Sell the farm and live the life of Reilly?

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Is there any possibility in selling part of your farm and keeping part of it for your own use? You say you enojy the work, perhaps with a smaller farm (maybe specialised to some extent - organic etc.?) you could still be doing work you enjoy but without it taking up 24/7.

Deciding to "retire" at age 35 or so is a huge decision. I personally think I would have little difficulty in finding useful ways to occupy myself for a good ten or twenty years (yes, have indulged in lots and lots of lotto daydreams) but many people would go mad without having a job to occupy a good bit of their time. There are lots more questions surrounding this than the financial one. What would you do for those 60 years?
 
The strange thing about farming is that if you halve the size and scope of a farm, you don't necessarily halve the workload. It goes the other way too. For example, if I were to increase stock and output by say 30%, with some moderate changes to my facilities, my workload might increase by an extra 15-30 minutes/day max. Unfortunately, due to what I now regard as downright interference from EU, ie Quotas, Nitrates Regulations etc etc, the ability to expand is well curtailed.

I'm straying from your point a little.

Apart from yourself, a couple of others have also pointed out that the idyllic dream of retiring early would have a serious psychological impact, just doing nothing is bad for the soul, and to bring that point back around to finance (seeing as this is a money discussion site) - if you are not in a good state of mind, chances are high you will blow the lot.

What would I do? I'm a bit vague on that to be honest. Take one huge holiday for starters. Rest. Go back to college? Start a new business? You're right. It needs to be thought through.
 
Jack The Lad said:
The strange thing about farming is that if you halve the size and scope of a farm, you don't necessarily halve the workload. It goes the other way too. For example, if I were to increase stock and output by say 30%, with some moderate changes to my facilities, my workload might increase by an extra 15-30 minutes/day max. Unfortunately, due to what I now regard as downright interference from EU, ie Quotas, Nitrates Regulations etc etc, the ability to expand is well curtailed.

I'm straying from your point a little. .
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I understand what you mean, however. Don't know much about farming but figured even a small farm would be a fulltime job (just maybe not 24/7 and possibly less stress if it wasn't your main source of income?)

Jack The Lad said:
Apart from yourself, a couple of others have also pointed out that the idyllic dream of retiring early would have a serious psychological impact, just doing nothing is bad for the soul, and to bring that point back around to finance (seeing as this is a money discussion site) - if you are not in a good state of mind, chances are high you will blow the lot.

What would I do? I'm a bit vague on that to be honest. Take one huge holiday for starters. Rest. Go back to college? Start a new business? You're right. It needs to be thought through.
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Yep, don't know what happened there. When I posted no-one had made that point but now there's two pages in between my post and the one I thought I was replying to. Very strange.

Anyway, if you do a search (mostly in the careers forum I think) there are quite a few threads from people trying to decide on a career change/what to do with their life. Could be interesting reading for you and I believe there are some books recommended too (what colour is your parachute etc.).

Finally, not sure if this is a silly question to ask a farmer but do you ever watch Ear to the Ground? Or even Nationwide. Or the BBC program which I think is called Countryfile (we're talking Sunday morning telly here). There are often slots regarding people who realised they couldn't keep going with conventional farming and how they have coped with that. The guy who's started selling worms for composting - the organic ice-cream makers (not sure they were farmers actually) - the guy who started hiring horses out for trekking and being a guide - fully organic beef production etc. etc. You might get some ideas from there.

Good luck.

P.S. At the risk of being cheeky, should a farmer not be out in the fields at this time of day and not stuck in at a computer :)
 
Unfortunately, due to what I now regard as downright interference from EU, ie Quotas, Nitrates Regulations etc etc, the ability to expand is well curtailed.
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Erm, excuse my city slicker ignorance, but is it not a bit cheeky to be criticising the EU, given that they probably provide you, and most other Irish farmers, with good proportion of your income, directly or indirectly? Those pesky bureaucrats should keep their noses out, keep paying the money, and let Irish farmers 'take care' of the environment, just like they've always done...talk about biting the hand that feeds you!
 
"Erm, excuse my city slicker ignorance, but is it not a bit cheeky to be criticising the EU, given that they probably provide you, and most other Irish farmers, with good proportion of your income, directly or indirectly?"

