Shifting Communications in the Age of Corona

Shifting Communications

In the Age of Corona...

Without any warning, COVID-19 rudely arrived on our global doorsteps in 2020, forcing everyone to #staysafe and #stayhome, and face masks became the new “must have” fashion accessory (but this was certainly NOT by choice).

South Africa experienced a swift, strict and total lockdown, resulting in friend and family connections being severed, virtually overnight. In retirement homes and villages around South Africa, this was particularly isolating for the senior citizens who were not as tech-savvy as their offspring may have liked them to have been.

“This unprecedented digital technology wave has resulted in at an all-time high.” This unprecedented digital technology wave has resulted in smartphone usage being at an all-time high. In 2020, most smartphones come equipped with a variety of useful applications (known as ‘apps’) which allow you to stay in touch with family and friends - many of which live overseas or in other parts of our beautiful country.

WhatsApp is one of the most useful apps, as it allows for video calls on your cell phone - but it does use a fair amount of data. Video calls work best on any digital device when both users have enough data or a good Wi-Fi connection.

Facebook is one of the most popular forms of social media for senior citizens, and it is extremely useful for staying in touch with any news from family and

smartphone usage being friends.

Zoom is a more complex video conferencing app which can also be used if you’re a little more tech savvy. It needs to be installed on your smartphone or laptop, however it does require some IDs and passwords for users to navigate through. The beauty of Zoom, is that it allows multiple users to

video call each other simultaneously. Zoom does need to integrate with a Gmail or other email address, and will take some practice in order to master it.

Source: David R. Walker, Digital Skills Trainer, 082 701 1817.

PMB/Midlands

Highway

NO OBLIGATION & FREE ADVICE SAVE up to 40% off your vehicle and home insurance premium

• No basic excess payable • Extra discount for living in a secure retirement village • Personal service for your insurance

Yvette Rautenbach - Short Term Insurance Advisor yvette.rautenbach@bwise.co.za 083 362 6333 I 031 762 2211

Discounts & Special Offers!

Please confirm all discounts beforehand, as they are subject to change, furthermore please advise us if you encounter any changes.

Durban South

Mondays

• Avondale Spar: 5% discount (not on promotions) every Mon/Tue/Wed - loyalty card required (bring ID and

ID photo)

Tuesdays

• Spar: 5% discount on all purchases (Mon/Tue/Wed) - loyalty card required • Makro: 5% discount on food products and up to 10% discount on general products - pensioner’s card required

Wednesdays

• Musgrave Pick n Pay: double Smart

Shopper points • Game: 10% discount on the first

R1500, excluding cell phones • Clicks: Double e-bucks and double

Club Card points for over 60s (see website

Highway

Tuesdays

• SuperSpar Richden’s Village: 5% discount • Makro: 10% discount on certain non-food items, 5% discount on food, excluding specials • Knowles SuperSpar: 5% discount - pensioner’s card required • Pick n Pay Caversham Glen: 5% discount and double points on promotional items - pensioner’s card required

Wednesdays

• Clicks: Double e-bucks and double

Club Card points for over 60s (see website • Builders Express Pinetown: 10% discount on Wednesdays - Builders

Express card required • Game: 10% discount on the first

R1500, excluding cell phones, airtime or groceries

Every Day

Bargain Books Hillcrest: 10% discount on Purchases

If you know of any discounts or other special offers for pensioners and would like them included please contact us directly Email: admin@seniorlivingmag.co.za.

R1500, excluding cell phones,

Pietermaritzburg/Midlands

Tuesdays

• Merrivale SuperSpar: 5% discount on tea and cake when using your Spar card • Makro: 5% discount on food products and up to 10% discount on general products - pensioner’s card required

for even more discounts!

