... with the DOW at 10,609.66 and looking shakey.

Which is just to say that you never can tell - $4000 invested in the market in the spring, with a strategy of using the earnings to pay the yearly PC fee, would likely have you in a pretty poor position right now between the market slump and rising PC fees.

The more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that a Lifetime membership to any airline lounge system is more a prestige purchase than anything else - there's simply too many variables in the market and with regard to future prices to make a solid economic argument.