no welfare payments on this farm!!!!!!!! | it hurts me to say this but no one is talking about the best place to cut costs, everyone can assume they are doing a good job, but i think you will find alot of bankers will tell you the money spent on your farm inputs normally returns something a little over investment, that investment is normlly protected by crop insurance, when is see operations going broke I see the off farm expenses from barrowed money causing most of the problem. i call them dead assets, in the last 20 years, the news/media and advertisers have done everything they can to make you feel like its child abuse if your kids dont have their own room, cell phone, every toy on the planet, and you must go out for supper at least 3 times a wweeek. in 20 years time it has become about impossible to do anything without seeing a comercial telling you that you need such and such. from the young farmer trading in the pickup that was hardly broke in let alone wore out, to the whole line of new equipment, to the big screen tv, to the oversized house, to the most high tect everything, and then to top that off the kids have to be in every sport and activity under the sun or you are a bad parent. from not being able to say no to what kids want to not being able to say no to what you want, this all adds up very quick and then it becomes the norm and the farmer will sacrifice fertilizer and other needed farm inputs just to keep purchasing his dead assets that are not returning a dime. prety soon comes the debt, then the line of credit maxed out followed by the credit cards maxed to the limit and they still dont know how to say no.
I guess what i am saying is how could people live off of so much less money then today, yes inflation is to blame for alot of that, but when i see a farmer tell me he cant afford the fertilizer that will return good money for him because he spent all his money on dead assets and toys, i know the problem pretty quick. they can get byfor a year reducing the fertilizer budget, but it catches up pretty quick cause the longer the cant say no to the dead assets and toys, the larger the toy/christmas list gets. like the banker said on another post, alot of farmers think they are living on $30 to 40k per year but its actually $100k. that $60k will make alot of payments wont it.
there are places to ccut inputs in the farm budget, but shave the fun budget first and you will be farther ahead in 5 years, and also in 5 years when you and your kids can appreciate the simple little cheap things you will know you got it made over your competition. a simple card game with the family every evening instead of cable tv will put $600 bucks a year in your pocket, a cooking competition between you and your spouse instead of going out for supper just put $40 bucks in your pocket. allthese little things add up pretty quick. good luck. |
Question for the experienced farmers
