VARDAMAN VIRTUAL FORESTRY COMPANY

The Most Direct Link to Knowledge Workers in the Southeast Forest Economy

VPPP SOLVES MANY INVESTMENT PROBLEMS

We've known for a long time how smart private landowners are, but our early experience with VPPP has taught us how inventive they are as investors. Here are how some are putting VPPP to use.

Two brothers, one a lawyer and the other a doctor and both about 40 years old, recently clearcut their heavy and old natural stand because annual growth had dropped almost to nothing. Now with children under ten, the many expenses of a growing family, and yet the increasing incomes of young professionals, they don't need annual cash flows, but they are not prepared to make a large long-term investment. On the other hand, they want their tract to be as productive as possible and be ready to contribute to their retirement incomes. Their solution: put up the land, VPPP pays for the regeneration, and both parties split income from timber sales.

A 60-year-old, wealthy businessman wants his heirs to retain ownership of heavily-forested land that has been in the family more than 50 years, but recognizes that they might not have the managerial expertise needed and will surely need cash incomes. His solution: clearcut the present stand, invest the proceeds to diversify the form of his wealth, pay for the regeneration, sell a 50% interest in the new crop to VPPP for an annual cash payment plus a split of timber sales.

Four persons, who live at widely-scattered distant locations, inherited a farm from their parents. No one wants to sell the old home place, but no one wants to continue farming, and they have different ideas about what should be done with it. Their solution: pay for the regeneration and then sell 100% of the timber rights for the first rotation to VPPP. The tract will start producing a cash income for the first time, and they can always buy back VPPP's interest if they later agree on a different use.

A 35-year-old businessman owns a two-year-old, 1,000-acre plantation about 100 miles from his home, and he worries about the fire risk now and other risks later. Having all his eggs in one basket makes him very uneasy, as it should. His solution: sell 50% interest to VPPP, and use the proceeds to establish another plantation in a different location.

Such inventiveness pleases us very much. We must have created a useful vehicle.