life membership question

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  • life membership question

    So my recent issue in renewing my membership has got me considering the life membership option. Since I plan to play chess my entire life, as long as I live for more than 15 years (720/48 = 15) from this point in time the life membership is a wise investment (I just need to get my hands on $720 dollars).

    When I was on chess.ca reading about this option I noticed this sentence, "CFC life members may still be required to pay provincial dues".

    What does this entail exactly?
    University and Chess, a difficult mix.

  • #2
    Re: life membership question

    I also noticed the age limits were (31-40), (41-50), (51-60), (61 and over), and (under 31). This seems rather strange. Wouldn't (30-39), (40-49), (50-59), (60 and over), and (under 30) make more sense?

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    • #3
      Re: life membership question

      Originally posted by Adam Cormier View Post
      So my recent issue in renewing my membership has got me considering the life membership option. Since I plan to play chess my entire life, as long as I live for more than 15 years (720/48 = 15) from this point in time the life membership is a wise investment (I just need to get my hands on $720 dollars).

      When I was on chess.ca reading about this option I noticed this sentence, "CFC life members may still be required to pay provincial dues".

      What does this entail exactly?
      If you could make 7+% annually on $720 your memberships would cost you nothing.
      "Tom is a well known racist, and like most of them he won't admit it, possibly even to himself." - Ed Seedhouse, October 4, 2020.

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      • #4
        Re: life membership question

        Aside from the benefit of never having to worry about your membership expiring, you would be making an important contribution to the future of chess in Canada. We are still collecting interest on life memberships purchased 50 years ago.
        Paul Leblanc
        Treasurer Chess Foundation of Canada

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        • #5
          Re: life membership question

          Originally posted by Adam Cormier View Post
          So my recent issue in renewing my membership has got me considering the life membership option. Since I plan to play chess my entire life, as long as I live for more than 15 years (720/48 = 15) from this point in time the life membership is a wise investment (I just need to get my hands on $720 dollars).

          When I was on chess.ca reading about this option I noticed this sentence, "CFC life members may still be required to pay provincial dues".

          What does this entail exactly?
          I cannot speak for the CFC, but when I was on the OCA executive a number of years ago, we had to decide how much Provincial (Life) Dues to charge Bob Armstrong when he purchased a CFC Life Membership... it is a murky question. I suspect that most provincial associations just overlook life memberships (Bob had asked us, so we more or less had to decide something as I recall).

          The usual annual membership contains a provincial component that is given to the provincial association in an annual lump sum transfer. The situation gets murky I think if a Life member moves from one Province to another? I don't know that there is any standard way of handling the situation. As I indicated, I think most of the time the Life Member escapes paying any Provincial component (I do not know whether the CFC count of members by province -that is used to calculate the transfer - includes Life members... Bob Armstrong did pay and I recall giving him a receipt (I think it was around $70? - maybe Bob A. can recall).
          ...Mike Pence: the Lord of the fly.

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          • #6
            Re: life membership question

            Paul, has the cfc ever obtained an opinion from an actuary to determine whether the life member rates being charged are appropriate?
            "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." - Aesop
            "Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato
            "If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination." - Thomas De Quincey

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            • #7
              Life Memberships: CFC & Provincial

              Originally posted by Kerry Liles View Post
              I cannot speak for the CFC, but when I was on the OCA executive a number of years ago, we had to decide how much Provincial (Life) Dues to charge Bob Armstrong when he purchased a CFC Life Membership... it is a murky question. I suspect that most provincial associations just overlook life memberships (Bob had asked us, so we more or less had to decide something as I recall).

