I often make fun of AARP in my blog. I don’t think that they are inherently evil or anything, they just seem to be off the mark so often. If I had to compare them to a Disney character I would pick Goofy, he’s certainly likable, light-hearted, funny, loyal, and has the best of intentions, but often while trying to help, makes a bigger mess of things.

A recent AARP Bulletin proves my point, again. They published their results of a poll taken where people were asked if they had heard about certain preplanning topics and whether or not they had completed them. I’m not a statistician by any stretch of the imagination, but really, anyone can see how ridiculous this poll was. AARP boasts over 36 million members aged over 50. The poll however asked only 1,013 adults aged 35 and older these questions? How odd. Then they only reported the answers for the people aged 50-59, and then 60+. They asked about the following:

• Durable power of attorney for health care

• Living Will

• Organ/tissue donation form

• Funeral arrangements or burial pre-plans

• Trust or last will and testament

They asked people if they had completed, not completed, or not heard about the above topics. In all 5 categories, the percentage of “not heard about” topics was higher for the over 60 crowd. Huh? So the older you are the less likely you are to have heard about these topics? That doesn’t make sense. Two of the categories didn’t even equal 100%. What? Who proofed this data? The number of people not having heard about the topics was just alarming, from 3% to 10%. Who are these people and where do they live? Who hasn’t heard of a will? They must have asked the respondents these questions at Disney World after they had just exited Space Mountain.

AARP may do a lot of good things for the seniors in our country, but some of the things they publish are just plain goofy.