Has anybody ever got rich through farming?

[glasshouse]

Plenty of bankruptcies in the eighties due to thatchers interest rates

The price of land fell by half or more in 2yrs after 1985. The weather was the trigger, but 15% base rates were the cause.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

It's not him taking the body shots though is it, I'm sure alot of us could be very wealthy if every time we made a mistake or got a bit tight on we walked from our responsibility's, I've got a chap who owes me some money, been bankrupt twice before, mentioned my money to him a few months ago, his reply was f..k you and your money I don't give a t.ss about either, just bought himself a new pickup though.

What about when your wife cleans out all the accounts without your knowledge and has to be extradited from Tahiti to face charges? Thus leaving you in a town flat with 3 kids under 6?
Then the cows got taken because the winter grazing bill wasn't paid..
That's hardly equivalent to walking away from your silage bill because you'd like a new pickup.
Sorry you got burnt, but not every scenario is the same, send the boys around to collect if the proper channels are of no use. Small claims court etc, I've had to before (go round with a fire extinguisher to collect, not court) with almost 100% success

 

[Henarar]

What about when your wife cleans out all the accounts without your knowledge and has to be extradited from Tahiti to face charges? Thus leaving you in a town flat with 3 kids under 6?
Then the cows got taken because the winter grazing bill wasn't paid..

he could still pay his old debts now he has millions, I suspect he owes money to some that have far less than him, it wasn't the folks he owes money to fault his misses pee'd of with his money

 

[Pluto Matt]

Simple question, please don't think I'm having a go at you but why do people who have done very well for themselves and made a lot of money need someone else to manage it for them?

Thank you for your email - don't worry about having a go - I see it as a perfect opportunity to pitch to all of you, lol!!!!

Firstly, let me explain that I take a very cynical view to the financial advice marketplace - I'm not a fan of 90% of what's out there. This is because I come from a very different world - the Big 4 accountancy firms. And I was in charge of "tax consulting" for one of them, which usually means you know what you're doing. I would be classed as a hate figure for 90% of the population (which included Gordon Brown in my time) and 99% of comedians.

Secondly, I never used financial advisors myself when I was younger - because I really didn't think they knew more about this stuff than me. (By the way, I was right - I was not earning enough to justify the cost until I became very senior.)

So you might ask yourself, if I detest almost all financial advisors, why did I set up a wealth management business?

After leaving the Big 4, I ran a very successful tax planning business for a number of years, and we had a lot of clients that we helped to legally minimise their taxes. NOT a certain well known comedian - our stuff worked because it wasn't contrived!

The problem that I always had was that we would help successful clients minimise their tax (on say, the sale of a business), and then they would ask their own financial advisor (Jessie James!) to manage the money, often with disastrous results. One financial advisor (Butch Cassidy?) tried to charge my client £300,000 to put a number of investments into an offshore bond that did nothing for the client. I stopped the transaction.

But then the client asked me "who would I recommend?" and I couldn't recommend anyone because they were all rubbish.

Then I met my business partner. He understands what this type of client needs and both of us had already become very successful by NOT being rip off merchants and by both being very good at what we do. Me at tax, him at financial advice. By the way, he's a pain to work with - too clever by half!

As to what can we do for a successful businessman? This is what we do every day - we keep them rich, make sure they have everything covered, and help them with design the wealth structures that are best for them.

Just to emphasise the point, in this thread, there are loads of people referring to bankruptcy. That's sort of the point really - none of them are ours!

 

[BELOWAVERAGE]

What about when your wife cleans out all the accounts without your knowledge and has to be extradited from Tahiti to face charges? Thus leaving you in a town flat with 3 kids under 6?
Then the cows got taken because the winter grazing bill wasn't paid..
That's hardly equivalent to walking away from your silage bill because you'd like a new pickup.
Sorry you got burnt, but not every scenario is the same, send the boys around to collect if the proper channels are of no use. Small claims court etc, I've had to before (go round with a fire extinguisher to collect, not court) with almost 100% success

Haha, been there, got the T-shirt, if he's money now he should go and settle his debts, he married her there his debts, he wouldn't have turned the money away if she'd earn't him a fortune, as for mine, it'l be sorted.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

he could still pay his old debts now he has millions, I suspect he owes money to some that have far less than him, it wasn't the folks he owes money to fault his misses pee'd of with his money

Oh yeah, he's paid it all back now, I thought you meant at the time! My mistake.
He's actually in business with the grazier that had to seize his herd back in '91, so I think they're probably less concerned by what happened than TFF is he's pleased it happened when they only had 260 cows (not 9000 cows and other ventures)

Sorry, had to laugh at "shouldn't be allowed to own nuffing til they clear all their debts", how the hell are you going to pay back a million when working for a wage? Steal it? Lottery? Cocaine?
That has to be the daftest thing I've read on TFF today but there's still time.
Edit: (have just read the thread where the beef farmer donated all his cattle to the sanctuary, so it's now in second place)
More effective would be a court ordered monitoring of the next business accounts and balances, with deductions made, without disadvantaging it to the degree it will fail. Plenty of spare administration people to monitor them..
Yes I can see both sides, but there's a lot less chance of recovery - with such a ban on business activity - for either party.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Haha, been there, got the T-shirt, if he's money now he should go and settle his debts, he married her there his debts, he wouldn't have turned the money away if she'd earn't him a fortune, as for mine, it'l be sorted.

