you know. They've selected my husband and myself as their, you know, for their financial power of attorney, both healthcare and financial, and they're like I'm really an adult now.
Speaker 3:Like I've got to be responsible. Like to me, it's a great way to start to train your kids without having to tell them what assets you have, but they start to see it for themselves and how important it is. So you're exactly right the sooner you start planning, the better.
Speaker 4:And I think that also ties into what, what kind of goals you have in mind. You know you need to express your goals to those who are going to be in the next generation or the next segment of of where either the wealth or the decision-making is going to be transferred. So if, if somebody is going to come into your office and start and start the process, what's the what's the, what's the documentation we need to get put together first. What do we want to organize ahead of time, whether it's our finances? Where our balance sheet? Is it our insurance? Where do we start?
Speaker 3:All the above. I always say the best places to kind of start with is typically, you know, farmers, ranchers have a balance sheet. They're used to putting a balance sheet together. A balance sheet and your tax return are probably the two places we start. If you have an existing estate plan, no matter how old it is, we'd love to review it, take a look at it. You mentioned insurance, any kind of life insurance, annuity, any kind of structured products like, just so that we get a glimpse of what is it that you have and how do we come around that as it relates to land. So, depending on where you're listening from today, if that's an abstract, if that's title, opinions, that deeds, any kind of source document is totally helpful. But to start somewhere, not to be overwhelmed, balance sheet- tax return is probably where we start.
Speaker 4:Yeah, without a doubt. And I think it's also kind of important to say when do you come in? You know, because on the farm and ranch side it's always easier to it's planting season. I don't have time. Oh, now we got to spray the crop. I don't have time.
Speaker 4:Oh, now we got to harvest the crop. I don't have time. Oh, now we got to harvest the crop. I don't have time. Now I got to spend all winter marketing the crop. We don't have time. Or if you throw livestock in the middle of it, it's compounded exponentially. There's no time. We'd barely have enough time to find time to sleep. How do we dedicate or prioritize, and how important is it to prioritize this step?
Speaker 3:I always think it's more important. I'll give you a real world example. I had someone who farm family patriarch, matriarch had passed on Son, thought it was more important to go brand cattle the morning that we were going to meet and I find out that dad's actually signed an estate document that he thought was a draft that didn't really represent his wishes and my first call after he left was I said can I, can we call your son? He said absolutely, and I said we need, we need to get down this lake right now tonight, like because sometimes branding the cattle was important, but in the order of priority that morning that was more important because in essence the son wasn't going to receive the land that he thought he was going to receive.
Speaker 2:Wow, holy smokes, yeah, so you can't, you can't ever schedule or plan your accidents.
Speaker 4:I mean it's important because I, I, we, we, we work with a lot of people in your profession and I've heard other stories too, where we were going to, we were going to meet today, we were going to finalize everything today, and they got in a car accident on the way or they, you know, had a heart attack that morning and in it. You know, murphy's law always happens when it, when it's not supposed to. So, having that stuff done ahead of time it's getting to be more and more important, especially now that there's a greater amount of wealth in the world the wealth that's been created and the transfer that's in transition but is also coming.
Speaker 3:It's more than I've ever seen in my career and I always think don't get overwhelmed with making sure everything's perfect before you come in. Let's just get started. And a lot of times you talk about planting season or when you're busy. Sometimes it's getting that balance sheet, the tax return to us to review. We can do all that while you're planning, you're branding, you're doing all the things you need to do so that that we're making really good use of your time and we're meeting you when you can meet, be that evening, be that weekend, be that early morning, what you know, the day it rains Like. Sometimes that's when, like we're from Bowman.
Speaker 4:County it may not rain for six months. Sometimes that's when, like we're from Bowman County, it may not rain for six months Right so yeah.
Speaker 3:So I always think don't think of it that once you start that you got to sit down and, just you know, plow through it for the next week and not do anything else. We can put this in bite sizes that make it easy for you to run your operation every day.
