StretchYour Dollar: Senior Discounts in 2025

It's a new year with new savings for those youngsters 50 years and up.
Join me as I showcase various discounts available to seniors in 2025, from dining savings to travel deals, enhancing financial wellness for listeners. Important insights include senior-specific promotions from popular brands and practical tips to maximize savings potential. 
• Incredible Senior Savings at National Parks
• Amazon Prime discounts for seniors receiving assistance 
• Discounts at restaurants like IHOP and Denny's 
• Marriott Hotel savings for seniors aged 62 and older 
• Walgreens Senior Day and reward program benefits 
• T-Mobile's affordable plans for seniors 
• Amtrak’s rail fare discounts for senior travelers 
• Hertz Rental Cars discounts for drivers over 50 
• LensCrafters eyecare discounts for AARP members 
• Encouragement to explore and share discount experiences

Chapters

• 0:00 Guide to Senior Discounts in 2025
• 10:51 Connecting With Audience Through Podcast

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to Bill Monty's Guide for Gettin' Older. Hello, my friends, and welcome to Bill Monty's Guide for Gettin' Older. I am your host, bill Monty. I'm so glad that you graced me with your presence for this episode and, by the way, happy New Year to 2025. This is our first new episode of 2025. Very excited about that and very excited that you decided to join me on this particular journey.

Speaker 1: 0:34

I just want to mention right up front if you enjoy what you hear, I hope that you'll hit that follow or subscribe button, whatever platform you're listening on, eye button, whatever platform you're listening on. It helps us to grow the show. It helps keep us in the forefront of platforms such as Spotify, apple, youtube, amazon, etc. So today, with it being a new year, I thought we have all of these nice new year promises that we make ourselves. We have a whole bunch of stuff going on and we like the holidays, but we really like let's be honest with ourselves we really like discounts. At least I know I do. So I thought to myself why don't we talk about some of the ways that we can save money in 2025? That's for those of us who are 60 years of age or older. Now, some of these will be tied to an AARP discount. So I need to state right up front anything I talk about here in this episode AARP or any of these companies I have no affiliation with them. I don't make any money. If you decide to go ahead and go in there for a discount or anything like that, there's no links to click. So this is just my way of sharing some information that I found out, and I'm surprised at some of these things, and maybe you'll be surprised too. So let's get started, shall we? Everyone sit back, get a nice cup of hot cocoa with you.

Speaker 1: 2:02

So the first was Amazon Prime. Now let me tell you something. I pay a lot of money for Amazon Prime. I do get the Prime streaming network, of course, and I use Amazon. Most of my holiday gifts this year were bought because of Amazon, and they're offering up to a 50% off monthly Prime membership for seniors who receive government assistance, including Medicaid and SSI or Supplemental Security Income. So if you receive some of that and you're a senior who uses Amazon, you might want to check into this. You can check it out online or just give them a call in their service area. Customer service area Papa John's who doesn't love a good Papa John's pizza. If you're an AARP member, you can get 20% off any online orders. Better ingredients that's what they say, right? Better pizza, better prices.

Speaker 1: 2:59

Marriott Hotels I'm getting ready to plan a vacation it's going to take place in April and notice that anyone who's 62 or older is eligible to save at least 10% on a Marriott Hotel stay. You just have to be sure that you book the room under the name of the person who is 62 years of age or older, and any time that we're talking about something like this, like an entertainment type ticket or a hotel stay or travel, they're going to ask you for your ID to prove your age. So do be prepared for that. Okay?

Speaker 1: 3:31

Ihop I've only recently discovered IHOP and started going back there, and let me tell you something. One of the things that I like is they have a 55 plus menu. So I've been eligible for this for a very long time, but I had kind of not gone to IHOP for a while. Different reasons didn't have some great experiences sometimes, but the last few times I've been great food and great experiences. So their 55 plus menu has discounted prices for customers who are guests. Go ahead, take a guess, that's right 55 years or older. Some items, like the pancake and egg combo, are almost 20 off the regular price. So just go in there, enjoy it. It have a nice good meal, breakfast, especially Walgreens.

Speaker 1: 4:15

Did you know that the I did not know this that the first Tuesday of every month is Senior Day at Walgreens? Customers who are 55 or older and who are enrolled in the my Walgreens Rewards Program I got to check, am I? If not, I'm going to you can get up to 20% off your purchase, including everything from toiletries to snacks. It's also available if you're an online shopper. So again, that's the first Tuesday of every month. Mark it on your calendar Senior Day at Walgreens, and be sure to go and join the my Walgreens Rewards program. Get that 20% off Kohl's. I'm not a big kohl's shopper, but my wife is. And if you are 60 years of age or older not just 60, don't just say well, only for one year you can do this. 60 years of age or older, you can stop by any kohl's location on wednesdays and you can get 15 off of select brands. And you know those kohl's dollars as they have, you can use those% off of select brands. And you know those cold dollars as they have, you can use those too. There's no restrictions on things like that. So that's nice, right.

Speaker 1: 5:17

T-mobile hey, I'm a T-Mobile customer, recently switched Okay, I'm going to do a plug here Again, I don't get paid for this Recently switched to their internet, their 5G internet, did it? Dropped my other carrier almost $55 a month, saving by switching to the T-Mobile internet. So customers who are age 55 and older can sign up for a T-Mobile discounted senior plan which gives users two unlimited lines starting at just $60 a month. Now there's going to be fees on top of that, you know taxes and all that stuff. But some of the plans include some perks, like subscriptions to Apple TV Plus and Netflix, as well as a complimentary AAA membership. So if your car breaks down and you're sitting in your car and you've got your T-Mobile phone and you're watching Netflix, you'll have something to do while waiting for AAA to show up.

