What you get free and cheaper at 60

Here's the quick version, because it's genuinely good news. Reaching 60 opens the door to cheaper travel, reduced entry to all sorts of places, and a scattering of freebies that add up to real money over a year. Exactly what you can claim depends on where you live, so always check locally, but the list below covers the things most commonly worth having, and it's more than most people expect.

Best of all, most of these perks are for getting out and about, which is the very thing that puts more company and more life into your week.

Getting around for less

• Cheaper rail travel. In the UK, a Senior Railcard gives a third off most rail fares for a modest yearly fee, and it usually pays for itself in a couple of trips. Other countries have their own versions.
• Free or reduced local travel. Many areas offer free bus travel or discounted transport to older residents, sometimes from 60 and sometimes a little later. Your local council or transport authority will tell you.

Days out for less

• Reduced or "concession" entry to museums, galleries, historic houses, gardens, zoos and cinemas.
• Cheaper theatre, concert and matinee tickets, often for the best-value performances.
• Senior rates at leisure centres and swimming pools, sometimes with sociable over-60s sessions built in.

Everyday savings

• Discount days at some supermarkets, shops, cafés and hairdressers, often midweek, and frequently unadvertised, so it's always worth asking.
• Cheaper eye tests and, later on, help with prescriptions and other health costs in many places.
• Reduced-price gym and exercise-class membership, which is good for the body and the social life alike.

Where to find what you're owed

It's genuinely worth an hour to check what you're entitled to, because a lot of it goes unclaimed simply because people don't know it exists. In the UK, GOV.UK is the official place for travel and benefits, and Age UK publishes clear guides to discounts and entitlements. Elsewhere, your national government site and older-people's charities do the same. A quick check today could pay for a good many days out to come.

Spend the savings on good company

All these discounts share a happy theme: they make it cheaper to get out, do things, and be among people. That's worth doing for its own sake, and it's often where new friendships and more begin. If you'd like some ideas, our piece on getting out and meeting people over 60 is full of them, and days out and groups where over 60s meet points you to the settings that genuinely bring people together.

And if what you'd really like is a companion to share those cheaper days out with, that's the easy part. On 60 Singles you'll find single people your own age nearby who'd love the company, and joining is, fittingly, free. Our guide to online dating over 60 shows you how simple it is to start.