What is your opinion of the DoD Survivor Benefit Plan? Do you see it as an annuity or life insurance? Would you recommend this benefit?

Annuity. If thye have nothing else I would recommend it.

Get advice and input from a financial advisor. We used USAA to assist use/the decision. I was convinced that we would opt for term insurance and decline SBP. After running the numbers and considering all factors we are taking SBP. I will be 60 when i retire and w/the VA disability rating impacting the cost of insurance - SBP was not expensive after all. Don't just consider the cost of SBP, widen your aiming stakes. SBP will also enable us to spend more our retirement savings to enjoy retirement

The government knows best how to provide for your surviving spouse than you do? If you have no skill for numbers or saving money then go ahead.
I believe that you can save that money yourself and have it available when you are gone. It has to do with financial planning from the day you decided to go to 20 years. If you can't save up that much, there are several life insurance companies out there. Also know that you can price check your policy every year if you wish to see if someone can best the policy you have.
If you want to really get started planning for the future, check out Dave Ramsey's website.

Good question, SFC Andrew Kretz. My wife and I mulled this over for a long time. I was not in favor of the cost/benefit and thought I could have better results investing the money on my own. My wife was in favor of the added security. Needless to say, we are enrolled in the SBP. Together we decided that my wife's sense of security and the financial components of SBP outweighed what I might be able to do on my own.
Here's a good blog that explains a lot of the details:
http://militarysaves.org/blog/941-why-you-should-care-about-the-survivor-benefit-plan

This is something that should be thought about, Prayed about long before the decision is made, My Father chose it and my brother did not, the difference for my mom and sister in law is so grand, as both of them have passed. This is a big gamble but as most men die before their spouse. it is an insurance that should really be considered. I signed up for it but thankfully am still paying for it.

I retired in 1969 (yeah, I'm really long in the tooth) and over the years I paid in $35,500 in SBP premiums. I was "paid up" in 2008. That's the year they put a cap on SBP payments at age 70 -
which I hit in 1999. If it had been in place, as it is now, SPB would have been an even sweeter deal. When I die my wife will get $1,132/month until she goes (let's don't forget that my base pay as an E-7 at the time was $560/month.) The kicker here is that she will only have to live for 27 months to recoup every dime I paid in premiums. The premiums are 6% of your retired pay and worth every darn penny!! If she goes first - oh well - more money in the pot for deserving widows.

In answer to your question, I doubt there is a civilian insurer that would even come close to SBP.

Same goes for my NSLI policy which will pay out $10,000. I also has paid me annual dividends of $300 to $495 for at least thirty years and probably more. It also has a current cash value in excess of $8,000.

Before you ask - no, I was not a person affairs weenie - I just lucked out. Hope y'all do the same.

Folks, there's no comparison between the Survivor Benefit Plan and term life insurance. They're two completely different products with two completely different payouts, which is why they cost two completely different premiums.

SBP is a life annuity with the same cost-of-living-adjustment paid by Social Security. Nearly half of the expenses are subsidized by DoD, so you cannot find a COLA'd life annuity on the open market for the price of SBP.

You can find cheaper term insurance because it has no comparison to SBP.

I'll add some links at the end of this post, but here's a summary of the issues:

SBP premiums are paid for 30 years AND until the retiree reaches age 70. Both of those have to occur before the policy is considered permanently paid up. This can make SBP a good deal for active-duty retirees in their 30s and 40s. You're less likely to reach paid-up status if you're retiring from active duty in your 50s or if you're a Reserve/National Guard retiree.

SBP is an extremely good deal for "gray area" Reserve/Guard retirees (retired awaiting pay). You can insure 55% of your pension starting the day you retire awaiting pay, and you pay no premiums until your pension starts. Then you're only required to pay two years of premiums before making a cancellation decision.

Women are more likely to outlive men. It's also true that military retirees tend to have shorter lifespans than civilians, but it's only by a few years and (in most cases) can be mitigated by a healthy lifestyle. Of course if you have a high disability rating or a medical retirement then you're living under a different set of statistics. We also don't have longevity data about some occupational hazards like exposure to ionizing radiation or submarine atmosphere-control chemicals.

