HI I was single when I retired from the Military, and married 4 years after retirement. We have been married for 4 years and I have not signed up for SBP yet. Will my wife be able to keep Tricare Prime if I pass away first without haveing signed up for SBP?
Bill I don't know what not having SBP has to do with your wife keeping tricare prime. Make sure you notified deers if it wasn't done for you when she got her id. Contact deers or a nearby military installation they should be able to give you a answer. I never took the sbp.
Do the math on SBP. You could invest the money they take for that and get a much better return. It does work out for some, but I broke out the calculator and it seems with my current life insurance, we made the right choice in denying SBP.
TMC I retired in 76. What I did was start a $500. savings bond plus a $200. I know the bet is which will be right. Those bonds are now worth more than if I had chosen SBP. Plus I got a decent job after the NAVY where I have invested my retirement check in the stock market all these years and it has grown to a decent return. There are term ins. programs out there that would give good coverage.
Originally posted by TMC_SW_Ret: Do the math on SBP. You could invest the money they take for that and get a much better return. It does work out for some, but I broke out the calculator and it seems with my current life insurance, we made the right choice in denying SBP.
Overall Life Insurance of any kind has but one purpose, to leave the survivor(s) sufficient funds to maintan themselves until the survivor(s) can create their own monetary package/life style to meet all monetary obligations. Primarily, insurance is if the breadwiner passes on before an expected life-span, currently somewhere in age 70+ or so. Between the ages of shopping and obtaining insurance and the age of 70+ death of the breadwinner the overall family should have created an additional financial package to meet the needs of when one of the married couple passes on. Hence, insurance is a roll of the dice, a nice package if the breadwinner passes on before a separate financial package has been established.
My essay here does not arise from being left out. I started my savings when I Retired the first time. I also schooled in Real Estate to buy smartly. Currently I am a triple dipper, having Retired secondly from Civil Service. But I have SBP (entered with late window). I, being the main breadwinner, still have to leave behind sufficient funds to maintain a household for my wife, even though we own everything and slick out our Charge Cards each month. The old story that I have found very true is that it costs just as much to be Retired and it does when employed. And if the survivor has an ongoing illness of their own, the need for post-death funds of the breadwinner becomes even more needy.
SBP Insurance looses some of its appeal if a couple lives into their 70's and has side financial investments to carry the survivor forward. However, if the breadwinner passes on early Insurance has been a smart move. And now with the 30-year termination of premiums SBP become nearly a 30-year pay Life Insurance policy.
A roll of the dice for those of us who chose the Military as a career where Executive salaries were rare or unheard of.
All We retired in 75, took the sbp choice. Looked at the investment as death insurance, having a son in school, no real prospects for work, etc. Over the years the opposite proved true. Made Corporate money, stocks, etx. But now in the 21st century, with the late 70s in view, the death benefit looms large. The money invested in those years will contribute to the spouse income which will be reduced if the worst happens. So, we backed our play as well as we could, No Commercial Insurance, lots of debt free investments, as high an income as possible. Each family has to review thier prospects, situations and roll the die. end.
The true value of SBP is what the survivor gets. Peace of mind and security is part of the return.
I am beginning my 35th (and hopefully last)year of paying into SBP. I figure over those years, at an average of about $60 per month, I have paid in about 25K. I die today, my survivor gets about 625 a month for the rest of her life. That is about 40 months and the pay-in is paid back. She is younger (10 years) than I am, and in excellent health. Probably will outlive me by at least 20 years.
Ok accountants, I know, I forgot about the interest. Had I paid that average 60 per month into an investment yielding an average of 8% over the years, I would have about 125K now. If she chose to just draw in interest at 6% off that principal, it would amout to about - are you ready for this - 625 a month. If however, she wants to play a little with the principal and treat the whole package as an annuity, she could draw 1100 a month for 20 years.
We oldtimers, raised in post depression homes, have a different outlook than the younger people today. We learned to live on what was coming in. Except for houses and cars, I never made any kind of payments. This was even back in the days of a total monthly income of 160 a month (mid 50's, E3, married).I dont make payments on cars anymore, havent for 30 years or more. Havent had a house payment in 17 years. My point in this little digression is that my survivor can live just as well on 625 a month as she can on 1100. She knows how to do it, and will when the time comes. Would I have continued with the payments into the alternative to SBP during all those years? Hindsight being 20/20, yes I would. But I could not know that in 1973. I am comfortable with my decision, but of course, I have little choice at this point in the game.
All This Tricare/SBP has stirred the ashes... At the initial time of retirement, we elected the 55% option. Paid and are still paying the premium. Now, at the near end of things, we will complete the premium payments. All this time, we looked at the issue as a Insurance option. Did not pay much attention as to amounts, figuring on debt free status, good budgeting etc to carry us. Now, it looks like the 55% amount is more like 30% due to later legistion, social security issues, etc. Bottom line is any monies actually rec will be welcome, but not a General Quarters issue. end.
