Land

I have used this picture LuAnn took of me behind our house as my avatar on a lot of sites. It is taken on our land, something we treasure with a beautiful crop I grew there.

"I'm guessing it was cash or close to it. They could have been growing there money with Mf global or better yet given it to there stock broker. No one will steal your land. It can be passed on to your childerns childern(with a little tax, but thats another subject) you can touch it, see it, smell it, even enjoy it on a daily basis if you like. Much more than I can say for most investments. It may well be worth half what you pay for it next year, but over time its a beautiful investment one can always be proud of. LAND"

A farmer wrote this on Crop Talk yesterday and it was so good I had to use it in my blog this morning. We have talked a lot about buying your first farm this year or the merits of owning land and I thought this summarized it nicely.

He is replying to a poster who claimed that over $10,000 per acre for a farm that sold in Illinois may be too much. Maybe it is, depending on the buyers situation but someone, at least two people thought it was worth enough to bid over $10,000 per acre for class A, prime farmland in Illinois.

In Ohio, it wouldn't bring that much unless it was an awfully prime location amongst wealthy land owners who are expanding and protecting their land base or investors who may know something about the future of that land we don't know.

The quote summarizes how I feel about land versus other investments. I can touch it, feel it, see it every day and grow valuable crops on it, something I really enjoy doing. You have to make your own conclusion, I am here to encourage you and not get you into something you don't need or want.

It is a known fact none of us are going to "take it with us," but we can enjoy it while we are here on earth and put it into hands who will take care of it as well or better than we did. "Someone farmed it before I got here and someone will farm it when I am gone."

I guess we need to talk about estate planning one of these days. That is a topic I am not prepared to tackle.

Have a good day, it is still raining in Ohio.

Ed