AARP worth it?

[Fermion]

My wife is nearing 55 and was asking me if it is worth getting a AARP membership.

I had not really thought about it yet, I am a year and change behind her. Is it worth it for the membership cost?

 

[ShokWaveRider]

My wife is nearing 55 and was asking me if it is worth getting a AARP membership.

I had not really thought about it yet, I am a year and change behind her. Is it worth it for the membership cost?

We like it, the Magazines and their Medicare Supplement are worth it. It is cheap, just check around for a deal and buy multiple years.

 

[aja8888]

My wife is nearing 55 and was asking me if it is worth getting a AARP membership.

I had not really thought about it yet, I am a year and change behind her. Is it worth it for the membership cost?

15% discount at many restaurants. For $16/year (AARP cost), it's a good deal if you eat out. A pretty good magazine sent to you to keep in the bathroom.

 

[Montecfo]

Not for me.unless required for an insurance policy you want. I do not wish to fund the type of lobbying they do.

 

[easysurfer]

Depends. Worth it for me. Discounts I get with AARP are on Consumer Cellular and also use for hotel stays.

 

[Gotadimple]

It depends on your perspective and your willingness to work their system to disable all mailings - or you will keep your recycler in business forever.

AARP is a lobbying and marketing organization. There are very few 'senior discounts' you can't get on your own - no AARP card is needed. When there is a need for an AARP card it is because the entity is a major sponsor and won't give a discount without proof of membership (think United Health Care, Walgreens, etc.).

Their magazine has some good articles, their monthly bulletin doesn't. There are decent articles on their website, but you can access by registering (and they'll bug you to join). They don't make $ on membership fees, they make it by licensing their logo to major sponsors promising they have data that can direct mailings to seniors in specific geographic and demographic areas.

With all of that if you feel strongly about senior benefits and retaining them they are very strong lobbying organization helping to influence legislation at the state and national level, so your annual (or multi-year) membership helps that it adds to a member count they can quote, but their funding comes from licensing arrangements (see above).

 

[pacergal]

We use the discount benefits so it is worth it to us(restaurants, hotels, auto/home insurance, etc). But we also have AAA, and their discounts sometimes are the same or less. I have never had to show my AARP card, except for our insurance discounts.
The only mailings I get that I read are their magazine and monthly bulletin. I have disabled just about everything else.

It wouldn't hurt anything to try a year and see, if you are curious.

 

[easysurfer]

We use the discount benefits so it is worth it to us(restaurants, hotels, auto/home insurance, etc). But we also have AAA, and their discounts sometimes are the same or less. I have never had to show my AARP card, except for our insurance discounts.
The only mailings I get that I read are their magazine and monthly bulletin. I have disabled just about everything else.

It wouldn't hurt anything to try a year and see, if you are curious.

Lately, I've been getting shaken down having to show my AARP card at hotels to get the discount. Maybe I have a dishonest face or something .

 

[athena53]

We like it, the Magazines and their Medicare Supplement are worth it. It is cheap, just check around for a deal and buy multiple years.

I agree. Very happy with the supplements, magazines have some interesting content. Not in agreement with most of their politics.

 

[youbet]

My wife is nearing 55 and was asking me if it is worth getting a AARP membership.

I had not really thought about it yet, I am a year and change behind her. Is it worth it for the membership cost?

If you need to ask whether a $12 annual membership is "worth it," then I would say that, for you, it's not.

For us, the negligible dues and whether or not we'd financially benefit from paying them weren't part of the decision. We asked ourselves whether we want AARP to exist or not. We don't 100% support their political viewpoints or their lobbying efforts. But, OTOH, on whole we are glad that they're there and local, state and federal politicians know that if anti-senior shenanigans develop, it's likely AARP will publicize what's happening and perhaps mobilize action. More often than not, we're glad they do. So, we're happy, on whole, to have them exist and do pay the nominal dues.

We're not the least bit concerned whether we're "getting our money's worth" in regards to getting discounts or other financial benefits from the token membership costs. Although, we do take advantage of the discounts when convenient.

 

[pb4uski]

Not for me.unless required for an insurance policy you want. I do not wish to fund the type of lobbying they do.

+1 We had both AARP and AAA and the hotel discounts were about the same anytime that I checked... I didn't like some of AARP's public policy positions so I declined to renew and we just keep AAA.

 

[Fermion]

If you need to sk whether a $12 annual membership is "worth it," then I would say that, for you, it's not.

It was more the exposing myself to the aarp marketing ads and such, not the cost. But if it got me 15% off every hotel stay or dining out, that is another thing.

 

[Flyfish1]

I'm 59 and retired and still won't pull the trigger on joining AARP. Just a mental thing really as I don't feel like I'm "old enough". Silly perhaps, but that's my thinking.

 

[audreyh1]

Only reason we joined, family membership, is for the UHC/AARP Medigap plan. DH started a few years ago and 5 year subscription covers when I start too.

Not into magazines in general.

I use AAA for hotel discounts - seem to be slightly better.

 

[CincyDave]

Like others, I only joined for access to the UHC Medicare supplement. Don't use it for anything else.

 

[youbet]

With all of that if you feel strongly about senior benefits and retaining them they are very strong lobbying organization helping to influence legislation at the state and national level, so your annual (or multi-year) membership helps that it adds to a member count they can quote, but their funding comes from licensing arrangements (see above).

