Mountain Views News          Saturday, April 9, 2016

THE GOOD LIFE

12

Mountain Views-News Saturday, April 9, 2016 

SENIOR HAPPENINGS

AUTO INSURANCE DISCOUNTS FOR OLDER DRIVERS


Dear Savvy Senior,

I’ve read that many car insurance companies offer a variety of 
discounts to older drivers when they retire or reach a certain 
age. What can you tell me about this?

Discount Seeker

 

Dear Seeker,

 Most auto insurance companies offer policyholders a 
wide variety of discounts, many of which can benefit retirees. 
Auto insurers love older drivers because they’re experienced 
behind the wheel and they drive less than younger age 
groups, which makes them a lower risk for accidents and a 
safer bet for insurance companies.

 While discounts will vary by insurer, many of these 
benefits can reduce your overall premium by 15 to 20 
percent or more, and you are usually allowed to combine 
discounts to increase your savings, though total discounts 
are often capped at around 25 percent. 

 To find out what discounts may be available to you, 
contact your auto insurer and inquire about these benefits, 
and any others that may benefit you. 

 Age discount: Many auto insurance companies offer a 
general “senior” discount that will reduce your premium just 
because you’ve reached a specific age. The actual name and 
amount of the discount will vary by insurer. 

 Allstate, for example, provides a “senior adult discount” 
of up to 10 percent to drivers who are at least 55 years old 
and aren’t actively looking for full-time work. And Liberty 
Mutual offers a “newly retired discount” to drivers who 
reach that employment milestone, regardless of age.

 Low mileage discount: Most insurers offer discounts 
to customers who drive limited miles each year, which is 
often beneficial to retirees who drive less because they don’t 
commute to work every day. The fewer miles you drive, the 
lower your odds of getting into an accident. 

 The parameters of low mileage differ by insurer, but 
generally about a 10 percent discount is available for driving 
less than 5,000 to 8,000 miles each year, although smaller 
discounts may also be available to seniors who drive more 
than this but less than 15,000.

 Drivers Ed discount: Many states require insurance 
companies to offer “defensive-driving” discounts to drivers 
who take a refresher course to brush up on their safety 
skills. The discounts vary usually ranging between 5 and 15 
percent. 

 Driver safety courses are inexpensive, usually costing 
around $20 to $30 and can often be taken in a classroom or 
online. To locate a class contact your local AAA (aaa.com), 
which operates a Driver Improvement Course for seniors, or 
AARP (aarp.org/driversafety, 888-227-7669), which offers 
the Smart Driver Course to members and non-members.

 Club member discount: Insurers offer discounts to 
members of clubs and associations with which they have 
partnered. These could include professional associations, 
workers’ unions, large employers or membership 
organizations such as AAA, the National Active and Retired 
Federal Employees Association, the Seniors Coalition, 
AARP, etc. You could even qualify for savings based on 
the college you attended or the fraternity or sorority you 
belonged to decades ago.

 Safe driving discount: Many insurance providers now 
offer discounts based on how and when you use your car. To 
do this, they would place a diagnostic device in your car that 
transmits wireless data on how you drive (including how 
fast you’re going and how hard you’re braking), when you 
drive and how much you drive. Drivers are rewarded for safe 
driving, low mileage and for not driving late at night. 

 In addition, many insurance providers also offer discounts 
to drivers who do not have any violations or accidents for 
three or more years. 

 

 Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 
5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim 
Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author 
of “The Savvy Senior” book.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY! …April Birthdays

Howard Rubin, Hattie Harris, Mary Harley, Bette White, Dorothy White, Doris 
Behrens, Freda Bernard, Beth Copti, Terri Cummings, Marilyn Diaz, Virginia 
Elliott, Elma Flores, Julia Gottesman, Betty Jo Gregg, Barbara Lampman, Betty 
Mackie, Elizabeth Rassmusen, Maria Reyes, Marian DeMars, Anne Schryver, 
Chrisine Bachwansky, Colleen McKernan, Sandy Swanson, Hank Landsberg, Ken Anhalt, Shannon 
Vandevelde

* To add your name to this distinguished list, please call the paper at 626.355.2737. YEAR of birth 
not required but you must be over 60.

