FFF Insight 12 - The Most Expensive Words Are "We Didn't Know"

After more than 35 years helping Australian farming families with family farm succession planning, I've noticed one phrase comes up time and time again. 

"We didn't know." 

Every family has been different. Different businesses. Different generations. Different goals for the future. Yet despite those differences, one theme has continued to emerge. 

"We didn't know where to start." 

"We didn't know what the kids were actually thinking." 

"We didn't know there was a better way." 

"We didn't know those changes were even possible." 

"We didn't know that concession existed." 

"We didn't know how aged care costs are actually calculated." 

"We didn't know what retirement would cost." 

"We didn't know our wills no longer reflected what we wanted." 

"We didn't know there were other options." 

Each of those comments came from a different farming family, at a different stage of life and facing different challenges.  Yet they all point to the same thing.  Not a lack of effort.  Not a lack of care.  Not a lack of commitment. 

Simply a lack of information and awareness which is understandable. 

Modern family farm succession planning is no longer just about passing land from one generation to the next. Today's farming families are expected to understand governance, family communication and leadership, taxation, business structures, trusts, superannuation, aged care, retirement planning, estate planning - all while running a productive and profitable farming business. 

No one can reasonably be expected to know everything.  What I've learnt over more than 25 years is that it is rarely what a family didn't know that creates the biggest problem.  It's when they discovered it. 

There is time to understand what each family member hopes for the future. Time to have honest conversations before misunderstandings become conflict. Time to prepare the next generation for leadership. Time to discuss retirement expectations and understand how aged care may affect future decisions. 

Then, with everyone moving in the same direction, there is time to review business structures, understand ownership and control, update wills and estate plans, and take advantage of valuable taxation and stamp duty concessions that may preserve significant family wealth. 

Most importantly, there is time to make informed decisions while everyone is still healthy, involved and able to contribute. 

Unfortunately, that's not when many families begin the succession conversation. 

More often, the conversation starts because uncertainty has been building for years. 

Mum or Dad's health begins to change. The next generation becomes increasingly uncertain about their future. Parents aren't sure whether they can afford to retire. Children don't know whether they should commit to the farm, invest elsewhere or wait. Important conversations are postponed because no one wants to upset the family or start an uncomfortable discussion. 

Eventually, something prompts action. 

A bank asks questions about ownership. An adviser identifies a taxation issue. A will is reviewed for the first time in decades. An aged care decision needs to be made. Or the family is faced with the loss of someone they love. 

Suddenly, decisions that could have been made thoughtfully over many years become decisions that need to be made under pressure. 

The conversation changes. 

Instead of asking, 

"What opportunities do we have?" 

Families find themselves asking, 

"What can we do now?" 

There is a world of difference between those two questions. 

One is about creating opportunities. 

The other is about limiting damage. 

Over the years, I've seen farming families transform their future simply because they started asking the right questions early enough. 

They had time to understand what each family member wanted from the future. Time to prepare the next generation for leadership. Time to build trust, reduce uncertainty and make decisions together rather than under pressure. They had time to develop a shared vision before discussing ownership, structures and taxation. 

The financial benefits were often significant.  I've seen families preserve hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars because they had enough time to review their business structures, access valuable tax concessions, clarify ownership and transfer assets while opportunities were still available. 

But when I ask those families what they're most grateful for, it's rarely the tax savings they mention first.  It's the conversations they had.  The certainty they created for their children.  The confidence to retire knowing there was a plan. 

The knowledge that everyone understood where they stood and why decisions had been made.  That's the real value of starting early. 

The financial outcomes matter. 

But preserving relationships, creating clarity and giving the next generation confidence to build on what you've created is what family farm succession planning is really about. 

I've seen parents genuinely surprised when their children finally shared their hopes for the future. One child desperately wanted to return to the farm but never believed there was an opportunity. Another had decided years earlier that farming wasn't for them but didn't know how to raise the subject. Those conversations had been waiting to happen for years. 

I've worked with families who assumed they couldn't afford to retire, only to discover that with good planning, realistic budgeting and the right business structure, retirement was much closer than they thought. I've also seen families unnecessarily worry about aged care because they simply didn't understand how the system worked or how different assets are assessed. 

I've met families who believed the only fair solution was to divide every asset equally, only to discover there were more practical ways to achieve fairness while preserving the farming enterprise for future generations. 

None of these families were careless.  They were simply busy.  Busy producing crops, managing livestock, machinery, staff, finance, compliance and the countless decisions that come with running a modern farming business. 

Like most people, they assumed there would always be time later.  That is why I believe family farm succession planning is not really about legal documents or tax strategies. 

It is about leadership.  Great leaders don't have all the answers. 

They ask the right questions, and they ask them while there is still time to do something with the answers. 

One of the most valuable questions any farming family can ask is simply: 

"What don't we know?" 

That single question changes everything.  It replaces assumptions with understanding.  It turns uncertainty into opportunity. 

It encourages conversations that may have been avoided for years and it helps families make decisions while they still have choices. 

Whether your family is only beginning to think about family farm succession, or you've already started planning, understanding where you stand today is often the hardest part. Good farm succession planning isn't about having all the answers. It's about asking the right questions before opportunities are lost. 

That's exactly why we created the Australian Family Farm Transition Benchmark™. 

After working alongside farming families for more than 25 years, we realised most families weren't looking for another textbook, another webinar or another folder full of legal documents. 

They simply wanted to understand where they stand today.  The Australian Family Farm Transition Benchmark™ has been designed to do exactly that. 

In around 5 minutes to complete, it helps farming families assess their current level of succession readiness across leadership, communication, business structures, ownership, estate planning, taxation and transition planning. 

More importantly, it helps identify the questions you may not yet know to ask. 

Complete the Australian Family Farm Transition Benchmark™ today 

After more than two decades working with farming families, one lesson stands above all others. 

The biggest cost is rarely making the wrong decision, more often it's discovering the right decision...just a little too late. 

If this article prompts one conversation around your kitchen table this week, then it has achieved exactly what I hoped.  Ask your family one simple question. 

"What don't we know?" 

Then invest 5 minutes in completing the Australian Family Farm Transition Benchmark™. 

It may be one of the most valuable investments you ever make in your family's future. 

Lead your family. Shape your future. 

Preserve. Protect. Prosper.