This is WAY outside anything I ought to be commenting on, but my mentor, Bob Booth, W3PS, always told me that ARRL life membership was not an investment, it was a way of showing support for the organization, and that explained why, quite frequently, very old people become life members for the first time. So perhaps it is best to look at this as Greg does.

73, Chris W3KD

Christopher D. Imlay
BOOTH, FRERET, IMLAY & TEPPER, P.C.
14356 Cape May Road
Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011
(301) 384-5525 telephone
(301) 384-6384 facsimile
W3KD@ARRL.ORG


-----Original Message-----
From: G.P. Widin <gpwidin@comcast.net>
To: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>
Cc: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>
Sent: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 8:28 pm
Subject: [arrl-odv:16869] Re: Life Memberships

dick@pobox.com wrote: 
> I cannot, with a clear conscience, sell our current (25 x annual) life > membership to a person who is over 50-55 years old. It's great > revenue for 
> the ARRL, but it's not a good investment for these people. 
I got my life membership when I was in my late 40s--who knows if I've got 25 years left? But my rationale is, there's no other organization I'd rather "over-pay" to than ARRL. So, if the League benefits by my not achieving the full 25 I "paid for", at least I know it's in a cause I believe in. 
 
I don't know if you'd have trouble selling that, but that's the way I sold myself. ;-) 
 
-- 73, 
  Greg, KØGW