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The Rural Voice, 1989-08, Page 18Would you like to discuss income replacement? PROFESSIONAL INSURANCE REPRESENTATIVES WATKINS, DAUGHERTY & ASSOCIATES LICENSED INTERMEDIARIES FOR sus IMPERIAL UFE Estate Planning, Business Insurance, Group Benefits, RRSPs, RRIFs, Annuities, Disability Insurance, Retirement Planning, Equity Funds The Imperial Life Assurance Company of Canada 305 King Street West, Suite 609 Kitchener, Ontario N2G 1 B9 LUCKNOW: LISTOWEL: KITCHENER: 528-3514 291-5040 799-5281 AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT SERVICES Provide employment planning assistance to the agricultural industry Recruit workers for agricultural employment Assist worker orientation and transportation Promote good employment standards Provide information about government employment programs OWEN SOUND WALKERTON 371-9522 881-3671 16 THE RURAL VOICE WISE MOVES Financial Strategies for Farmers Bob Watkins This month The Rural Voice introduces "Wise Moves," a series of articles provided by Wat- kins, Daugherty & Associates. Taking as acase study the farm of "Martin Wise," financial experts Richard Daugherty and Bob Watkins will be outlining various ways that farmers can enhance their financial security and planning. Your questions and comments are wel- come: telephone Bob in Lucknow 528-3514, Richard in Listowel 291-5040, or Kitchener (Imperial Life head office) 744-5281.0 INCOME REPLACEMENT My name is Martin Wise. I run a mixed operation of 150 acres, helped by my wife Mary and our two chil- dren, Bradley and Cynthia. A month ago, I had an accident with my tractor. The result was a badly bruised leg, but it could have been worse. It started me thinking. If I had lost that leg and become perma- nently disabled, I would have had to make some choices about the future of my farming operation. My thinking went something like this: First of all, I would need some help with the livestock, the planting and harvesting of my crops, and the farm maintenance. I am sure Mary could not manage all the heavy work on her own. The trouble is, where would I get the money to pay for the extra help? Well, I could always sell some livestock, provided they were ready for market or the prices weren't down. On the other hand, Mary could take an extra job off the farm. That would probably provide enough to replace the lost family income, but not enough to pay for hired help as well. If we got into deeper financial difficulty, I could ask the bank to extend my line of credit. But I doubt if that new loans officer would let me have any more credit under those circumstances. As a last resort, I could sell the farm — not a very satisfactory solution! Actually, what I decided to do was set up an income replacement Richard Daugherty program. I didn't know whether, as a farmer, I could qualify for this type of program, so I called an insurance representative. I sat down with Mary and the representative to discuss the following questions: (a) How long could we survive without income replacement? (b) How much income would we need each month? (c) How long would we like the benefit to last? We were able to design a program that will provide us with a regular monthly cheque if I should be disabled. I was initially concerned that, because I was paying myself only $15,000 a year out of the $40,000 annual profit, I would not be able to replace the total lost farm revenue. But my program covers that too. This means there are enough funds avail- able in my program to replace the family income, and pay for hired help if I need it. If I had been a sole proprietor of my farm, I would have had to pay for this program out of my own pocket. In my case, because I have incorpo- rated my farming business, I can pay for this program through the business and the expense is a tax deduction. By the way, in case you think this could never happen to you, our repre- sentative told us that 48 per cent of all mortgage foreclosures are a result of disability.0 Richard Daugherty and Bob Watkins entered the investment and insurance business with Imperial Life in 1986.