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AARP Invests in Hypocrisy
TCS ^ | 15 FEBRUARY 2005 | James K. Glassman

Posted on 02/16/2005 5:03:41 AM PST by rdb3


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AARP Invests in Hypocrisy

By James K. Glassman  Published   02/15/2005 



The President has made fixing Social Security his number-one domestic objective, but the fight won't be easy -- in part because of fierce opposition by the AARP, the seniors' lobby, with 35 million members.

The AARP is using an old strategy: trying to scare the wits out of old people. The organization's executives want its members to think that Social Security will be destroyed by offering young people the option of personal accounts.

The President's plan will likely allow workers to put up to four percentage points of what they now pay in taxes into a small number of broadly diversified portfolios of stocks and bonds.

This is hardly radical. Half of American families already own mutual funds, and most AARP members are retirees who don't pay into Social Security anyway, so they won't be exercising the option. But those facts don't stop the AARP from painting a frightening picture that equates investing with casino gambling.

In one ad, labeled "misleading" by the nonpartisan watchdog FactCheck.org, the AARP shows a wild cocoa trading pit with the headline, "Winners and Losers are stock market terms. Do you really want them to become retirement terms?"

Another AARP ad features a man and woman considering the Bush plan and saying, "If we feel like gambling, we'll play the slots."

But the AARP is talking out of both sides of its mouth. It says that stock and bond investing is like playing a slot machine at the same time it promotes stock and bond investing by selling 38 mutual funds to its members and taking a cut from each sale.

As former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo) once said, "I never saw the AARP do anything that would hurt their business."

Among the AARP funds are far riskier choices than advocates of Social Security reform would ever offer to American workers: for example, a Latin American stock fund, a junk-bond fund, and a fund that holds shares of companies based in such highly volatile markets as Indonesia and Russia.

AARP Services, Inc., the lucrative business arm of the AARP, entered into a deal with Scudder Investments to sell mutual funds to its members as part of a special affinity program. According to a prospectus, Scudder pays AARP an annual fee for the use of its trademark that ranges from .05 percent to .07 percent of assets. That can come to a lot of money. One fund alone, Scudder Growth & Income AARP, manages $5 billion.

The hypocrisy is breathtaking. AARP's website carries solid information about how to invest wisely, but the organization's anti-Social Security ads make investing - even under the tough restrictions advocated by reformers -- look like a game for dumb suckers and out-of-control gamblers.

Ironically, the AARP's professed concerns do not extend to its own choice of mutual funds. Scudder has not enjoyed a reputation for stellar performance in recent years - to put it mildly.

Morningstar, the mutual fund research firm, gives many of the funds mediocre and poor ratings. For example, Scudder's balanced AARP fund, which, since it holds a mix of stocks and bonds, would normally be a good choice for older investors, wins just two stars (below average) from Morningstar out of a possible five. The fund ranks in the bottom 10 percent of its category over the past three years.

Another possible choice for seniors is the AARP Large Company Growth fund, but, since its inception in 2001, it has failed each year to beat the broad market average, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. The fund gets just two stars from Morningstar and the admonition, "We see no reason to buy it."

The AARP says it "strives to keep?operating expenses below the industry average." But look at an obvious choice: the Scudder AARP fund that mimics the S&P 500. According to Morningstar, the AARP fund charges a whopping .40 percent per year in expenses - more than twice as much as similar Fidelity and Vanguard funds. "This shouldn't be your first S&P index fund choice," says Morningstar. No kidding!

Long-term stock and bond investing is not gambling. In fact, it's the opposite. Since 1802, stocks have returned an annual average of 6.8 percent, after inflation, and research shows that the longer you hold shares, the lower the risk. The folks who run the AARP know this. Instead of scare tactics, they should offer their members better services - as well as more honesty and less hypocrisy.



Copyright © - www.techcentralstation.com



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: aarp; ownershipsociety; presidentbush; socialsecurity; ssreform

1 posted on 02/16/2005 5:03:42 AM PST by rdb3
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To: rdb3

And, 34,876,345 of the 35 million members joined to get 10 percent hotel discounts. If only they knew they could just say they belong to AARP when they check in because hotel clerks hardly ever ask for proof. Better yet, join AAA. Or AA if you're so inclined.

