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Unless you're independently wealthy, yes.
Typically the female outlives the male. Not always. If he's the one collecting the pension and he dies, she will need other income.
For about 5% of the pension you get a guarantee. We did.
I didn't take it when I retired and have no regrets. I would suggest you call the Armed Forces Benefit Association, they have some great insurance programs for retired military many, many options available for you. The have one called "The Alternative to SBP". Trust me, they have programs much better than SBP and for less.
I didn't take it when I retired and have no regrets. I would suggest you call the Armed Forces Benefit Association, they have some great insurance programs for retired military many, many options available for you. The have one called "The Alternative to SBP". Trust me, they have programs much better than SBP and for less.
Never heard of them in my 20 years. How is their program better than SBP?
Thanks I will check out the site. Well, my husband will not be totally retired, he will go on to work somewhere else and hopefully retire from there as well. He is 39, I'm 38. I just hate the fact that you are locked in it forever after 3 yrs. It seems to me it would be better to get insurance from the company he will work for. But, then if he were laid off we would be out of insurance. I don't know! We just don't know if we should take it or not. Our Aim finance guy told us to take it. He said that was better for us instead of buying insurance from him.
TraciK, everyone's situation is different, so mull over the SBP option very carefully. I retired from the USAF after 22 years. We declined the SBP. Our thinking: we had a fairly decent nest egg and my wife's earning potential was/is better than mine (She's a teacher and I don't deal well with jobs that don't involve sitting in the driver's seat of a vehicle) We also felt we could do better investing elsewhere and were bothered by the Social Security offset at age 65 for the surviving spouse. Best of luck to you and your husband.
SBP is expensive. They wanted $135 a month back in 1998. I just got the lowest possible plan (about $11 a month). I bought Term Life Insurance plans through AFBA and ASMBA at a lot cheaper monthly premium and none of that money will be taxable. I also carry a large policy through my current employer. Even these 3 policies are a lot cheaper than what my SBP would be today.
We also opted out because husband decided he had years of earning potential left to build our own retirement fund. This has worked well for us. I do remember spending hours discussing which route to take.
Lori
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