W/Sailor My wife and I at times think about our times in the Navy 57/76. We got married in 60. I was a AMS2 over 2 B/P $185. BAQ $77.10 C/R $30. We think back and wonder how we ever made it. Of course there were none of these things that are a expense today cell phones,cable,internet. We had 1 C/C Sears. But our saying was then as it continues now if we couldn't pay cash we didn't buy it.We charge everything on a card and pay it off monthly. C/C companies don't like it but what can I say to them suck it up. We have never had a car payment and it started with our 62 volks and now with our Chrysler 300. We never took the SBP.
ALL There used to be a retiree saying, " If I get enough to buy a six pack now and then, so be it". This was in the days of the retirees going home in the 50s and 60s. COLA was not in place, nor was the SBP. The BP was so low that 55% of BP was hard to find on the calculations. My retired pay paid for college tuition and lots of other goodies, that we could not have had otherwise. So, to us, every dollar we got has been welcome. end
my husband retired in 1977 with 20 years he retired inmarch/1977 and we took the sbp in april/1977 naming me as annunit he for the sbp for 29 years and 9 months he passed away in 2004 he was living in one city and i in another one we were not formely seperated and were never divorced well i went to visit him every week end well went on this week end and his apartment was empty i could not find him i went to the sheriffs office and no one would help well about 1 month later my house burned down and i had no insurance so with no income from my spouse i ended up in a homeless shelter i stayed there for about 6 months and finally my brother got me out well i finally thought about calling dfas and asking them to please give me my husbands address where he was getting his retirement check well the girl at dfas informed me that he had died about 1 year prior to this so i asked her how to start getting my sbp payments well that is when the nightmare began she said his sbp was going to his wife and had been so for along time well i said there is no way and also in 1977 when we took out sbp they told us that carl could never change it and take me off you could not then well i tried to explain this to her but she only said i had to contact navy dept. of corrections in millington tenn. and they could change the record well i did this and i was lucky because i got a chief there that really tried to help she investagated every thing and found out that dfas had started this other womens money without following proper protacol she faxed them a copy of carls death cert. and a copy of their bigamist marriage lincences and they never looked at his record to see who the listed annunint was they were supposed to get a copy of our divorce which there was not one and they did not even ask her for it well they did stop her money on 12/2007 and wrote her and requested some items to start it back well she never responded to any of there letters and did not even call and ask why her check was stopped dfas also requested some things from me and the chief from tenn. was still helping me she helped me promptly return every thing they requested that was 11/04/2007 and i still a month later had not heard any thing from them well on 11/30/2007 my daughter and i had to return to the homeless shelter my brothers wife was mad we had no money to pay her so the chief wrote a letter to dfas like it was me and faxed it to them telling them it had been well over 30 days since i had made my claim and she requested they answer me promptly they never did but she told them that my name was listed with deers and also i was carls elected annunint on the sbp and had been almost 30 years well they told me i had to get a lawyer and get a court order saying i was the legal wife well i have no money so the chief wrote my congressmens office and asked him for help for me he called me and told me about a week later that the lawyer for dfas told him that he was looking at carls records and gave him a deline of 3/5/2008 they would let me no what to do well on 3/6/2008 i called the congressmen and asked him what did they say and his reply was they had not decided yet he told me do not worry they have to correct this mistake they made well last week he called me and told me that they said due to the grave mistake that had already happened they were going to make sure every thing was done right and i would have to prove that carl and i were never divorced so i called the chief and she suggested that i find out if any one had done a probate on carl so i went to the town he died in and went to have my self appointed as his administrator and sure there was an outstanding bill at the hospitol and they had put something on his estate so i borrowed the 987.98 from my brother and paid it so they would lift it and they did well it cost 150 to file and i have to serve the bigamit spouse who now lives in nc and not here in sc all so the probate judge can determine who is the lawful aire to recieve this sbp all because dfas made a mistake carl never one time mentioned this other women to them she never had a id card or any thing and i am still in a homeless shelter and do not no when i will get a court date if any body has any ideas on what i might could do to get dfas to correct there mistake please let me no i am at my wits end i do not no how much more i can endure so tell every one to think twice before they buy into to this sbp mess
You say you went to visit him every week end yet when you called DFAS they informed you he had died a year earlier. Thats a long time between weekends. Are you sure they were married? The DFAS records should show who was named for his sbp benefits.
If you want to make an informed decision about SBP use the baseline calculator at Navy Mutual Aid Association (www.navymutal.org).
In almost all cases you will not be able to self insure your dependent for a better rate than SBP. This is especially true if wait until just prior to retirement to start your plan. SBP is permanent coverage, term life insurance is not, it's short term. Investment, while part of the plan certainly does not provide the same type of security SBP does, if you've been in the stock market lately you know what I mean.
If after you've been to the Navy Mutual website you still have questions give Navy Mutual a call they are an outstanding organization that will give you straight answers.