Speaker 2:And that's and in the last segment here we're running short on time. But the last segment I want to talk about that is, too. You get overwhelmed because you also want you care about with the wealth that has been made. You care about what the tax consequences are on the way you set things up and how you transfer that, because that can make the difference between actually being able to transfer those assets to the next generation or having to pay Uncle Sam a bunch of money and them not getting what they wanted to or what your wishes are. So we'll get into that in the fourth segment here. So people stick around. That is definitely a hot topic in a lot of people's mind. And again I want to thank Pifers Auction and Realty and Pifers Land Management. We have a lot of auctions lined up for this fall. Go to piferscom see the list of them. We have auctions all the way from Montana to Minnesota, down to Nebraska, down into South Dakota and Minnesota. So stick with us and we'll finish out the last segment here with Galen.
Speaker 1:I'm going to get 35, I'm going to get 35, and I have so be right there, get bird, just great bye.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to our final segment of America's Land Auctioneer. I'm Steve Link, your host with Pfeiffer's Auction and Realty, Ready to finish out this segment talking about estate taxes and wealth and wealth planning and all these strategies and try and wrap it up. I know we're not going to get to everything and if you missed any part of this episode or you want to rehear it, go to Piferscom, click on the podcast tab or go to Spotify or Apple and search America's Land Auctioneer. And I want to thank Pifers Auction Realty and Pifers Land Management, your go-to team for building and securing your farmland wealth right. All right, Galen, we talked a lot. I teased it. The last segment. We're going to talk a little bit. I'm going to blink a question Does it matter how you set up your estate? Does the IRS care how you set up your estate?
Speaker 3:Yes, they do so. With the big beautiful bill, that lifetime exemption actually went up to $15 million for each individual. But how you have things titled is extremely important. So, be that an individual name, joint name, joint tenancy, revocable trust irrevocable trust from a taxation standpoint today as well as at time of death, absolutely. The IRS is checking all those boxes, so we want to be really mindful of those items.
Speaker 2:So yeah, and you just you named off tons of different ways to set it up, and I see it all the time when we're selling land on how that ownership is, and so, basically, through your process, you can give suggestions on how to set that up if it should be in a trust, if it should be in your revocable trust, if it should be a revocable trust and all of that stuff. And it's state-specific, isn't it? I mean, there's some states that are more friendly in certain situations than others.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So the state you live in absolutely makes a difference. So what we'd call situs, or a place where you have drafted your document or where you live, is absolutely very important. And the other thing I would say is just even from a risk mitigation perspective, steve, it's really important how you think about a farm. I think about a farm and think about the bounty or the crop, think about the farmland, think about the machinery From a liability protection. It's nice to have each one of those in a separate LLC, even before you put it into a revocable trust or an irrevocable trust or other titling to limit that liability. And the example I always give a farm family is think about how many times you drive down the road, you're moving implement from one field to the other and and one accident on a highway could put the entire farm, all machinery, all bounty you know, at risk for litigation. So sometimes just that titling. We think about a lot for liability protection.
Speaker 2:Yep, all right, we got two topics before the end of this, this show, that I want to talk about, and one is and we talked a little bit off the air about naming somebody, your executor, naming somebody, your PR, naming somebody you know, use a term, your trustee and things. What should be kind of what people are going through in their minds and how they should think that, who they should choose. What's your opinion on that?
Speaker 3:My opinion is have someone that has talent in that arena, have a professional. Make sure it has a level of sophistication you want. I always laugh, and we were laughing about this off air, and that is sometimes what I hear is well, I can't believe that mom and dad picked Joe to be the executor. He must be the favorite son. I would say the exact opposite, like sometimes the responsibility that's placed upon those people is they must be the most unfavored son or daughter.
Speaker 4:Exactly.
