PEORIA, Ill. — A University of Illinois (UoI) Extension farm business management and marketing educator will be the featured speaker and moderator of a seminar geared exclusively to farm women, scheduled for Wednesday, March 26 at the Peoria County Farm Bureau (PCFB) auditorium.<br>
Ruth Hambleton, who holds a master’s degree in agricultural economics from UoI and a bachelor’s in animal industries from Southern Illinois University (SIU), said her Estate Planning and Retirement seminar is “designed especially about the issues that most affect farm women. They are often caught in between - between generations, between family members, and between families.”<br>
Hambleton, who has led informational meetings and classes for farm women in the Midwest since 2003, said women are more open with their questions when the focus is on them.<br>
“That is why the program is for women and presented by women,” she said.<br>
A Peoria-based attorney, Ketra Mytich of Ketra Mytich, Ltd., and Laurie Adams, a certified financial planner and life underwriter for Country Insurance & Financial Services, will also serve as instructors during the seminar. Both women bring rural backgrounds and experience with farm situations and farm clients to the program, said PCFB program coordinator Mary Ellen Strode.<br>
Strode said estate planning topics to be covered include wills, trusts, charities, business organizations, property titling, valuation of an estate, balancing estates and gifting, life insurance options, the “difference between fair and equitable and getting it right,” and communications/organization - two of the essential elements of successful estate planning.<br>
Retirement planning topics and activities will include a “financial checkup,” long-term health care, social security, goal-setting, and professional retirement and estate planning options.<br>
A $25 registration fee includes continental breakfast, refreshments, lunch, handouts and other resources. Registration and continental breakfast begin at 8:45 a.m. Deadline for reservations is March 21. Checks should be made payable to the PCFB and mailed to 1716 N. University, Peoria, IL 61604.<br>
For more information on the program, contact Strode at 309-243-7322 or by e-mail at strodeme@hotmail.com<br>