Sorry been a 'phone-me' morning, hopefully my above reply answered some of it..
If your man had been bankrupt twice, why did you allow him to owe you money? There's a couple of smallholders in my town that wouldn't get the right time on credit, such is their reputation. Unfortunately both neighbours of mine... I just don't do any dealings unless its cash up front with them. One just doesn't have the money and one won't part with his. Neither have been insolvent at any point.

 

[glasshouse]

who are you talking about?
One of my many predecessors was bankrupted in 1817 and put in the debtors prison. That was really going to help pay it back.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

who are you talking about?

Were you asking me who? it's back up the thread somewhere..stuffed if I can find it now.
Laughable.
Debtor's prison, ban of owning a business etc is only good for retribution. I'd rather be dribble fed in ten years time than never, so in the situation that I was owed money by someone forced into bankruptcy, I'd be wishing them every success!

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Do you not have lists of struck-off directors, companies registers, public bankruptcy notices etc over there? or is part of the problem people trading as partnerships and individuals- or crooks with aliases?
We do, I check everyone out before doing any trade (or signing an employment agreement) nothing personal, they check me out, I check them out - less surprises to be had.
I've actually been summoned to appear in court and had a difficult time proving that I wasn't based in Auckland and running a failed property development company same full name as the guy who was, they got him eventually; even that appears if you google my name.. and judging by how often it's mentioned, I can't be the only one who actually uses t'internet

 

[BELOWAVERAGE]

Sorry been a 'phone-me' morning, hopefully my above reply answered some of it..
If your man had been bankrupt twice, why did you allow him to owe you money? There's a couple of smallholders in my town that wouldn't get the right time on credit, such is their reputation. Unfortunately both neighbours of mine... I just don't do any dealings unless its cash up front with them. One just doesn't have the money and one won't part with his. Neither have been insolvent at any point.

Daft of me really, I had actually told him not to bother paying for 5 months so as to try and help his cash flow, but when that time came and went I realised I'd made a stupid mistake, I don't mind people who are slow to pay if they are short of money and trying, as I've had favours in the past. You've ruined my day now saying he's back up to 9000 cows, he probably had more when he had nothing than I have now.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Daft of me really, I had actually told him not to bother paying for 5 months so as to try and help his cash flow, but when that time came and went I realised I'd made a stupid mistake, I don't mind people who are slow to pay if they are short of money and trying, as I've had favours in the past. You've ruined my day now saying he's back up to 9000 cows, he probably had more when he had nothing than I have now.

Yes it's a sickening number of cows!!
Sorry to hear that, my dad gave a 5 year interest-free deal when he sold up and never lived long enough to see it.. mum wasn't sure she'd see it either but sure enough.. it's sad that a genuine good gesture on your behalf has resulted in that breach of trust

 

[Breckland Boy]

Local man suffered a massive debt going down on him. He kept his yards, sold his land , paid off all his dues and never dived himself. He and his boys have worked solidly to get themselves back right again - total respect for him

That sounds like a story I know. Yes he suffered a massive debt but he didn't pay off his dues. I have a family member who lost £50k.

 

[Tarw Coch]

Oh yeah, he's paid it all back now, I thought you meant at the time! My mistake.
He's actually in business with the grazier that had to seize his herd back in '91, so I think they're probably less concerned by what happened than TFF is he's pleased it happened when they only had 260 cows (not 9000 cows and other ventures)

Sorry, had to laugh at "shouldn't be allowed to own nuffing til they clear all their debts", how the hell are you going to pay back a million when working for a wage? Steal it? Lottery? Cocaine?
That has to be the daftest thing I've read on TFF today but there's still time.
Edit: (have just read the thread where the beef farmer donated all his cattle to the sanctuary, so it's now in second place)
More effective would be a court ordered monitoring of the next business accounts and balances, with deductions made, without disadvantaging it to the degree it will fail. Plenty of spare administration people to monitor them..
Yes I can see both sides, but there's a lot less chance of recovery - with such a ban on business activity - for either party.

Obviously every situation is different and it's certainly better to get the money back eventually rather than not at all but even if the money is payed back over time it doesn't make it as if it had never happened. Whilst some might be able to trade through such a debt with little problems it could hamper another business to such an extent they never get back on track, it might not send them under but they may well never be what they could have been had they never been landed with a debt.

I guess it's just a case of life's not fair, and that's one of the risks you take in business.

 

[glasshouse]

he could still pay his old debts now he has millions, I suspect he owes money to some that have far less than him, it wasn't the folks he owes money to fault his misses pee'd of with his money

who?

 

[Sid]

not the owning / selling of land

Haven't read the whole thread.
What if that land has been bought by the profits of farming?

 

[Courier]

I

its industry that is destroying the planet, not agriculture

Nah, it's the sheer pressure from an ever increasing population which is consuming the products of both industry and agriculture.