Official Organ Of the Slavonic Benevolent Order Of The State Of Texas, Founded 1897. BENEVOLENCE
VOLUME 57 — NO. 20
HUMANITY
BROTHERHOOD
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 with Undeliverable Copies to: SUPREME LODGE SPJST, POB 100, TEMPLE, TEX 76501
MAY 14, 1969
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK Many Liood Reasons for Buying Insurance — Millions of people are us ing life insurance today as a means of saving money, and as a result, are unwittingly penalizing themselves by accepting interest rates far below the levels that could be earned if invested in stocks, corporate bonds, real estate, etc. A full $3,5 billia of tile 4;14.3 billion paid out in total life insurance benefits last year repref;ented "living belieUsed as retirement income or ' rito" for sending children to college or represell; irtrf policies simply cashed in. half was paid in death benefits. The "net rate of interest earned on invested funds" of U.S. life insurance companies in 1968 was 4.94 per cent before federal income taxes _ _ just a tiny bit more than the dollar's loss in buying power due to price increases. And policyholders by no means enjoyed this rate of return on the funds they were investing in the form of premiums. Between 16 and 18 per cent of the out-go of life insurance coMpanies is for overhead items. Why, then, do nine out of 10 U.S. families and T out of 10 individuals in this country have life insurance? Why is this so, especially in view of the dramatic rise in Social Security survivors benefit levels, the rapid expansion of private company pension covLrage, the greatly increased amount of
BOOKS Whenever I'm lonely with nothing to do, I like to read through a story or two. I may take a trio to a fabulous place, Or try to solve a mysterious case. I sometimes get lost in the tropical lands; king, aml everyone heeds my commands. rerbaps I'm a u ineess r maybe a clown With great, big feet and a face with a frown .. Whatever the magical pages reveal, I get the feeling that everything's real. A book is the door to a fantasy land; The key to open it -must be Our hand., _Anna Beth Ford savings by individual Americans? The answers arc of vital concern to tens of millions of us. Specifically: — With Life Insurance you can create by just the stroke of a pen an "instant estate" as protection for your family. You need not wait years to accumulate it yourself. —Death payments from life insurance, under almost all circumstances, are not subject to federal income taxes. —Also tax-free are the increases in the cash value of your policy contributed from the company's earnings as long as you keep your policy in
force. No matter how bad your credit rating, you are guaranteed the right to use the cash value of your policy as collateral for a relatively low interest loan from your insurance company. And you can take as long as you like to repay this inexpensive loan. -- It does not cost you a cent, as it may in the case of a will, to change the beneficiary of your life insurance or to revise the terms under which the proceeds will be paid. --At your death, processing of your estate may take months or years before the proceeds can be distributed. The value of your life insurance, though, becomes available immediately to your beneficiaries upon your death —often avoiding the need for families to dispose of such assets as stocks, real estate or art objects under unfavorable market conditions in order to pay federal taxes. —Finally, many families find that the only way they can discipline themselves into saving money at all is -through regular forced payments of life insurance premiums. You cannot reasonably argue that there are no good reasons for buying and ,holding life insurance. Much more painful and to the point are the questions of hoW much life insurance the average family needs and what type of protection is best.