A different reason not to join AARP...

[Amethyst]

Vanguard uses our landline number.

I read through the advice on this forum and decided to sign up for AARP as I just turned 50! I understand some people disagree with the politics of AARP and some like them. Others just sign up for the discounts and that's what I was thinking about doing. I figured I could sign up for a year or two to see if it was worth it for me.

Then I tried to set up a username & password and I got this:

We take your online security seriously.
AARP is making access to your personal information more secure. Soon, you will be required to verify your identity with a one-time code whenever you access or update your personal information. This secure code will be sent to the verified phone number you provide.

Please enter the phone number you would like to use to verify your identity. We will never share or sell your number, only use it to make sure it is you. Data rates may apply. Terms & Conditions.

I do not have a mobile phone and I don't really feel like getting one any time soon. I do have a landline but I do most of my financial stuff online between 3:45 and 4:15 in the morning and I do not want my home phone ringing at that time and waking up the wife.

So no AARP for me.

 

[Amethyst]

We don't belong to AARP because they've never shown us they can do anything for us. Mostly they push insurance. We already have insurance as good or better through other providers.

 

[gauss]

^ Yep - Their discounts are mostly replicated via AAA membership.

 

[davebarnes]

I *STILL* get a deluge of e-mails and snail mails from AARP, trying to get me to re-join. You'd think that at some point they'd give up and stop wasting trees, but no. I am 72 years old now, and I fully expect this continual avalanche of spam to continue for the rest of my life.

No. Beyond. "You" will receive mail for at least 10 years after you don't care.

 

[jimbee]

^ Yep - Their discounts are mostly replicated via AAA membership.

I don't see how I'd get any benefit from AAA membership. Looks like it's $58 per year. Yikes. Different strokes I guess.

 

[foxfirev5]

We didn’t join AARP until DH was 65 and we decided to use the United Healthcare AARP Medigap option. We made it a family membership. So far we haven’t received the flood of junk mail I was dreading - knock on wood! DH turned off everything he could find in mail preferences.

We also have AAA which seems to offer better discounts than AARP or a general senior discount at hotels.

I have to be a member to get the plan G Medigap I desire next year through Via Benefits. On top of that DW parlays the AARP and AAA discounts to our advantage for our resort stays with deposits. (when that comes back). She just saved $107 on a trip we probably won't take.

 

[Amethyst]

We don't use AAA insurance either; just regular membership.

^ Yep - Their discounts are mostly replicated via AAA membership.

 

[jazz4cash]

^ Yep - Their discounts are mostly replicated via AAA membership.

I just switched to their auto insurance program by The Hartford. The 12 month policy is ~20% cheaper and my AAA rep hasn’t called me back in 3 weeks.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

Interesting, no cell phone. Whatever works for you and makes sense.

So how does anyone get hold of you in case of emergency?

If there's some type of emergency people can call our home phone number and leave a message on the answering machine. This is what people did for years and years before mobile phones were invented.
I hear my coworkers getting phone calls and texts throughout the workday when they're supposed to be getting paid to be working. It's amazing what some people consider to be an emergency these days. Here's an example:
"Honey, I have a little rock stuck in the tread of my shoe - Should I use the pliers or the tweezers to get it out?"
Seriously? You had to call and interrupt someone just for that?
I find my life is so much more relaxing and stress-free without the burden of having a mobile phone. At least at this point in my life. Who knows? Maybe in 4-5 years when we retire we might think about getting phones. It's not completely off the table. We just have no use for them now.
DISCLAIMER: My wife does own a cheap little Trac-Fone™ that we pay $50 a year to have to bring with us if we go on a trip out-of-town and plan on spending a few nights away. But as with every mobile phone I've ever had to use, we turn it on, make the call we need to make, and then turn it back off again. We charge it once or twice a year when needed. Again, this is what works for us at this time.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

Vanguard uses our landline number.

I tried that.
Then, whenever my laptop, Windows 10, and Vanguard weren't perfectly aligned in the Cookie galaxy my phone would ring at 4:00 a.m. as I was checking to see if my monthly Roth IRA deposit transaction had posted correctly.
When the phone rings at 4:00 a.m. it scares the bejeezus out of me (I have a rotary-dial desk phone right next to my laptop on the desk and it's quite loud) and also tends to wake up my wife who usually likes to sleep in until 5:30 or so. (we have another rotary-dial desk phone upstairs in the bedroom)
So I convinced Vanguard not to call me anymore. It took some doing, though.

 

[Yoheadden]

I know two factor authentication is supposed to be more secure than passwords only, but it is a major hassle when logging in. I enter my user name and password, then have to leave the computer I'm working on, go grab my phone, unlock it, sit there and wait for the text message to arrive, open the text message, type in the code, then delete the text message. Unlock most people these days, I do not carry my cell phone with me at all times.

Some sites will send the authentication code by email. It's still a hassle, but I greatly prefer that over the text message option. Unfortunately, text messaging seems to be the only option for most sites.