              The usual annual membership contains a provincial component that is given to the provincial association in an annual lump sum transfer. The situation gets murky I think if a Life member moves from one Province to another? I don't know that there is any standard way of handling the situation. As I indicated, I think most of the time the Life Member escapes paying any Provincial component (I do not know whether the CFC count of members by province -that is used to calculate the transfer - includes Life members... Bob Armstrong did pay and I recall giving him a receipt (I think it was around $70? - maybe Bob A. can recall).
              Hi Kerry:

              The situation was that I had purchased a CFC membership in 1964, when I joined Western University (then called the University of Western Ontario) chess club. Then in the summer of 1965, my friend from Sarnia, Phil Haley, former CFC President, recommended I buy a "life membership" if I intended to play 'til I died (or a bit earlier maybe). I didn't have 2 cents at that time, but I scrounged the then-exorbitant fee of $ 50. At that time, I understood I'd never have to pay membership fees ever again, and I thought this included my provincial membership fee (don't know the source of that info, but it was wrong).

              Later when I got elected a CFC Voting Member (then a Governor), somehow by accident the issue arose of whether I was an Ontario Chess Association Member. I felt it was not good for me to be sitting as a Governor, and not be an OCA member, so I enquired. Well the OCA was a mess on this one.....people remembered selling a few to Life Members, but there was no list. And they weren't at all sure about "OCA Life Memberships". They ran to the statutes and found out what I should be charged, since I now had requested to buy an OCA Life Membership.

              Kerry was the OCA Treasurer at the time, and managed to sort it all out, and he charged me the grand sum of $ 54 (more than I paid for my CFC Life Membership in 1966!). My receipt is dated Oct. 5, 2008.

              So then I was all proper and legal, just like having a birth certificate.....both a CFC Life Member, and, an OCA Life Member.

              If anyone wants to do some calculations about the best business deal they've ever seen in their life (a 1966 CFC Life Membership), I'd love to see them.

              Bob A

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              • #8
                Re: life membership question

                Bob wrote:

                ....Western University (then called the University of Western Ontario)....
                I didn't realize that it changed its name in 2012. With the "new" name, I get a picture of oil wells and rodeos. At least its legal name is still the "University of Western Ontario" - just as the legal name of McGill University is the "Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning". The legal McGill name doesn't appear on diplomas, however (but you can still get your diploma in Latin). :-)

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: life membership question

                  Peter this is a hugely difficult question starting with the definition of "appropriate".

                  My gut feel is that the fees are on the low side given today's low interest rates. A life membership for a 61 year old (of either sex, irregardless of lifestyle) can be had for $360. Here in BC the annual return on that purchase using the $38/year membership fee is 10.55% for life. However, you never get your initial investment back.
                  If instead you invest the $360 in risk free government of Canada bonds you get around 2% compounded but you get the $360 (in 2025 dollars) back after 10 years but you have spent $380 on renewals not counting any increases in CFC dues over the next 10 years.
                  The Foundation, however, wins because in my example some of the players without life memberships will stop playing chess before much time has elapsed and therefore stop renewing their memberships. The ones who purchase life memberships and stop playing shortly thereafter will continue to benefit the Foundation.
                  I'm sure there are other factors that I haven't mentioned.

                  When the fees were set (not by me) there was, I believe, an expectation that part of the purchase price was an altruistic gesture.
                  Paul Leblanc
                  Treasurer Chess Foundation of Canada

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                  • #10
                    Re: Life Memberships: CFC & Provincial

                    Thanks Bob. If I recall correctly the OCA received~receives $6/year for each CFC member (other provinces may receive slightly different amounts...) and I think we somehow came up with 9 years worth of OCA fees would be appropriate for a Life Member. No recollection of how that was derived.

                    That only makes sense if the CFC does NOT include Life members when it counts the members to multiply by $6.
                    Perhaps someone on the current OCA Executive (or the CFC?) can speak to that calculation.
                    ...Mike Pence: the Lord of the fly.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Life Memberships: CFC & Provincial

                      Response to Bob A's interest in calculations. I dont know about 1966 but I obtained my life membership in 1977 for $150 It was maybe 5 yrs ago that I went over $1000 saved over annual memberships (never mind the annoying procedure of having to renew every year). Paying my OCA life membership ($40) in 1980 was only good for peace of mind.

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