Commit to Improving Your Finances and AARP Rewards Will Reward You (Even if You’re Not 50)

Whose finances couldn’t use a little TLC?

Unfortunately, it’s not exactly easy to find the motivation. Making a budget can be tedious; tracking your spending is a chore; and when it comes to curbing your fun spending? Forget it.

But AARP Rewards wants to help make it a bit easier – and more rewarding – to manage and save your money. By watching videos and taking short quizzes online, you’ll earn points for discounted or free gift cards and coupons along the way.

And you might be thinking: I’m not old enough to qualify for AARP. But anyone over 18 can join the rewards program. I’m in my late 20s and gave it a try.

I Tried AARP Rewards. Here’s What You Can Expect

I’ve been writing about personal finance for four years now, and I was curious to see what I could learn from AARP Rewards. I was excited that it was more interactive than just another book or another podcast.

It took me less than a minute to sign up. I automatically earned 1,000 points, then I could opt into the AARP Rewards email newsletter for another 500 points.

Once you’re in, you’ll gain access to interactive quizzes, informative videos and even financial tools and calculators.

I took the quiz: “Will it hurt your credit?” I scored 80% and earned 300 points. (Did you know renting a car with your debit card can hurt your credit score?! The more ya know.) Other quizzes cover careers, savings strategies and health topics.

Once you do a few quizzes, take a break and watch some videos for more points. These aren’t just videos covering sports news or celebrity gossip. They’re actually useful. For instance, I watched short videos about saving for retirement and then determining my tax bracket and earned 200 points each.

You’ll also find videos about spotting scams, using credit cards and how to negotiate when buying a new car.

And go beyond your finances to earn points in other parts of your life, too. If you want some accountability when it comes to your fitness, you can even connect your tracker app (think: the Apple Health app, Fitbit or Garmin) and get points when you hit your daily walk, run, bike or swim goals.

Bottom Line: This is a Solid Way to Learn More About Your Money — and Earn Free and Discounted Gift Cards

As you continue to use AARP Rewards, it’s fun watching the points stack up — it starts feeling like a game. And the cool thing is, you’re actually learning things and picking up on ways to improve your finances and your overall well-being.

Once you earn enough points, you can redeem them for gift cards and a ton of other deals. These options change regularly, but when I checked, I could get discounted gift cards to places like REI, Ulta, Hulu, Zappos and Uber, among other options.

You can also get up to 12% off grocery store gift cards and other essentials to make life easier right now, plus coupons for local restaurants and retailers.

You can also see how much you’ve saved with the program in your personalized dashboard.

Overall, I’d say this is one of the more enjoyable ways to learn more about your money and plan for the future — plus you can earn rewards along the way.

It only takes a minute to sign up and claim your first 1,000 bonus points and get an extra 500 points with exclusive promo code PENNY through July 31, 2020.

Carson Kohler is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.