I appreciate the extra security and agree that it is a hassle at times. I’m learning to keep my cell phone near me when I go on these sites. More and more of them are requiring the verification code now.
I handle my FIL’s weekly unemployment claim since he does not have a computer and they just started sending a code as well.

 

[ziggy29]

Nothing is perfect, but 2FA IS more secure period. Having to get info off your phone is a small price to pay for added security IMO. The “hassle” is the point, makes it harder for hackers...

I love 2FA. But I was in the process of planning a transfer of small positions in USAA mutual funds to Schwab when they announced a move to "Victory Capital", which made me uncomfortable. For months the account info was not easily found, let alone managed. But since it was really a pretty small amount of money, I decided to wait until the transition was done, and then transfer. Just a week or so ago, it finally finished.

But wow, Victory's site requires 2FA EVERY time you log in, which to me is annoyingly overkill. Won't be there much longer, though. I'm rolling over my smallish IRA now, and when it's done and I know there aren't more hoops, DW's smallish IRA is moving, too.

 

[Paulz]

I don't see how I'd get any benefit from AAA membership. Looks like it's $58 per year. Yikes. Different strokes I guess.

AAA saves me more than $500 a year. I travel extensively and it seems AAA saves me between $10-$18 a night on rooms. I get all the car related stuff AAA offers through my insurance, but one week in a hotel pays for the AAA membership.

 

[jimbee]

AAA saves me more than $500 a year. I travel extensively and it seems AAA saves me between $10-$18 a night on rooms. I get all the car related stuff AAA offers through my insurance, but one week in a hotel pays for the AAA membership.

Thanks for the info.

 

[catii]

Can't stand their politics, but find their magazine useful. I don't think I've ever gotten any mail from AARP, in the past decade.

 

[ProspectiveBum]

Can someone enlighten me as to what AARP’s politics are? I understand them to be a non-partisan organization. Obviously, I expect them to lobby on behalf of their membership on subjects like Social Security and Medicare. Is there more to it?

It goes without saying that I don’t want to get this thread locked due to political discussion, I’m just trying to understand.

 

[Paulz]

Can someone enlighten me as to what AARP’s politics are? I understand them to be a non-partisan organization. Obviously, I expect them to lobby on behalf of their membership on subjects like Social Security and Medicare. Is there more to it?

It goes without saying that I don’t want to get this thread locked due to political discussion, I’m just trying to understand.

This link might help. Note it is from 2017, so somewhat dated.

https://soundmindinvesting.com/articles/view/seven-alternatives-for-seniors-fleeing-aarp

This was the issue that drove roughly 300k members away:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapo...-obamacares-cuts-to-medicare/?sh=a195faf59350

This conservative organization is doing fairly well. Nowhere near the billion or so AARP brings in:

https://amac.us/join/

I hopefully avoided the political mines and made it safely to shore!

 

[imnontrad]

My mother used to just ask if the business had an AARP discount and she would get it - she was not a member.

 

[jimbee]

This link might help. Note it is from 2017, so somewhat dated.

https://soundmindinvesting.com/articles/view/seven-alternatives-for-seniors-fleeing-aarp

This was the issue that drove roughly 300k members away:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapo...-obamacares-cuts-to-medicare/?sh=a195faf59350

This conservative organization is doing fairly well. Nowhere near the billion or so AARP brings in:

https://amac.us/join/

I hopefully avoided the political mines and made it safely to shore!

So they support more people having health insurance coverage. Thanks for the information.

 

[ProspectiveBum]

I hopefully avoided the political mines and made it safely to shore!

Yessir! Thanks very much.

 

[NameTaken2]

I do most of my financial stuff online between 3:45 and 4:15 in the morning.

LOL!
Unusual and interesting -none of my business and not asking why, just left wondering why that specific 30" window in the middle of the night would be designated for financial stuff!

 

[Skitso999]

Personally, I've always disliked having a cell phone, even though I'm required to have one by my wife! I've always considered it an "electronic leash".

 

[Time2]

Can't stand their politics, but find their magazine useful. I don't think I've ever gotten any mail from AARP, in the past decade.

When my daughter was 4 yrs old she got an application for AARP, yep, 4 years old. I got a crayon and wrote out, "My daddy says you want to take all the young people's money and give it the old people." and sent it back. I didn't hear back until I was one of those old people, when I signed up.

 

[Bamaman]

I don't like their politics, but the magazine is okay.

I just join them because I use AARP Medigap policies. They verify current memberships.

 

[Calico]

I joined AARP a few months ago so I would be eligible to purchase the AARP UHC Plan G Medicare supplement this month. That plan is community-rated.

There are no other community-rated Plan G supplements offered in NC. Every other plan has either issue-age pricing or attained-age pricing.

Yes, I am now being inundated with AARP mail both electronically and via snail mail. The simple solutions to that are the delete key in my email inbox, and the recycling bin between my mailbox and my front door. Every now and then they send something that is of interest to me.