X-Message-Number: 14044
Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2000 08:09:58 -0400
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: about finances for cryonics

For "Grimdeth":
Ignoring biological issues for the present, though they remain very 
important, here are some comments about your questions:

First, about saving your money so it will be available on your revival.
If we assume that you won't be suspended for too long, you might ask
Saul Kent about what can be done. I know an email address for him, but
he may not want to give it out. My suggestion to you as a stranger is
to write to his mail address with the Life Extension Foundation:
Attn Saul Kent, Life Extension Foundation, PO Box 229120, Hollywood,
FL 33022-9120. Saul and others have set up a special system in
a European country which does not accept the rules that money must
pass after a certain period after death.

Unfortunately, if your revival takes too much time, then we cannot
even accept that money would be used in any form, that the US would
still be as strong and prominent as it is now, and that ANY way to
preserve money (or transfer it into whatever is then used) would stand
much chance of working. Yes, that means you might have to work again
for 30 years. On the other hand, you'd expect to live for far longer
than 30 years, going into thousands of years, so that working for 30
years just isn't going to look the same as it does now.

As for storing a few objects, at least Alcor is happy to do that for
their suspension patients. They're probably the best choice. Burying
them in a park assumes that the park will remain a park for hundreds
of years, a severe long term risk. As before, if you are revived 
relatively soon, then that risk won't exist, but your cryonics 
society will probably still exist and would be happy to store a FEW
things.

Finally, as for changing your society, so long as you are alive you
can do so easily. The different societies DO have different minimum
amounts, however, so you must do so carefully.

Finally, even if you're just 30 you should remember that lots of 
things can happen to you. Among them is the discovery that you have
a disease which current medicine can deal with but which makes it
far harder to get the needed insurance. Even if you don't want to
join a cryonics society right now, I strongly suggest that you buy
enough insurance to pay for your suspension while you remain healthy.
Ideally you should also join ASAP, but that's your choice .... while
you cannot assume that your health will continue to leave you just
as insurable. And even if you have enough money to pay for your
suspension outright, remember that such a situation can vanish very
fast, too.

			Best and long long life,

				Thomas Donaldson

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