Why you need to talk to your spouse about DoD death benefit before retiring

Yeah, my wife and I discussed this prior to going to the meeting with the SBP councilor and easily concluded it wasn't worth it for my wife. The cost is simply too much per month out of my retirement pay when we could instead invest in a cheaper whole life insurance plan which has a much higher return. So, we decided to only apply it to my kids at rate of ~$10/month. This applies to them should I pass away through college (22 years old... Which the article did not speak to). So effectively, my wife, who would be the executor of my will, would still be getting the money until they graduate, at which point the retirement payout ends. But my wife would also be getting the life insurance payout at the same time and beyond the point when my kids graduate. What we would likely do, is have all the retirement money go into an account for the kids to add to their own retirement plans.

It's been a while since I looked at the numbers, but as I recall, I would have had to pay roughly $300/month for my wife so that she could receive 55% of my 50% retirement pay.

But yes, do your own math with your spouse, and make sure she/he understands the impact of the decision.

And if your spouse dies before you do all the money is not returned to you its gone.

Good point brother Dale.