All the subsidies do is bridge the gap between the world price of agricultural commodities which is now exceptionally low by historical standards and the cost of producing those commodities in first world countries like Europe and the USA. If there were no EU subsidies then it would not be viable to produce food in Europe, the cost of production would be higher than world price of those commodities. However what most people don't realise is that if EU production was taken out (and EU subsidies mean that Europe is a substantial producer) there would be big shortages of these commodities and prices would shoot up. People would end up paying far more for food than they do now and much more than the subsidies currently paid to farmers. The big loser in the current set up is the producer.
 
joe sod said:
If there were no EU subsidies then it would not be viable to produce food in Europe, the cost of production would be higher than world price of those commodities.
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So instead of paying through taxes the EU consumer would pay at the till? Subsidies don't change the underlying cost of production, they just mitigate the cost to the producer.
People would end up paying far more for food than they do now and much more than the subsidies currently paid to farmers.
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This does not make any sense at all. How does the withdrawal of subsidies, increasing the direct costs to the producer suddenly magnify into even higher costs to the consumer?
 
Good for you. Sell now while you can get the most money. I have a few suggestions for vacation homes. Prices aren't bad.

How about a nice little vacation home on 5 acres in the North Carolina Hills?


Got $29,000 burning a hole in your pocket? Minutes from unbelievable golf courses and good skiing in the winter. Try Northern Michigan.


Or maybe you need a little more room. Would 3,700 sq/ft. be enough in Texas?


The Carribean beach more your style? How about ocean front in Aruba.
http://www.remax-caribbeanislands.com/property/PropertyDetail.asp?@vchMlsNumber=4093

Maybe a ocean view condo in St. Thomas?
http://www.remax-caribbeanislands.com/property/PropertyDetail.asp?@vchMlsNumber=4150
 
That house in North Carolina reminds me of the house from Psycho!!!

That place in Texas though - nice gaff!
 
Wow 2.5 million.
In my view this is enough money for you + your wife + any kids you will ever have to live the rest of your life comfortably.
I think your situation is kinda like winning the lotto, but harder as you have alot of attachment to the ticket:)

I dont think the big issue is where to put the money, its what to do with yourself if you did sell. unless you are extravegant, you have oodles of money to do what you want for the rest of your life.

have you considered getting some help?
visit a career/ life coach? i bet lotto people have specialists to help people in your lucky situation.
take a year out? have a long think about what you want to do with yourself.

you said you have visited africa, why not set up a charity or work heavily with a charity?
There are a million things to do with your life.
people who say you will go crazy of boredom, lack imagination.

personally i would like to think if i had that much money ,
I would buy a commerical property in the UK(possibly) on a 75% mortgage. with a yield around 6%(on a interest only loan (5% interest rate.) this would give you 200k a year to play with.).
for work, i would play with shares/futures/ebay.
i would do plenty of voluntary work in Africa and Ireland.
Possibly go back to college for fun, screw retraining.
And you can kiss your long winters good bye cos i would be in sydney for most of em, unless i was off skiing somewhere.

thats my 2 cents.
p.s. 99% of the people cant contemplate the opportunities you have.
most people cant function without a job, so go get help from some people with some experience in this field.
p.p.s i have a friend who works for 6 months and sails/enjoys lief for the other 6 and he seems pretty happy.
 
Reading in the Irish Times today that growing elephant grass looks like pretty easy money - sow a bit of that down!! !
 
Jack The Lad said:
The only one to suit would be building houses/ selling sites, and am currently involved in same. Problem is… there’s only x number of sites available to sell… and perhaps if I were to sell the farm in entirety, having the possibility of sites would attract a broader range of potential buyers, and hopefully put the pressure on in the auction room.
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Just out of curiousity where are you based and approx what kind of sites are you selling?
 
Mollser:

miscanthus costs up to €20K per hectare to set and there is no market for the stuff in Ireland. There is hope and aspirations that it will be a great fuel, but the farmer growing it wil lbe at the lowest rung of the ladder and will not be the same as an oil sheik.

If there was a guaranteed market for the harvested crop, then prople woudl be intereted
 
I have not read all the answers so I may be repeating something already suggested.
I would sell the farm and take the money and buy a much bigger farm in The U.K. or New Zealand or Canada.
 
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