INSIDE COMMERCIAL PROPERTY: Securing succession plans

If you talk to a lot of investors, as co-hosts Phil Tarrant and Scott O’Neill do, you’ll hear them often say they’re not building portfolios so much for their own benefit as that of the next generation — their kids. Joined by Rethink Investing’s Michael McIntosh, Phil and Scott delve into the topic of leveraging your existing assets to create a fair and equitable succession plan for your next of kin. Michael, who specialises in helping rural families invest in commercial real estate, explains the unique position that many Australian farmers occupy when it comes to equity. The land they sit on is valuable but not very liquid. In considering how to pass on their assets to their family, it can become complicated when everything is tied up in a single entity, and they have some children who want to continue in the family business and some who don’t. The trio also look at how diversifying a portfolio can bring stability to assets such as farms that are often at the mercy of elements out of human control.