Speaker 3:So just know that if you're not chosen, that might have been a gift for you that you might not have recognized, but I do. I am partial to having a trust company or a financial provider working with folks, because it's a day-to-day activity working with with folks, because it's not. It's a day-to-day activity and I think what we end up having happen is someone's putting a predicament where they have no prior experience of any of the roles we've talked about. It be a conservator, guardian or trustee or executor name any name you want to name. They have no experience and they're supposed to be an expert. It's hard right. So like having someone walk with you, I think is really important and knowing that just because you have kids you trust doesn't mean that's what they want to spend their life doing, because it can. It's a full time job, especially the more complex the operation is. Sometimes you've saddled your children with a responsibility when they're at the busiest time of their life and they don't really have time to be taking care of your affairs.
Speaker 2:Right, yep, and I've always appreciated. I've run into a few estates where they've named pipers to handle certain parts selling their equipment or selling their land. They've already pre-named us and so that that person that is burdened is the executor or whatever already has that stuff figured out for them. The instrument, the instructions are there and that seems like it was well thought out. That person that passed had a relationship with us and they trust us and they know we're going to do a good job and because you know son or daughter may live, or somebody else may live in another state, they may not know who we are and don't know our reputation. So the fact that that was actually in their wishes and put there, I've been really impressed.
Speaker 3:I think the more specific you can be about relationships that you have and people you want to have your executor trustees work with is really important and it, it just it helps the people who are trying to carry out your wishes know that you know the family dynamics, what their real wishes were, and it just it comes back to the word I used earlier of just collaboration. Like you get a better end result.
Speaker 2:So you've, you've, you've. You mentioned a term that I hadn't really really heard, and I think it's. I think this is going to be. We're going to run out of time and this is going to be a great point to end on, but you suggested that if, oh, a lot of situations, it might be purposeful to have a letter of wishes. Explain that and tell me where that's worked well for clients.
Speaker 3:A letter of wishes. It's a non-legal document, but it's something that we encourage families to do to actually write a letter to their beneficiaries be that children, be that beneficiaries, be that children, be that grandchildren of what was their intent, was their intent for? You know, sometimes family members are left out or maybe they didn't receive a piece of ground that they thought they were going to receive and they received a life insurance policy instead, like what was the why they were thinking of? And what we find is, as a trustee, a lot of times we, you know, we're delivering at the time of death. You know, here's what mom and dad said and it's kind of cold.
Speaker 3:What I like is it's in their handwriting, it's in the way in which they like, talked, wrote, et cetera, and it really hits an emotional level. Where they are, they want to be respectful of who left them an asset and want to be a good steward. It resonates very differently that it's more of a gift or an explanation as to why it wasn't maybe what they thought. Plus, it helps, like what I would say, a family that might have five to 10 to 20 different beneficiaries, instead of people taking anger or resentment or a misunderstanding out on each other like they understand it and it keeps that family harmony intact going forward. Which is probably the real intent of most families is they wanna make sure families are still having Thanksgiving dinner together.
Speaker 2:Right and I've seen in some of those situations that that would have alleviated a lot of um, infighting, um, and then unnecessary expenses on attorneys, you know, because now they now they're starting to sue each other and and you end up paying for that and you have two attorneys, and so it's, it's, it's. I've seen a lot of money and I've seen I've seen estates go from pretty good value down to nothing just because it all goes to attorney fees, and that's really sad.
Speaker 3:And I think the other thing that I'd end on is it. It also is a place where you can put legacy. So we've talked about legacy, that sometimes it's not just money, but it's how. How do you want them to operate every day and treat others and how did they make their wealth and why is it important to them? But I like that it encompasses both the heart and the head, like I said earlier, of what the wealth really is is just a tool.
Speaker 2:Awesome, awesome. Well, that is a fantastic note to end on Galen. Thank you, this is a great show. Again, go back to Piferscom and click on it, listen to it, re-listen to it. How do they get ahold of you at Mariner?
Speaker 3:You can get ahold of me. You can go to our website, marinercom GalenMcGregor at Marinercom. And love to reach out and love to visit with you.
Speaker 2:All right, thanks and join us every week at America's Land Auctioneer. Have a good one.