2 posted on 02/16/2005 5:11:55 AM PST by Cagey
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To: rdb3
According to Morningstar, the AARP fund charges a whopping .40 percent per year in expenses - more than twice as much as similar Fidelity and Vanguard funds.

Well they have to make their kickbacks to the AARP vultures.

AARP is a very large racket. It started as a flim-flam life insuranse company selling overpriced term life policies to older people who had no need for life insurance. It's way past time to expose them.

3 posted on 02/16/2005 5:11:59 AM PST by Ditto ( No trees were killed in sending this message, but billions of electrons were inconvenienced.)
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To: Cagey
34,876,345 of the 35 million members joined to get 10 percent hotel discount.
You don't even have to join to be claimed a "member."
You turn 50 years old, they send you literature - they claim you as a member.

4 posted on 02/16/2005 5:16:35 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67- '68)
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To: Cagey
When I check into a hotel I simply ask if they have a senior citizen discount.

All hotels have given a discount.

I have also called AARP and let them know how much I disapprove of their stand on personal accounts for those not currently in the social security system.

5 posted on 02/16/2005 5:17:05 AM PST by OldFriend (America's glory is not dominion, but liberty.)
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To: Cagey; Ditto

What kills me is that to join AARP, one must be 55 yrs old. Under the President's plan, SS will not change for those 55 and older. But the AARP crooks want to use the same old scare tactics anyway.


6 posted on 02/16/2005 5:17:36 AM PST by demkicker (I'm Ra th er sick of Dan)
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To: Cagey

I was sent an membership application which went into the trash can. Democrats use their delusional scare tactics on these organizations in an at
attempt to stop progress in America.


7 posted on 02/16/2005 5:18:28 AM PST by No Surrender No Retreat
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To: All

My comment was wrong about joining AARP at 55. I forgot it's 50.


8 posted on 02/16/2005 5:18:32 AM PST by demkicker (I'm Ra th er sick of Dan)
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To: demkicker
I believe the age is now 50. Fifty years from now they'll be recruiting 20 year olds.
9 posted on 02/16/2005 5:18:35 AM PST by Cagey
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To: OldFriend
When I check into a hotel I simply ask if they have a senior citizen discount.

And of course they say ...."No Way!" At least that's what I wish they would say to me. LOL

10 posted on 02/16/2005 5:20:11 AM PST by Cagey
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To: Cagey
Better yet, join AAA. Or AA if you're so inclined.


HA! Good one. I belong to AAA. I don't drink, so I guess I won't be needing AA.

Do I get an A for keeping these straight?


11 posted on 02/16/2005 5:25:37 AM PST by rdb3 (The wife asked how I slept last night. I said, "How do I know? I was asleep!")
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To: rdb3
The organization's executives want its members to think that Social Security will be destroyed by offering young people the option of personal accounts.
If you ever are invited to invest in something, and the prospectus tells you that the investment will fail if someone else doesn't invest in it, run!

12 posted on 02/16/2005 5:26:51 AM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion (The idea around which liberalism coheres is that NOTHING actually matters but PR.)
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To: Cagey

LOLOL.....well, at 67 it's pretty obvious! Since most consider 55 the age of senior-itis!!!!


13 posted on 02/16/2005 5:27:29 AM PST by OldFriend (America's glory is not dominion, but liberty.)
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To: Cagey
We quit AARP once because of their hypocrisy, but rejoined because no other vehicle insurance company came close to matching their rates (thru Hartford). If another insurance company would advertise that they'd match or beat AARP Hartford's rates, they'd have our business immediately. Meanwhile we just toss their magazine and other propaganda in the trash when it arrives and ignore them. They can count us as a member, but certainly not a supporter of their agenda. I suspect we're not alone.
14 posted on 02/16/2005 8:19:04 AM PST by Arizona
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To: rdb3
The AARP has become a lot like the NAACP. Useful in their time but now nothing more than an agenda driven lobby for the left Exposing the Left
15 posted on 02/17/2005 8:15:51 AM PST by traderrob6 (http://www.exposingtheleft.blogspot.com)
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