Mike Downey's Linkedin Analytics

There's no more beautiful way of life than raising a family on a farm! I was born & raised on a family farm but the income from the farm was not enough to support us. This led me down the traditional path of going to college to receive an ag degree & I've worked in a professional role with farmers and landowners the last 20+ years. Despite my dream of owning my own farm, I spent the first half of my career investing my future retirement in a 401k. This changed after the 2008 financial crisis. I became frustrated with the conventional wisdom of "staying the course, you have time on your side." This is when my wife & I discovered we could self-direct & diversify our IRA's in alternative investments other than the stock market. Since then, the passive income from such investments has allowed us to take control of our calendars & leave my ag career to start my own ag consulting company. More recently, it supported a goal in purchasing our 1st farm! - a legacy we wish to pass down to our children. Meanwhile, the multigenerational farm I grew up on fell victim to a poor succession plan. In fact, it's estimated 70% of family farms don't have a well written estate or succession plan! This is where my passion & focus lies today in my ag consulting: Helping farmers & other ag professionals grow, diversify, preserve & transition their family legacies. Want to learn more? Send me a DM & I'm happy to have a discovery call. I also host 2 Ag meetups on the first Friday of every month on such topics. They are hosted on the meetup platform & the links to join these are above in my Featured section.