Yes, if your spouse dies before you do, then all of your SBP premiums have been wasted. It's just like paying premiums for home insurance, liability insurance, and vehicle insurance all your life and "wasting" that money too-- until disaster strikes. If you have enough assets to self-insure your spouse's outliving you (and your pension) then they do not need SBP.

SBP is initially offset by Dependent's Indemnity Compensation. Efforts to change that law have failed for over a decade, but the campaign will continue. I've linked below to a summary.

Your spouse (SBP is their choice) has to decide whether (if you die first) they want 55% of your pension (with a COLA) for the rest of their life. That amount will cost 6.5% of your pension per month (rising every year by the COLA) until you're at least 70 years old and have paid at least 30 years of premiums.

If your spouse has their own assets (a pension or investments) then they may be fine. If they can collect their own Social Security (or survivor's Social Security benefits on your earnings record after your death), that may be enough.

Term life insurance can be used to bridge the gap between your retirement and age 70 (the age at which Social Security benefits reach their maximum payout). All that term insurance does is deliver a lump sum for your spouse to invest as self-insured assets. It may be enough, but if that lump sum is used to buy an annuity then they might as well have chosen SBP.

One very important niche, new in 2015: if you have a disabled child who will need your support as an adult, then SBP can now be paid to a special needs trust. I'm not aware of any insurance company that will do this at all, let alone for a 6.5% premium.

The links in these posts download additional PowerPoint briefs and documents.
SBP:
http://the-military-guide.com/2011/04/11/survivor-benefit-plan/
http://the-military-guide.com/2011/04/13/more-sbp-details/
Reserve/Guard SBP:
http://the-military-guide.com/2011/04/14/the-reserve-component-survivor-benefit-plan/
SBP info from the DFAS website:
http://www.dfas.mil/retiredmilitary/provide/two-ways.html
MOAA info on the SBP-DIC offset:
http://www.moaa.org/Main_Menu/Take_Action/Top_Issues/Survivors/SBP-DIC_Offset_for_Survivors.html

I personally look at this plan as retirement income insurance and the only way you can get the max benefit from it is if you die early and your wife lives a long life. There are other plans out there that if time is on your side are cheaper and better but for you to get the type of benefit you get with SBP you have to pay into it for many years and have a good return on the money you invest. the rule of thumb to always remember is you don't get something for nothing if you don't have a plan that will support your wife for the rest of her life if you die now for any reason than I suggest it. That is the way I looked at it when me and my wife discussed it and so far thank god it has been a bad investment but the day is young and I don't know what tomorrow holds so I'm glad that I'm paying into it. I will also say I don't expect it to be a cure all so I do have other things going Life insurance and investments so that if/when that day comes my wife and children won't inherit a burden but a legacy.

A lot depends on what you perceive as your relative life expectancy. I'm older than my wife and statistically guys die 3 years sooner than gals do. So it's a nice way to make sure my wife is taken care of without costing us too much.

Having left the army long ago, I am not familiar with the program.

Looking at the others' comments, though, I interpret it to be like a term-life insurance policy of sorts. Pay into it monthly, and your spouse receives some payment if you pass away. You get no money if your wife pre-deceases you.

I think the best way to look at it is through a sequential series of questions:

1) What are your family's ongoing financial needs if you are no longer around to fulfill them through your wages?

2) Once identifying them, what is the lowest cash cost to obtain financial cover if you pass away?

3) Then assess the risk or likelihood of you passing away.

4) Finally, if I did not buy the term insurance (or whatever policy of continuing payment to spouse), how much money could I earn if I regularly put that money elsewhere, say, the stock market?

Having a monthly premium to pay may be something that forces a discipline that may be needed as the press of financial obligations hit the family.

We dealt with this when our unmarried daughter deployed to Afghanistan. It was strongly urged by her command that she take some type of offered life insurance policy. She asked what I would do. I told her to not bother, considering the % of deaths of those deployed (1 is too many, but percentage wise, the numbers were not high). Instead, she regularly deposited money into her stock brokerage account that invested in different positions in a portfolio. She is financially much better off having not taken any deployment life insurance.

Of course, we are a family of risk takers, betting on success and life rather than focusing on covering failure or death. I don't regret it, but what you do should fit your appetite for risk and financial situation.