Yes. Exactly.

Discounts...... Blaaah.......

The decision is whether you want them doing what they do supporting legislation, lobbying, publicizing, etc., or not. On whole, we do want them to carry on, despite not agreeing 100% with everything they do. So, we join so they can add us to their membership count.

very well stated Gotadimple.

 

[isisdave]

I didn't like some of AARP's public policy positions so I declined to renew and we just keep AAA.

You know, I see remarks like this all the time about AARP's policy positions, but I have never once seen anyone say exactly what they object to. How about some examples, friends? And why that would keep you from subscribing for your own benefit? I sure don't like a lot of insurance company policies, but I still do business with them. Same with health care megacorps, and hotel chains that have resort fees, because they offer something I DO want. Is there anyone who doesn't do that?

It is true that many "AARP discounts" are actually senior discounts, or the same as AAA benefits, and if you're qualified because of those, there's no additional benefit. But you can join AARP at 50, I think, and not everyone has a car or maybe has a different road service plan. So you might want to get the discounts earlier that way.

There are a zillion other "discounts" some of which are legit, and some of which just seem like advertising to a semi-captive audience. You can decide. The restaurant discounts will pay for your membership if you use them (for a couple) twice a year.

 

[Sunset]

We find it worth it.
I usually buy 5 years worth at $12/yr.

We don't have AAA, so when traveling AARP provides hotel discounts and sometimes they are better than "senior" discounts.

I like the magazine and bulletin paper they sometimes describe senior related stuff that I find informative.

Considering it costs $12 (to me) it's hard to lose.

 

[Major Tom]

I'm 60. I plan to join when I get close to Medicare age, for their Medicare supplemental coverage. I doubt that that any of their other discounts will be of much benefit to me. However, if they are, I'll probably be able to get them via some other means.

I don't care for the magazine. It makes me feel as if I'm in a dentist waiting room. Nevertheless, I suppose it's useful to have a reminder that, when I'm a good-looking 99 year-old, I will still be able to play tennis and have an active sex life

 

[jazz4cash]

I can easily recover ($12-16/year) with restaurant discounts. I think there are more discounts, but I haven't really looked into it. I now have the homeowner's and auto insurance which is very affordable (see homeowner's insurance threads). Now that I have the AARP sponsored insurance from The Hartford, I don't even think they monitor to verify that my membership is active. I get almost no junk mail (email or snail) from them. I do get an occasional snail mail from the AARP Foundation which <I think> is their political division. The newsletter and magazine have a lot of educational info for retiree issues. Quick reads.

 

[braumeister]

As a veteran I get 5 years of AARP membership for $45 so that makes it worthwhile for me. Don't often use a hotel discount but I have a number of times, and there is also an extra 0.05% added to the interest rate in my Discover savings account. Their publications are trash, but I can ignore that part along with their lobbying.

 

[youbet]

It was more the exposing myself to the aarp marketing ads and such, not the cost. But if it got me 15% off every hotel stay or dining out, that is another thing.

Oh. OK. When you said

Is it worth it for the membership cost?

it seemed like you wanted to know if the $12 annual dues were "worth it" in terms of recouping that cost via financial benefits.

DW and I have belonged to AARP for over 20 years. We use the card for motel discounts from time to time, but that's about it. We don't find the mailers or email to be very bothersome. For us, there just isn't that much of it. Maybe we fell off lists as the many years rolled by?

Refer to Gotadimple's post above. That really explains my feelings about AARP. I don't agree with AARP's positions 100%, but I'd rather have them doing what they're doing than not doing what they're doing. I do hear and respect the position of some others that they disagree with AARP' s positions to the extent that they would rather AARP cease to exist and therefore don't join. It's all a matter of opinion.

I just think it's important to not make your decision based on costs vs. benefits from discounts and that sort of thing. Make your decision based on whether or not you want to support their funding so they can continue on or not.

 

[Koolau]

Yeah, we do it for the discounts and figure our piddly little "dues" won't make much difference in legislation that AARP pushes (some of which is okay by me.)

If anyone ever finds an organization, club, PAC, (even a church) that you agree with 100%, please let me know. I'd be interested in looking into it. AARP is kinda like AAA only for Seniors instead of drivers. YMMV

 

[qwerty3656]

Here is a thread where I asked about AARP (seemed kind of split).




https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/what-are-peoples-views-on-aarp-117274.html

 

[pb4uski]

You know, I see remarks like this all the time about AARP's policy positions, but I have never once seen anyone say exactly what they object to. How about some examples, friends?...

One that I recall is that they were at one time saying that SS FRA and benefits should not change at all, and I don't agree with that, especially freezing the FRA given changes in longevity. When SS was started, the FRA of 65 was such that benefits were expected to be paid for about 13 years on average, so to age 78. With longevity increases it is now more like 85 (83 for men and 86 for women)... an additional 7 years, but the FRA has only been increased another 2 years (from 65 to 67).

That data would suggest that the FRA should be more like 72 to pay 10 years of benefits. Even if you split the difference to reflect that an increase in the FRA may result in more years of work and more contributions, that would suggest a FRA of 70 but if increasing the FRA from 67 to 70 for people currently in their 30s is proposed then there is a huge hue and cry that SS is being "cut".

It's not being cut, it is being adjusted due to changes in longevity so the program can continue to pay full benefits.