The problem you have is with Verizon and their pathetically delayed updates. They do it to tease their impatient customers into new phones with fresh contracts. Just switch to Cyanogen and get your Nougaty goodness today without a middleman to screw you over.
And stop buying subsidized carrier phones in the first place. They need to disappear into the annals of history like landline phones owned by AT&T.
For some of my and my family's use when traveling, Verizon is the only non-local carrier to provide coverage.
Anyway, as I said, I don't trust the Android "ecosystem". Even if and when one can, sometimes with considerable time and effort, find local maxima within it, it overall just sucks in this respect.
By contrast, even on Verizon, Apple has the muscle to tell them to fuck off and to push updates directly. On Verizon, buy an iPhone and you stay as up-to-date as everyone else.
And stop buying subsidized carrier phones in the first place. They need to disappear into the annals of history like landline phones owned by AT&T.