My husband turned 50 today. This week he was slightly horrified to receive an AARP card in the mail, because we can say 50 is the new 40 all we want, but carrying around a card certifying your membership in the American Association of Retired Persons conjures thoughts of eating dinner at 4 in your white track suit on a cruise somewhere, hoping your dentures don't come lose. I'm pretty happy that I'm not the one getting the AARP card, but I'm also just giddy with thoughts of AARP discounts! For just $16 a year (less if you join for several years) you are entitled to a cornucopia of fabulous discounts not available to the younger set. 10-20% off at all the major hotel chains, discounts on flights, and yes, cruises. Also car rental discounts, free donuts (thank you Randy, for the 411 on Dunkin), 20% off a check at Denny's (even if you eat there after 4 pm). You also qualify for some nice discounts on all different types of insurance, and there are TONS of shopping discounts!
And WHY are all these retailers and hotels chains offering such attractive discounts to AARP members? Because older people supposedly have more money to spend. Because by 50, you're supposedly retired and your children have all grown up and moved on, and you're just sitting in that rocker, playing Words With Friends all day, right? Um…. really? I wonder how many Americans are retired at 50. Turns out the U.S. Census doesn't keep statistics on retired people. I know a lot of 50 year olds who would love to be retired, but according to recent polling, most Americans now believe they will work until they are 80. And for those of us who got around to having babies in our 30's and 40's, let's just say we're nowhere near done paying for the care, feeding and education of those little darlings by 50. So maybe 80 is the new 50?
Apparently, AARP no longer stands for American Association for Retired Persons. It's just AARP. You can't become a full member if you're retired but not 50 (because I'm sure lot's of retired people in their 30's are trying to join). It's considered to be one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington. Of it's over $1 billion in annual revenue, it spends about $25 mil on lobbying. This leads to a lot of criticism, because AARP is supposedly just advocating for seniors rights, but it actually stands to make a lot of money from these lobbying efforts. You see, besides being a charity organization, AARP lends it's name out to insurers to brand their products, and then receives commissions from sales. AARP earns more money selling insurance to it's 38 million members than from membership dues.
So even though my husband and I won't be retiring anytime soon, I'm already scheming about how we can use those AARP discounts to bring down the cost of our next vacation with the kids. And even though I now know they will be using our membership dollars to lobby congress to pass laws that enable them to make more money off selling us insurance, I'm still going to start crunching numbers to see where we might benefit from buying their insurance offerings. But I think I'm still going to get my husband a white track suit today. Because I'm mean.
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