Pensions
If you’re female, the facts on personal pensions speak for themselves:
• women on average earn less than men
• women are more likely to have fragmented career patterns
• women are more likely to work part-time
• women on average live longer than men
• only 50.6% of women in Ireland have pensions coverage (compared to 58.3 % of men)
All of which means women are more likely to experience poverty in retirement. David Malone, Head of Information Services at The Pensions Board, will discuss the need for pension planning and how to get started with a pension.
State pension
There have been recent changes in state pensions also. Following negotiations between IFA and the Department of Social and Family Affairs, and Revenue, on Spouses’ Partnerships, women working on farms in partnership with their spouses can qualify for a non means-tested pension in their own right.
Two key issues have been substantially progressed. First, the criteria used by the Department and by Revenue in determining whether a partnership exists are now clear and transparent to farm families for the first time. Second, spouses who were effectively farming in a partnership in the past but did not claim to be in a partnership when making their tax and PRSI returns will be eligible to claim partnership status retrospectively. Their case will be investigated by the Department under the spouses’ partnership criteria.
The Chairperson of the IFA Farm Family Committee, Mary Sherry, will explain these changes during her presentation.
Succession Planning
Change processes in the family farm business can be fraught with the same complexity that exists in any family business, but with some added twists that are specific to farming. Succession is one of the most important issues for any farm family and this can be a particularly difficult issue to broach or discuss.
Succession planning is a very sensitive area- no one wants to talk about the possibility of their child getting divorced and ending up in the Family Court, while no children want to talk about their parents dying.
Important questions to consider when formulating the plan include:-
• Is gender a more significant issue rather than interest or involvement in the business?
• How is contribution to the business acknowledged?
• Does contribution to the business impact on the outcome of the succession plan?
• What was your experience of how a succession plan was managed in your family of origin?
• Does it influence how you would like the succession plan in your business to look?
Frank Lanigan, consultant with Malcomson Law, will discuss the good and bad stories of succession planning, or lack of it, in Ireland, as well as giving an overview of the law. Lyn Skyes, a world renowned authority on facilitating farm family succession planning meetings, will highlight how to get the discussion started and how communication is a vital component.
Marrying in – the family dynamic
Families in business together face a unique set of conflicts between the older and younger generations. When someone marries into the family and are then part of the business there can be added conflicts. Women typically come to farming through marriage, meaning that most experience being a ‘daughter-in-law’ on a family farm. There is a traditional identity of ‘daughter-in-law’ on family farms. While this identity is changing with changes in agriculture and family dynamics, there are many ongoing stories of tensions and conflicts in the family dynamic.
Maureen Gaffney, psychologist and broadcaster, will take us through some of the issues of concern and guide us on how best to handle them.
The Power of the word
Enthusiasm is passion. Enthusiasm is living your dream. Enthusiasm is a divine energy you will feel as a reward for pursuing your dreams and staying on your own path.
Communication and how we speak about ourselves and each other can have a significant affect on our enthusiasm and energy levels.
By using the ‘power of the word’ we can re-invent our attitudes and behaviours, re-generate passion, energy, productivity, business partnerships, laughter and work/home balance, and re-engage ourselves with our whole life!
Robyn Moore, an inspirational speaker from Australia, will deliver us the power of the word to re-energise ourselves and our lives.
Agriculture needs women
Women have been central to agriculture and food production since the dawn of civilisation. The decline of womens’ involvement is not good for agriculture and there is strong evidence that where women are involved in farming, production and profits are increased. For example the analysis of data from nearly 2million farm households in USA in the early nineties showed that farm related incomes increased by 23% on husband/wife jointly managed farms as compared to husband only operations.
Terry Cunningham, Teagasc will discuss the findings of his MSc Thesis on ‘Farm Families in Transition’ including the urgent need to engage positively with women in agriculture and highlights the benefits of having women involved in agriculture.