Testimonials

Al Johnson

“The Art of Saving Money”

Al Johnson isn’t obsessed with money, but he is very conscientious about saving every dollar that he can possibly tuck away. It is an integral part of his strategy for debt elimination, wealth-building and improving the lifestyle of his family.

As he points out,“The money you save is really the only money you get to keep. Most people have a spending mentality, but I’ve learned to develop a savings mentality.”

Al Johnson, of Mesquite, Texas, is the Vice President of Marketing for US Health Advisors, a division of National Health Insurance Company, and, for the past thirteen years, he has used his membership in USA+ to save as much as $2,500 to $3,000 a year – far more than his annual dues.

He explains,“My family and I use the membership to receive significant discounts on every day products and services like groceries, movie tickets, hotels, rental cars, prescriptions, eye glasses, dental care and group accident benefits, as well as shopping and legal counseling. USA+ has made savings easy.”

He learned the value of saving money from his grandmother while growing up in Arcadia, Florida. She was a hard worker and very self-reliant.

He points out, “We didn’t have a lot of money, but she was compulsive about saving money. She shopped in little five and dime discount stores. She grew her own vegetables and canned them. She raised chickens and gathered eggs. We were never hungry, because we always had plenty of food to eat due to the fact that she was so resourceful and thrifty with every dollar that came into her hands. I watched her and learned from her and learned how to watch every penny. My childhood friends joked with me, calling me a little money miser.”

Al began working at the age of ten, helping out on nearby farms and sweeping out office buildings with a push broom taller than he was. He managed inventory in a tractor parts store and started making money cutting hair in his neighborhood. Later on, he began writing and selling information by advertising his materials in newspapers.

“I made some money,” he recalls,“but I saved every spare dime I could.”

A few years before joining USA+, Al stumbled upon a consumer savings club he found advertised in a newspaper. He was so impressed with the idea that he could save money on products and services that he was already buying, he decided to join.

As he says,‘I didn’t have to change my buying habits to begin reducing the day-to-day cost of living.” In 1993, he was introduced to USA+, a non-profit association membership, offering consumer savings on healthcare and lifestyle products and services.

Al had been a member of other consumer savings organizations before, but none of them had the many valuable and comprehensive benefits like USA+.“Just being a member felt like a special privilege,” he says. “USA+ has something that anyone can use every day.”

He developed the practice of keeping his receipts to document his savings. For example, he purchased a pair of $272 prescription eye glasses for only $122, which made a difference.

Al points out,“A great benefit to me has always been the Auto Club. I was gone two or three days doing seminars all around the country and spent a lot of time away from my wife and children. Even though I wasn’t home, I received a lot of comfort knowing the Auto Club would take care of them if my wife had a flat tire or the car’s engine broke down. She and the children were never stranded by the side of the road after dark. All she had to do was make a phone call, and the Auto Club had someone there to help her. It happened on several occasions, and I have never paid a penny for the road side service in 13 years. My USA+ membership took care of it all.”

He and his wife were able to receive 50 percent discounts at some of the nation’s highest rated hotels.They saved on rental car fees. And Al used coupons to save as much as $40 to $50 a month on the family’s groceries.“I love to stand there in line, watch the reader scan the coupons and see the price I pay keep going down and down and down.”

His biggest surprise came when buying prescription medicines. With his insurance, Al had a $25 co-pay arrangement. “I figured that $25 co-pay per prescription was the best deal I could get.”

When picking up one prescription regularly priced at $38, he decided to try his USA+ CareMark benefit. The medicine only cost him $6.

When his wife and three of his four children went in for eye examinations, his Ameritas Vision Service Plan benefit, available through his membership in USA+, allowed them all to have free exams. Each saved $75 or a total of $300 for that month alone.

And Al was able to save a few hundred dollars more when he took advantage of the Consolidated Legal Concepts plan to have a free Will prepared. He wore braces for four years and saved $700. He saves as much as $4 off tickets every time he and his family go to the movies.

He always knew that USA+ was good, but it was even better than he realized. Al says, “I once read where the average person in America spends $1.8 million in a lifetime on goods and services. If a program like USA+ can help me save a mere 10 percent of that lifetime amount, that’s $180,000. And if you’re wise enough to invest that $180,000 as you accrue the money over the years, you can have a real nice lifestyle or retirement.”