...................................................................

ACTIVITIES: Unless listed differently, all activities are at the 
Hart Park House (Senior Center) 222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre

 

 

 YWCA San Gabriel Valley - Intervale Senior Cafe 

Seniors 60 years of age and up can participate in the YWCA Intervale daily lunch program held 
at the Hart Park House Senior Center. Meals are served Monday through Friday at 12:00 pm 
and participants are encouraged to arrive by 11:45 am. Meals are a suggested donation of $3.00 
for seniors 60 and over or $5.00 for non-senior guests. Daily reservations are necessary, space is 
limited. Please reserve your lunch by calling 626-355-0256.

Tech Talk: Held on Monday, January 25th from 1:30-2:30pm. Learn how to use your new 
technology devises. Please reserve your space with the Hart Park House by calling 626-355-7394. 

 

Hawaiian and Polynesian Dance Class: Every Tuesday morning from 10am to 11am. Join 
instructor Barbara Dempsey as she instructs you in the art of hula. 

 

Bingo: Every Tuesday beginning at 1:00pm. Cards are only $0.25 each! Everyone is welcome to 
join. May be canceled if less than 5 people. 

 

Free Blood Pressure Testing: 2nd Tuesday of the month from 11am to 12pm. No appt. is 
necessary. 

 

Brain Games: Thursday, January 21st, 10:30am - 11:30am, improve your memory and strengthen 
your brain. Activities facilitated by Hugo, Community Liaison for New Wave Home care of 
Pasadena. 

 

Free Legal Consultation: Wednesday, January 27th from 10:30am to Noon. Attorney Lem 
Makupson is available for legal consultation. He specializes in Family Law, Wills, Trusts, Estates, 
and Injury. Appointment are required by calling 626-355-7394. 

Balance Class: No Balance Class due to Martin Luther King Holiday. 

 

Chair Yoga: Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:00 to 11:45 am. A suggested donation of $5 at one 
of the classes is requested, but is not required. 

 

Case Management: Meets the 2nd Thursday of the month. Case Management services are 
provided by the YWCA and provide assistance in a variety of areas. Appointments are required 
and can be scheduled by calling the HPH Office at 626-355-7394. 

 

Birthday Celebrations: Every second Thursday of the month at the Hart Park House. The free 
birthday cake is provided by the Sierra Madre Civic Club. 

 

Game Day: Every Thursday starting at 12:00pm. (Please note the time change.) A regular group of 
seniors play poker. Other games available for use. 

 

Free Strength Training Class: Every Friday from 12:45pm to 1:30pm with Lisa Brandley. The 
class utilizes light weights for low impact resistance training. All materials for the class are 
provided. 

 

Senior Club: Every Saturday at the Hart Park House Senior Center. Brown bag lunch at 11:30am. 
Club meeting at noon. Bingo 12:30-3:30pm. Annual Membership is only $10.00. 


KATIE Tse.....................This and That

THE MISSION!

Well, I’m guilty again of recycling an old 
article for this week’s column. I hope you 
don’t mind, and I also hope that it will 
bring back (positive) memories of your 
time as a fourth grader. 

 April is here and that means different things to different 
people. Usually Easter falls in April, but this year we celebrated 
it in March. April is also tax season. And if you haven’t gotten 
your taxes in order yet, that means you’ve procrastinated and now 
you’re probably way more stressed than you would have been if 
you had started working on it earlier! But April represents a whole 
other world of stress for those of us working in education --I speak 
of state testing and the mounting pressure of Open House. 

