We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
AARP 5 year membership for $45, but get $50 back.
For a limited time you can join AARP for $9 a year on a 5 year plan. This is an absolutely stellar deal if you join AARP via Rakuten – I save $10 a month on my AT&T plan, tons on British Airways tickets, and anyone can join as long as you’re over 18. But, as you know I love a good shopping portal, you can save even more if you start your order at Rakuten. Heck, you could spend $45 on an AARP membership, get $50 back via Rakuten, and save $10 a month on your phone bill. Here’s how it works.
Join Rakuten here via my referral link
First off…you don’t have to be over 50 to join AARP
Let’s get this misnomer out of the way. I joined when I was 34 and it’s literally on their site.
AARP Membership for $9 a year for 5 years = $45
Currently AARP has a Labor Sale running, and during that sale, you can join AARP for $9 a year if you sign up for 5 years. That, in and of itself, is a wonderful deal since the normal rate is $16 a year, and first year deals often drop it to $12. Sometimes you’ll find 5 year deals for $60, so this is a savings on top of that.
- You can also add another member free of charge.
Shopping Portal Rakuten saves you another $20 or 2000 Amex Points
If you use Rakuten, and start your AARP order on their site, they will give you $20 cashback, or 2000 Amex points, if you sign up for a 5 year plan. That is just $25 total for 5 years.
You can see here that the Rakuten portal gives you a different cash-back/Amex points option on each term of membership you purchase
If you’re unfamiliar on how Rakuten earns Amex points – read this article. Effectively, once you’ve signed up for Rakuten, you can select either Cashback as a form of payment, or American Express Membership Rewards. I also choose Amex points since I value these at roughly 2 cents a point meaning I’m earning double the cashback in the form of Amex points. For every 1x of cashback you see listed on Rakuten you can convert that to mean 1 Amex Points.
Rakuten New Members get $30 after spending $30 = get paid $5 to join AARP
- AARP 5 year Plan = $9/year for 5 years = $45
- Rakuten AARP = $20 or 2000 American Express Membership Rewards
- Rakuten New Member = Spend $30, get $30 back
If you already have a Rakuten account you’d get this membership for $25 for 5 years. If you don’t have a Rakuten account, you can use my link to sign up and get $30 back when you spend $30. Note, some people, for some reason, aren’t able to code their accounts to earn Amex points on the first purchase. Others are able to do this, and I’m not really sure why…but keep that in mind since you may be bound to earning cashback.
What do I get with an AARP membership?
Let’s break it down because I have EASILY saved a ton of money over the nearly 10 years I’ve been a member.
Personally I’ve saved the most on my AT&T bill – $10 per line, per month!
- Save $10 per line, per month with Unlimited Premium Plan
- A bunch of other waived fees
You can also save on Consumer Cellular, but I don’t have personal experience with this.
Purchasing British Airways flights
- Years ago this benefit was $400 on Business Class originating in the US and I saved thousands on tickets for my family. It’s still a great deal at $200
One Way Car Rentals
Don’t go to Expedia AARP Portal, you need to click directly on the Car Rental agency and you’ll find some really great deals. I rent cars one way quite often and AARP has some very competitive, often cheapest, deals on one way car rentals. Check AutoSlash as well, but these are very good.
Buy Discounted Gift Cards
You don’t have to be a member of AARP to buy discounted gift cards, but members get access to even more cards with bigger discounts. For instance, you can currently buy cruise and airlines gift cards at a discount.
Gas Discounts
You can link your AARP membership with your Exxon/Mobile Rewards+ and earn an additional penny back in rewards per dollar spent.
Overall
It’s a complete no brainer to join AARP if you would use any of their benefits and ESPECIALLY if you have an AT&T phone line that saves $10 a month. That is just silly when membership is $9 a year with this promo.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.