• Parklane SuperSpar: 5% pensioner’s discount on all purchases

Wednesdays

• Clicks: double e-bucks and double

Club Card points for over 60s (see

Game: 10% discount on the first airtime or grocery items

Thursdays

• Merrivale SuperSpar: 5% discount on tea and sandwiches when using your Spar card

Visit our growing list of suppliers at www.seniorlivingmag.co.za/directory

website)

DBN/Highway PMB/Midlands

THEMBELA Home for the Aged

• No frail care • 48 individual rooms with basin • 20 shared bathrooms

Meals, teas, laundry & room cleaning included in rental. Library, hairdresser, nail lady, lovely garden, Bible studies, bingo, church services, lift, dancing, etc. available.

68 Montpelier Place (Cnr 5th Avenue), Morningside Telephone: 031 312 6360 Email: admin@thembelahome.co.za

DBN/Highway

PMB/Midlands

How to Free Up Money Trapped in Living Annuities

If you are retired, you will probably have one or more “Living Annuities”. Remember how, after the excitement of your last workday, your advisor gave you the sobering news that you could only take up to one third of your retirement annuities or pension fund as cash? Well, a living annuity is probably where the other two thirds went to.

The whole idea of being forced to put at least two thirds into a living annuity is that it stops some people (not YOU of course) from taking all their retirement money and blowing it on a Lamborghini (and starving to death in it afterwards, once it runs out of petrol).

But what if you have a Living Annuity that is really small?

An annuity prevents that, by only letting you draw a percentage of the money each year (between 2.5% and 17.5%) as an income. Managed properly, that money will last you a decent amount of time (if not for all the years of your retirement). So far so good. But what happens if your living annuity is really small? People often wind up accumulating a few living annuities as they approach retirement - from your work savings, or previous jobs, or from personal RAs you may have started/ stopped over the years. Some of those might be so small that even at the maximum withdrawal of 17.5% per year, the income they produce is negligible.

But as small as that income might be, the lump sum it’s coming from, could still be in the tens of thousands - enough to renovate a bathroom or go on a nice holiday - if there was some way to access it. And there obviously is, otherwise every retiree would eventually end with up with living annuities containing silly amounts (e.g. R3.50) from which they would still only be drawing a percentage each year!

Up until recently, you could withdraw your annuity if it was small enough (less than R50 000 to R70 000, along with some other determining factors). Generous as that might sound, one of my clients could not be paid out for years as her balance kept bobbing around the R 51 000 mark, which was very irritating

- more so because the bank charges to transfer her monthly income to her overseas, were almost as large as the income itself.

So, here is the good news - the Government recently RAISED this cutoff as part of its emergency COVID relief measures. If the balance of your annuity is under R 125 000, you can now access the whole amount as cash. And the change is permanent, so even after the threat of COVID subsides, we’ll be able to access useful lump sums before they evaporate away into meaningless amounts.

Contact your financial advisor to find out what you can unlock from your retirement portfolio. Perhaps you can help out family members who are feeling the COVID pinch or enjoy a small break to ease the cabin fever of lockdown. Or maybe you’ve recently realised that the hot pink bathroom you were so proud of in the 80s is now driving you slowly mad, and if you don’t redecorate soon, it’s just a matter of time before you snap! So, get hold of your advisor sooner rather than later.

Mike Cason is a Liberty Financial Advisor based in Waterfall, Durban, but works with people locally, across the country and abroad. Contact him via michael.cason@liblink.co.za.

PMB/Midlands Home Care Service

A Helping Hand With Your Daily Activities

Pet Care:

• Walking of pets • Grooming of pets • Pet sitting

Personal Care:

• Hair and nail care • Assistance with all daily living activities

House Keeping:

• Catering for small tea parties • Preparation of meals • Weekly shopping • Mending • Gardening

Lisa van Huyssteen | Cell: 072 863 7278 Email: vanhuyysteenlisa@gmail.com

DBN/Highway PMB/Midlands

Planning one’s retirement from the non-financial side.

DISCOUNTED PRICE FOR SENIOR LIVING READERS! R170

(normal price is R190)

To purchase a copy, please contact Barry Smith on 083 287 8339 or besmith@telkomsa.net

PMB/Midlands