 Open House. Not many of us shudder at the sound of it, but 
for primary teachers it can be a harrowing time of year. When I 
was a student, all I cared about in terms of Open House was its 
(hopeful) brevity and the possibility of refreshments. I had no 
idea of the strain my teachers went through to pull it off. Open 
House is comparable to Back-to-School-Night, but the anxiety 
surrounding the two events is different. At Back-to-School-
Night, the teacher nervously tries to stretch a monologue on 
curriculum and classroom procedures over the hour allotted to 
teacher presentations. During this 60 minutes of sweaty gabbling, 
the teacher might notice that half of the parents are either juvenile 
or geriatric, half are former students themselves, and the majority 
of all of them are too preoccupied with their devices to realize that 
she’s nervously gabbling.

 So, if Back-to-School-Night is a trial of the unknown, Open 
House is an obstacle course against the confirmed crazies. 
By crazies I mean the parents who the teachers have by now 
identified as overprotective, paranoid, or just plain nuts. Since no 
formal presentation is necessary at Open House, the teachers’ best 
strategy for avoiding interaction with the crazies is focusing on 
the students’ work, namely the “Mission Project.” Not only is the 
mission project a rite of passage for all California students --it also 
serves as the crowning jewel of Open House.

 A staple of fourth grade classes across the state, the mission 
project is (mandatory, I believe) in both public and private 
schools. Typically the students go on a field trip to the closest 
mission, or are assigned to go with their parents to a mission of 
their choice. Once there, they usually have to retrieve something 
peculiar to that mission (e.g., a map of the grounds) to prove they 
were actually there. 

 Then of course there’s a report to write. The grade is usually a 
combination of the report and a homemade model of the mission. 
And since most of the fourth graders I know hate to write, they are 
thankful that their grade can often be saved if their mission model 
is good enough. After years of observing these projects, I’ve come 
to believe that there has never been a fourth grade student who 
actually completed this project by him or herself. It is always the 
work of the family, whether the student necessarily wants the help 
or not. Usually the dad, uncle, or older brother takes over the 
building of it. 

 These days there are designer mission kits that come with 
everything from miniature baptismal founts to neatly trimmed 
Astroturf lawns. These make for neat, but rather boring and 
predictable models. It’s more fun when kids have to get creative. 
One of my favorite mission innovations was part of a student’s 
project a couple years ago that featured halves of plastic Easter 
eggs that sat atop pillars, to which he had attached little crosses. 
The fact that the mission was white and the Easter eggs were 
lavender didn’t seem to matter! 

 I must admit that when I was in fourth grade I didn’t have to 
get too creative with my mission model. That’s because my Dad, 
a gifted sculptor, carpenter, and all-around artisan, took charge of 
the project from the moment it was assigned to me. Before I could 
say “Junipero Serra,” he had a perfectly scaled building nestled 
among tiny pepper trees and he was busy molding tiny clay 
roof tiles. He allowed me to work on a rough stone well near the 
tannery (consisting of little rolled brown clay balls stuck together 
in a circle). I felt privileged to contribute to his masterpiece. 

 The night of my fourth grade Open House arrived and our 
class missions were unveiled. I felt a slight twinge of guilt as my 
classmates looked at my project and (jealously) said, “Your DAD 
made that for you, didn’t he?” I felt like pointing to their sloppy, 
uninspired models and answering, “Yeah, and your dad made 
THAT for you, didn’t he?”

 All in all, I’m glad fourth grade is over, and I’m glad my Dad’s 
mission beat out all the other dads in my class. With that said, I 
hope the month of April goes well for you, especially if you have 
any fourth graders of your own. Be sure to help them with their 
missions and be extra sure to compliment their teachers on Back-
To-School-Night --they worked hard to get there!

* Your homework if you haven’t seen “Fiddler on the Roof,” is to 
go on You Tube and search for the song “Tradition.” As you’re 
watching it, insert “The Mission” for “Tradition” and you will get 
a good sense of the importance that the mission project holds for 
fourth graders across our state!


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com