THIS IS 50
How to Insure Your New Driver
SEEING YOUR 16-year-old behind the wheel is stressful enough—even before adding the kid to your car insurance policy. Teens pay the highest auto insurance rates of any age demographic.
Teenagers are costly to insure for the same reason parents chew their fingernails on Saturday nights: Teens are inexperienced, easily distracted and involved in crashes nearly four times as often as drivers age 20 or older.
Luckily, many of the strategies that cut your insurance costs can also protect your teen.
• Enroll them in a defensive driving course. This will train your teenager to anticipate situations that could lead to collisions. Even if your insurer doesn’t offer a discount for taking the course, safe driving habits can lead to lower premiums.
• Provide a safe car. Many insurers offer discounts for safety features like blind spot detection, antilock braking systems or backup cameras.
• Encourage good grades. Many insurance companies offer good-student discounts to high school and college students. Your teen may need to provide school transcripts or test scores to qualify for the discount.
• Sign them up for a telematics program. These monitoring programs reward safe driving. The insurer provides an app or a plug-in to measure risky driving habits (like sudden braking or speeding) and sets the premium accordingly.
• Increase your deductible. Upping your deductible can lower your premium. Just set enough aside to cover the bigger deductible in case of a claim.
Affording your teen’s car insurance is possible. Letting go of your anxiety at seeing them back down the driveway may take a little more effort. —Emily Guy Birken
50 BILLION
Estimated number of times Mario has died during play of Super Mario Bros. since the video game was first released, on September 13, 1985.
Based on historical sales estimates from industry sources, assuming 100 Mario deaths per copy of the game.
We’re Alcohol-Free—and Surprised to Be Loving It
A FEW MONTHS ago, at age 50, my husband was put on permanent medication that required one major lifestyle change: sobriety.
Like me, he had been a casual drinker. Now, he couldn’t indulge. But with a new “mocktail bar” opening in our neighborhood, the adjustment wasn’t nearly as hard as expected.
Thirty-five percent of Americans ages 50 to 64 abstain from alcohol, according to a recent Gallup poll. If you’re considering reducing or quitting alcohol, here are some options:
Explore the grocery aisles. There are more than 150 nonalcoholic beers on the market, available in most major grocery and liquor store chains.
Find a mocktail bar. Alcohol-free bars offer artisanal concoctions and social spaces for adults.
35%
of Americans ages 50 to 64 abstain from alcohol.
Become a mock mixologist. Mocktail apps, YouTube videos, cookbooks and websites can help midlife nondrinkers move beyond Shirley Temples.
Build community. Organize a mocktail party at home or a gathering at an alcohol-free bar to support and meet others who are reducing their alcohol consumption.
Debbie Podlogar, 53, a nondrinker in Crestwood, Kentucky, hosts the Thriving Alcohol-Free podcast to help others find tasty nonalcoholic beverages. “My whole message is that the fun is not over,” she says. “There are still good things to drink.” —Whitney Matheson
MEMBER CHECK LIST
INSTANT ACCESS ONLINE
Get instant digital-only access to your membership card, AARP The Magazine and the AARP Bulletin, plus enjoy your member benefits, online or in the mobile app. Go to aarp.org/digitalvalue.