Speaker 1: 6:13

Amtrak Ah, I love trains. Do you love trains? I love trains. Trains do you love trains? I love trains. Amtrak offers 10 off discount on most railfares for passengers 65 years of age and older. Ask about that the next time you're booking a trip, if you're going to plan on going on amtrak. I do want to do that, but you know, I'm down here in south florida and it's just not really convenient. It takes so long to get out of this state. Trains are not, unfortunately, the way to go. But, man, if I lived up north I could tell you right now I'd be doing some train traveling myself.

Speaker 1: 6:46

Be sure to look for that senior discount, that 10% off, the next time you book on Amtrak, hertz Rent-A-Cars. Drivers who are over 50, over 50, not 60, so some of you younger seniors there can get up to 20% off of the base rates when renting a car through Hertz. If you're calling for a reservation, just be sure to tell them that you're 50 years of age or older, because they might not honor it once you go to pick up the car if you didn't tell them ahead of time. You don't want to gum up the work. You want to get in there and get your car and get out as fast as you possibly can. Right, okay, if you're an AARP member, you should be going to LensCrafters because you can get up to 50% off of lenses, 30% off sunglasses and 10% off contact lenses.

Speaker 1: 7:31

Members can also get their eyes checked for a $55 copay at participating locations. Listen, I wear glasses have since I was seven years old. Probably should have been wearing them before I was seven, but my parents didn't catch on until I was seven. I can make use of this here Lens Crafters 50% off of lenses. I'm actually looking for a new pair of glasses now. I just had my eye exam a couple of weeks ago around the holidays, and it's expensive. And I've got my Medicare insurance and I've got, you know, my Medicare insurance and I've got my insurance through work Still very expensive. So I might go check that out. 50% off of lenses at LensCrafters hey, it's in the name LensCrafters.

Speaker 1: 8:09

If you're a breakfast lover and you go to IHOP and the line's too long, maybe hop over to Denny's. They also have a 55 plus menu available whether you dine in or you order online. Aarp members can also claim a 15% discount on select Denny's menus items. By the way, again going to have to show proof of age for the AARP when you're going to show your AARP card, so make sure you have that with you.

Speaker 1: 8:34

Now, this next one was a surprise, because we eat at Chili's about once a month. They offer seniors 10% off of their check, excluding alcohol. Well, I don't drink, so that's not a problem. So be sure to let your server know, because apparently they don't offer this. No one looks at me and goes I don't know, is he a senior? I'm a senior, they got it. The big white beard and white hair kind of is the clue there. They offer 10% off your check. So, look, that's going to cover the tip right A little bit more, but take a dime everywhere you can right. That's what we do. Hey, we got it coming to us. We've been around for a long time, so, chili's, next time we go, which will probably be at least in the next week, I got to remember to ask for my 10% off senior discount, which they have not been offering me.

Speaker 1: 9:17

National Park Service Pass Explorers, hikers and nature lovers, this one is for you. If you're 62 or older, you can purchase a Senior Annual Pass for $20. That's good for all year. Or you can opt for a Senior Lifetime Pass for $80. So that'll last your whole life and you're only paying an additional $60. Either way, it offers access to thousands of national parks and federal recreation sites, as well as discounts of up to 50% off select amenity fees.

Speaker 1: 9:50

So let me just tell you something. A few months ago we planned to go out to Everglades National Park and I was just looking online it was going to cost $25 a person. So this is a great deal. So next time we go, I'm going to be sure to take advantage of this before we make our next plan to go to a national park, because that's a great deal. That's $20 for a senior annual pass or $80 for a lifetime pass. So there are some deals out there for you. Help you save some money. In 2025, my friends, there's going to be more.

Speaker 1: 10:22

I'll be doing an additional show in a few weeks here to tell you about some more of these discounts, but hope you take advantage of them, and I'll put these in the show notes too, if you didn't write them down, because if you're driving, listening to this or you're working out, whatever it might be, you might not have access to write down all the stuff I told you. So I'll be sure to put them in the show notes for you and, if I can make it work, I'll even put in some links. How's that Right? What a deal. And again, if I could ask my friends, just go ahead and hit that like button, the follow or subscribe, whichever it is.

Speaker 1: 10:51

I do so appreciate that you can leave a comment or just go down in the show notes. There's a link to something called. It says leave me a message in my show notes and it's a link to something called SpeakPipe. That's a tool where you can actually leave me a 90-second recorded message if you have a question or you just want to leave a comment, hopefully a comment of support.

Speaker 1: 11:11

All right, we're coming to the end of the show and, by the way, I do appreciate that you stick around to the end. Again, those of you who stick out all the way through to the end. That helps podcasters so much because it encourages the Apples and the Amazons and the Spotify's to put your podcast out in front of more ears. Until the next time that we meet in 2025, I can't believe it's 2025 already. I want to thank you. I want to remind you to always please be safe and be kind, and I'll talk to you again on Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older. You take care of yourself now. If it's warm outside but you're feeling cold, you're not sure what to do without a friendly shoulder. You take care of yourself now.