X-Message-Number: 12731
From: 
Date: Sat, 6 Nov 1999 12:24:20 EST
Subject: funding options

 Bryan (#12725) writes
 
 >Concerning having your money after cryonic reanimation...
 
 >I was wondering why cryonic service providers (such as Alcor and CI)
 >can't do more to assist us in this
 
 Speaking for CI, here is the situation as concerns both this question and 
also the more important question of investing to pay the cryonic suspension 
fee:
 
 First, CI is not a trust company and the Cryonic Suspension Agreement is not 
a trust, and it must not be drawn so that a court might construe it as a 
trust. Trust companies are subject to very strict regulation and in 
particular must have very large capitalization. Anything smelling of a trust 
company invites litigation.
 
 Setting aside funds for personal use after revival can be done in various 
ways, including setting up a personal trust in a venue where the rule against 
perpetuities does not apply, such as Delaware. We can supply the name of an 
appropriate Delaware legal firm, but I don't know the costs involved. 
 
 However, some of us, including Mae and me, believe our best bet is simply to 
leave our estate to CI, no strings attached. This will not guarantee us 
favored treatment, but will improve everyone's chances and allow CI maximum 
flexibility to use the money effectively for the benefit of all patients. 
Other members also have done and will do this.
 
 If you do set aside separate funds for personal use after revival, you might 
conceivably be better off than if you give the money to CI. On the other 
hand, picking a trustee who (or that) is both well motivated and competent is 
highly problematic. No bank or other professional entity is likely to do a 
good job of it, and no individual or succession of individuals is likely to 
be better than the successive CI Boards of Directors. Also, of course, laws 
regarding trusts can change and the rules you were counting on will not 
necessarily be grandfathered in.
 
 Now, the question of an investment vehicle to pay for cryostasis:
 
 John de Rivaz has had many suggestions, and we are actively investigating 
several new possibilities. The bare concept is that, if someone invests a 
very modest sum periodically in a well managed tech fund, or even just in a 
tech or mostly-tech index fund, possibly the Nasdaq 100 (symbol QQQ), then, 
if future tech growth anywhere near approximates historical rates, you will 
have enough to pay your suspension fee in amazingly short order. Meanwhile, 
you can use declining term life insurance for low cost interim protection. 
(Some of CI's own money is invested in a public, professionally managed, open 
end tech fund with an excellent long term record, and it has gained around 
50% in about the last seven months.)
 
 The problems to be solved or avoided include the "trust company" and various 
tax issues and questions of flexibility and revocability. I am reasonably 
confident we can find a good option before long, making sure it passes the 
scrutiny of the most competent lawyers.
 
 A couple of the possibilities include: 
 
 (1) Formation of our own open-end mutual fund. This, according to current 
thinking, would not be actively managed, but would simply hold a tech index 
fund, maybe QQQ or XLK, and would have close to zero expenses. It would be 
open only to members of non-profit cryonics service providers, and would pay 
to that provider on death of the investor. (Currently, as far as we know, no 
public fund allows TOD (transfer on death) accounts with a corporation as 
beneficiary.) 
 
 (2) Design of a set of legal documents that would create, for any member, a 
new corporation, somewhat like a personal holding company, which on the 
owner's death would pay the suspension fee. This corporation would make and 
hold the investments; and the assets, or control of the corporation, would 
pass to the cryonics organization upon death of the member. 
 
 The member could change his mind or revoke the arrangement any time before 
death, just as he can do now with the Cryonic Suspension Agreement. (To avoid 
the probate process, it might be necessary and desirable to have the cryonics 
organization share authority from the outset. Obviously, this would require 
that the member trust the organization, but if he doesn't he has no business 
being a member in the first place.)
 
 (3) WE ALREADY HAVE AVAILABLE an approved form of Revocable Living Trust, 
drawn by our attorneys, which can be given ownership of any of the member's 
assets, and which will pay to CI upon death of the member. With the Vanguard 
group of funds, and probably others, one can open an account in the name of 
an existing trust. I plan shortly to actually do this to test it, and will 
report the results. This may well be the easiest and most flexible way to go.
 
 Robert Ettinger
 Cryonics Institute
 Immortalist Society
 http://www.cryonics.org

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