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and 7 anonymous users online.
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#92854 - 03/08/08 06:48 AM
Retirement
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JustJ
Member
Registered: 09/24/04
Posts: 1206
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My husband retired on February 1st after 24 years and at the outbriefing there were a couple of things I found very interesting. I hope they may be of some help to you.
We all know that if our spouse dies while on active duty we are entitled to 1/2 of their base pay monthly. What they don't tell you when you enlist is that when you retire if you want to keep this in place you have to pay for it. I am 99% it ran at about $200 per month. There is only one beneficiary named, the spouse, so you could pay into this for 40 years and if the spouse were to die first, all of the money you have paid in would just disappear. At the final briefing, which is the only one that is mandatory for the spouse to be at, you do have the option of opting out of this. We opted out.
The second issue is life insurance. This does not automatically carry over with the payments being taken out of the retirement check. You have 120 days from the date of discharge to opt into the same program, it is just renamed. I think it changes from SGLI to VGLI. It is about $1200 a year for the $400,000 coverage, which we thought was quite reasonable.
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#93076 - 03/11/08 09:05 AM
Re: Retirement
[Re: JustJ]
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mtag
Member
Registered: 07/09/01
Posts: 937
Loc: North AL
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Having just gone through my husband's retirement last summer and agonized whether to take the Survivor's Benefit Plan (SBP) or decline it, I just wanted to clarify something. If you want to continue to receive military retirement pay after the death of your retired military spouse, you do have to pay about $200 per month. That doesn't guarantee you half of base pay, however. The figure we were given was 55% of my husband's retirement pay, which is half of his base pay. It's based on a formula, so it will be different amounts for varying years of service, pay grade, etc. It made more sense to us to buy a 20-year term life policy. We bought an $800,000 policy for $1100 per year to go with another term policy my husband already had.
The only way SBP is a good idea is if the retiring military member cannot get life insurance at a reasonable price, or if they die within a few years of retirement. Otherwise the numbers are more in favor of going with life insurance. We went with a 20-year term policy because it is quite a bit less expensive than a 30-year term, and we have every intention of being financially set by the time my husband reaches 65 years of age.
BTW, even after agonizing through all of the decision making and job hunting, etc., it has turned out to be WORTH it! Except that now my husband doesn't go TDY all the time and I have to cook more 
_________________________
Something I've learned: Any pan is a no-stick pan if you no cook in it.
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#93178 - 03/12/08 06:51 AM
Re: Retirement
[Re: mtag]
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JustJ
Member
Registered: 09/24/04
Posts: 1206
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I'm glad you were paying more attention than I was. We had read all the paperwork and had decided on a similar plan to yours before the meeting, so by the time she was explaining all the numbers I think I had zoned out a little.
J
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#93189 - 03/12/08 10:28 AM
Re: Retirement
[Re: JustJ]
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mtag
Member
Registered: 07/09/01
Posts: 937
Loc: North AL
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I understand completely! I can't tell you how glad I was to just finally make a decision and be done with it. You can't know which decision, SBP or no SBP, makes more economic sense unless you can predict the life span of the retiree.
I just talked to my friend last night whose hubby is retiring next month, and they are opting for SBP.
I just encourage everyone faced with the decision to make sure they have good numbers to crunch with before doing so. (and a crystal ball!)
_________________________
Something I've learned: Any pan is a no-stick pan if you no cook in it.
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#98581 - 05/23/08 03:01 PM
Re: Retirement
[Re: mtag]
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USMCMT
New Member
Registered: 10/16/07
Posts: 3
Loc: California
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Thank you guys SO much for posting this topic and discussing it! Hubby retires in less than 2 years, so we are trying to start to learn about everything that goes along with this, and there seems to be so much!
Is it true that all the briefs and doing paperwork start about 1 year out? (Gosh, it has been a long time since I was a newbie regarding a military issue instead of a relative expert. LOL) 
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#98585 - 05/23/08 03:35 PM
Re: Retirement
[Re: USMCMT]
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JustJ
Member
Registered: 09/24/04
Posts: 1206
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Is it true that all the briefs and doing paperwork start about 1 year out?
For your husband there will be bits and pieces over the year, but the majority of ours happened when my husband was on terminal leave. I only HAD to go to one meeting and sign one lot of paperwork. I could have gone to others, but they sounded boring and he brought paperwork with the information on home anyway. I have been with him his entire military career and I can honestly say I have never seen him so happy and relaxed before. He says he wished he did it at 22 years and not 24. 
J
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