St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 17

Feb. 1982. SB Mind your mortsy ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Benefits of joining retirement associations peter weaver dr. If you are retired or are nearing retirement, you might consider joining one of the national retirement associations for discounts on products and services and political clout.

Although the retirement associations are aimed primarily at the retired population, they also offer services, advice and benefits to pre-retirement coming from industrial smoke stacks and auto exhaust. Areas such as northern Maine, the northern Midwest and parts of Colorado already have pollution problems stemming from the proliferation of wood-burning stoves. Like auto exhaust and industrial smokestacks, wood-burning stoves could be cleaned up to emit far less pollutants. You can buy new stoves with catalytic combustors that make the burn much cleaner and much more efficient. But these stoves cost around $1,000 and are often shunned by price-conscious consumers who can get good heating stoves for $600 or less.

Some industrial plants are now using wood pellets made from sawmill wastes. Along with a catalytic converter for efficiency or some other rebuming device, these wood pellets make for cleaner air. But it's difficult, if not impossible, to get pelletsjor residential, wood-burning stoves. Transportation costs are too high. And this type of fuel could be dangerous for homes.

It would act as a sort of "ice cream parlor" for termites and other bugs and could be a fire hazzard. Peter Weaver welcomes questions from readers for possible discussion in this column. Write to him in care of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. '1982, King Features Syndicate, Inc.

Membership Development, NCSC, 925 15th Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005 Federal workers have their own club, but it's mostly a political action organization. It's called the National Association of Retired Federal Empoyees. To be eligible for membership, you must be at least 50 with five years minimum federal employment (eligible to retire at age 62). NARFE members get a monthly magazine and various group insurance plans offered through approved advertisements.

The main benefit, apparently, is the lobbying clout this organization can muster against threatened reductions in federal employee retirement bebefits. Dues are $9 a year. For more information, write: NARFE, 1533 New Hampshire Avenue N.W., Washington D.C, 20036. WOOD-BURNING POLLUTION? Q. I read an article that said wood-burning stoves or furnaces were taking over atomic energy as a fuel source.

Is this true? And what about air pollution? Doesn't wood smoke pollute the air the same way industrial smoke and automobiles pollute? G.B., Arlington, Va. A. According to the World Watch Institute, wood-burning stoves and furnaces are ahead of atomic energy. There are some 8 million stoves burning money any time without penalty. The Amoco Motor Club has a special arrangement with AARP for its members.

For $25 a year, you get road service, trip routing, hospital emergency bond and most of the other items the Triple A offers. AARP dues are $5 a year and the price includes couples as well as singles. For more information, write: Membership Services, AARP, 1909 Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20049. The National Council of Senior Citizens works through some 4,000 senior citizen clubs around the country but also offers memberships to individuals.

NCSC, like its competitor, AARP, offers Medicare supplement insurance at group rates. The organization also offers group rates for auto insurance and life insurance. NCSC has package travel rates for members, along with special discounts for hotels, car rentals and the like. There is no auto club and no money market investment fund. AARP also has special discount cards for members.

Discount pharmacy items and vitamins can be bought through NCSC's prescription drug catalog. Dues are $5 a year for local club members, $6 for individuals and $7.50 for couples. For more information, write: individuals and couples. The American Association of Retired Persons has a special membership with separate magazine and services for people aged 55 on up to retirement. Another magazine and set of services is aimed at members who have ceased full-time work.

Medicare "gap" insurance is available at group rates through the Prudential Insurance Co. Previously, AARP members were served exclusively by the Colonial Penn Co. But Prudential beat out Colonial Penn in competitive bidding and even lower rates were made available. The insurance covers various deductibles and co-insurance items not provided by Medicare. AARP also offers a fast, mail-order discount pharmacy service with prices on some items cut down to half of what you'd pay in your corner drugstore.

