Interesting . . .

I have been told and I have read that permanent life insurance known as "Whole Life Insurance" is a bad deal.  That it is a poor investment.

Years ago my now deceased ex brother-in-law, a New York Life Insurance Agent, sold me a series of whole life insurance policies.  They were for face value of $10,000 each for a total of $30,000 of life insurance.  They cost ten or twelve dollars each a month for the rest of my life, or until I made some changes.  Some of those changes were unaware to me, I was ignorant of what I had really gotten into.  But it did not hurt me at all. I bought those policies around 1965.

About 1981 I borrowed the cash value out of each of the policies and invested the money in the very hot money market fund.  I was getting 10 to 12% return on my money, much more than the stated amounts in the life insurance policy.  And I had to pay interest annually on that borrowed money.  It was my money but . . .  

I had changed the policy status from active to paid up participating in 1981 which meant I no longer paid a monthly fee for the policies.  The change meant that the face of the policy was what I had essentially paid into it less of course the cost of the administration of the policies.  So they were in limbo.

In about 1995 we, my wife and I,  paid off the loans on those policies.   And then I elected to use the annual dividends to buy more paid up participating insurance.  Those policies have steadily grown and are now all worth more than $10,000 each, one is over $12,000 face value and all continue to grow.  The dividends are not like stock dividends, they are a return of your money and thus are not taxable on an annual basis.

I just got the statements on two of the policies and the dividends amounted to a little more than $360.  The dividends went to buy more participating paid up insurance.  I am guess the third policy will also be about $200 in dividends make my annual total about $560.  No matter, it is income that I do not have to pay taxes on and is reinvested in the policies.

My intention is that my children shall get the policies when I die.  Of course, should my wife predecease me for that to occur.  She is the primary beneficiary, the boys are the  tertiary beneficiaries. 

Back in 1981 I also got a $20,000 whole life policy from USAA for my wife and I got a "Universal Life" policy from USAA.  These are policies I continue to pay for via allotment out of my retirement income.  Her policy had immediate purchase of paid up additional coverage using the dividends and today is almost $40,000 in coverage.  In my case the Universal Policy has more than $44,000 in cash value.  It grows at 4.5% based on the cash value per annum, the actual insurance declines so that the beneficiary gets $50,000.

The bottom line is I was late at using the paid up participation elements because I just did not know about them.  But in the end I learned and used them to make the policies grow in value with no addition out of pocket expenses to me.  And there were no tax implications as I did not "cash them in".  The children will get the benefits in the long run at a time when they can probably really use them for their benefit.  Or God forbid, they are cash instruments and if need be, I can access the money in time of need.

Finally . . .

My latest claim to the VA was approved and approved in record time.  The claim was for a rate increase for my Prostate problems.  While I am most fortunate, no Prostate cancer, I do have an enlarged prostate and that is know as Benign Prostate Hypertrophy or commonly BPH.

Often BPH is a precursor to Prostate Cancer but I have been rated for this disability since I retired from active duty, or about 25 years.  But the VA in its wisdom game me a zero rating back in 1989.  Now with the change in rating I have a 10% rating for BPH by itself.

The real kicker here is that the 10% pushed me into the 100% total disabled category.  That is a compensation increase and resulted in the most desired rating of Permanent and Total disabled.  
P&T as it is known means the VA will not reassess my present conditions that could possibly lead to a reduction from 100%.  That is they will leave me alone for the rest of my life unless I open the door for re-assessment by filing another claim.  I have such a condition that I can file a claim for but I will not, time to let it all die down so to speak.

The 100% and P&T also give me some increased benefits regarding life insurance (which I do not need nor want), education benefits for my children (who are now to old to use them) and dental and eye care.  I no longer need the eye care, I get an annual check up for my eyes due to  Diabetes Type II but that is paid for by Medicare and TRICARE for Life.  And I no longer have to wear glasses except to read sometimes, and I get the glasses off the shelf at Walmart for about $4.00 a set.  I also have dental insurance that I will keep because we like our dentist and he does good work.  So I will leave the additional VA benefits alone.

Compensation for 100% does result in an increase and that is about a $1,000 a month increase.  Not bad, it is all tax free.  And in Texas, veterans rated at 100% are forgiven their property taxes in most counties.  I live in such a county.  I will pay some property taxes but the reduction from the present rates will be on the order of 95%, so they will drop from $6,400 annually to about $400 annually.  Both of those numbers are significant to me.  Of course, I will lose the Federal tax deductible for the property taxes but that is very acceptable trade off.

You might say I have maxed out.  No more claims for me.  While compensation and tax eradication are most desirable, I would much rather have better health.  But that ain't gonna ever happen.  Now it is up to me to live as long as I can.

Der Goof . . .

Yes, an error.  We were dining out last Sunday as is our habit and this time it was at Pappadeaux's Restaurant in Fort Worth.  It is the closest Pappadeaux's to us and it is the closest to fried Louisiana food to us.  Other fish places are all good and closer in proximity but none meet the overall quality standard that Pappadeaux's does on a continuing basis.  You pay a bit more but the food is worth it.

James was with us and we sat down and immediately ordered two dozen raw oysters along with our drinks.  We rarely drink alcohol drinks anymore, it is usually Diet Cokes or water.  The waiter put in the order and came back for our usual entrée dinner desires.  It was a slack time, we were early, so we were getting "Johnny on the Spot" service.  So along with the drinks and bread came the two dozen oysters.

We dug in and began chowing down and all of a sudden up shows the waiter with help and another two dozen oysters.  It seems there was an error and they, for some unknown reason, double filled our order of raw oysters.  And as a practice in such a high class restaurant, there was no charge for their error and they did not want to just throw out the oysters, so they brought them to us.  We gladly devoured the extra oysters though it bordered on literally over eating.

They would not charge us for their error so when the bill came I doubled the tip.  Somebody got rewarded for somebody else's mistake.  No matter, I bet that waiter will remember us.

Maybe next time there will be another error, ya think.  No but they, the wait staff, are appreciative and do remember their good customers.

Bon-A-Petite!