The association has its own money market investment fund for members so they can participate in high-yielding, short-term government securities for as little as $500 initial deposit. The latest interest rate on the fund was 11 to 12 percent and you can withdraw your merrily away in this country, along withi an increasing number of industrial furnaces that use wood or wood products for fuel. The American Council on Science and Health says wood stoves and furnaces do pollute the air but have somewhat different pollutants than those found From consumer reports refrigerators, because that's one of the things the engineers measure. Among the top-freezer models we tested that advertise total capacities of 17 to 18V4 cubic feet, the largest top-freezer was that of the Tappan 95-1870 (5 cubic feet; to give. you an idea of size, a cubic foot would hold about 60 packages of frozen vegetables).

Next largest were the Admiral NT1898T and NT18A8 (4.9 and 4.8 cubic feet) and the Wards 1889 (4.8). The bottom-freezer models have claimed total capacities of up to 20.1 cubic feet (most ranged from 17.6 to 19). Of these, the Amana BC20C (5.1) had the largest freezer. Western Auto Citation 2718, Crosley CBF184, Revco BF184 and Wards Signature Cat. No.

1989 were the next largest; all had 5 cubic feet of freezer capacity. The smaller freezers in our tests, by the way, had about 1 cubic foot less capacity. Which models were the most energy-efficient? The Sears Kenmore Cat No. 69771 (top-freezer) was the most energy-efficient of all the refrigerators we tested in 1980. Next best were the Whirlpool EHT171HK and the Sears Kenmore 60771 (a top-freezer tested later in the year).

Models with the freezer on top were decidedly more fuel efficient than bottom-freezer models. According to our estimates, the operating expenses of the typical bottom-freezer we tested were about 50 percent higher than those of the typical energy-efficient top-freezer. The Sears Kenmore and the Whirlpool top-freezer models have a better-than-average frequency of repair record for their brand and type, based on the experience of our readers who have owned them, i vtv ni.i rv Oonsumers Uatonx' 'Universal life insurance has serious drawbacks It's new. It's improved. It's been described as "an almost ideal policy" by Money magazine, but the editors of Consumer Reports think that universal life insurance has serious drawbacks.

Simply defined, universal life is a new type of policy -that packages term insurance with an investment fund. Part of the money you put into a universal-life policy buys plain term insurance protection. Part goes toward company expenses and profits. The remainder, referred to as the policy's cash value, earns interest at a variable rate. The policies offer somewhat greater convenience than traditional life insurance policies.

You can adjust the face amount. You can pay whatever annual premium you wish (within limits), rather than the fixed annual premium of a standard whole-life policy, paying more when you can afford it, skipping a premium when money is tight. That increased flexibility is an advantage. For universal life to compare favorably with other investments, its interest must be substantially tax-deferred. The gross yield on universal-life is not competitive.

And despite what salespeople probably will tell you, tax deferral is not definite not yet, anyway. The Internal Revenue Service still has to confirm favorable tax treatment. So far, the IRS will say only that the matter is under study. The outcome of the tax question is crucial to the merits of this type of policy. The expectation that universal life will yield high interest rates tax-deductible may not be justified.

The money paid into universal-life policies is now put mainly into relatively short-term investments paying high rates. If those rates fall, people won't flock to buy these policies; in fact, they'll avoid them. And because people can take their money out of a universal-life policy at will, the insurance companies would encounter some risk by in longer-term investments. Until the tax status of universal life is resolved, the main advantage of this type of policy is its clear disclosure of fees, gross interest rates and other information. Another advantage is its flexibility with regard to annual premiums and face amount.

For most buyers, though, universal life may not be better than buying simple term insurance and investing separately. The fees associated with universal life diminish its attractiveness compared with alternative investments. DEAR CONSUMER REPORTS: I want to buy a refrigerator. Which one has the largest freezer compartment? Which one is the most energy-efficient? Which one has the lowest repair bills? DEAR READER: We don't know the largest one on the market, but we can tell you the largest models in our most recent Jtesit3i and bottom Jxeezer mm CLAYTON FEDERAL SAVINGS and Loan Association.