The Meadow Group Newsletter

If you do invest funds in a tax effective structure of which a Retirement Annuity is a component, then please visit our website and, through our various lniks to the relevant provider, download your tax certificate. Alternatively, you can call us or drop us an email to do it for you or to assist you.

If you, together with your tax consultant, determined that you might have underpaid income tax, then consider investing a further amount into your RA, to increase the deduction claimed against your income. There are, of course, limits to the amounts that can be claimed for income tax purposes. This additional investment has a twofold purpose; one – if nothing else, you are investing in your future and that of your family (your retirement is more important!), and second – it aids as a tax efficient vehicle for investing funds.

It is also noteworthy that the tax benefits of the retirement annuity investments have changed in recent years. The tax-free portion is greater upon your retirement and the costs are less during the term of the investment. I have also reduced my costs with certain companies as a joint partnership solution. The fears and concerns that some individuals had have been answered and addressed with certain new optional investment choices such as the fund options with Discovery Invest and even more so for those of you that have Discovery Life integration with Vitality and Card benefits, thereby having added valuable benefits to further boost your tax free Retirement income!
Discovery Retirement Optimizer

There is one fund solution in particular that stands out more than others for most of my clients. It is called the Escalator fund which allows for unlimited upswing in the market, but also providing an 80% guarantee of the highest value the fund has ever reached. The asset class exposure is based on a unit trust selection and cash which Discovery Invest in partnership with Deutsche Bank constantly re- balancing your equity to cash exposure depending on market conditions.

There is also the geared escalator option that allows for up to 120 % equity exposure during bull markets and still locking in an 80% guarantee. However when markets become more volatile they have the ability to switch into cash to minimise the risk of negative returns.

The above is an ideal fund choice based on current market conditions and for any person looking for an underlying investment guarantee.

There are off course so many other options available to suit various needs and terms for all investment types. There are also various protection options available other than the above-mentioned funds, which could also be considered.

Discovery also offers the unique benefit of integration on your investment contract if you are a Discovery life member. This will result in a reduction of fees between 40% and 100%, whereby significantly enhancing your investment values. The discount involves all ongoing fees, excluding the protection fee. This is only applicable on endowments and after tax savings where Discovery funds have been selected.

For RA’s and endowments not qualifying for integration, a fee payback will apply every 10 years and 5 years thereafter which will be calculated as 55% of the Discovery admin fee. This will also significantly enhance your investment value.

P.S. Do not forget that your income protection premiums for Discovery Life are also tax deductible so please ensure you give your tax consultant both the RA and the income protection certificates. Lastly a reminder on your medical aid certificate as well…

As mentioned in the December edition I have started doing workshops for my clients to show them to move from Blue Vitality status through to Gold. By attending such workshops or making more contact with me over internet, cell or email, I can add value to you and your family and illustrate the true value of Vitality.

As most of you know I am a Discovery Life and Health client and have personally benefited from Vitality. Discovery actually does “pay” me to enjoy all the benefits.

Come and join me at a presentation where I will display such values and benefits. I am also looking forward to receiving my first “5 year Discovery Life Payback” in Dec 2008 and according to statements Discovery Life is going to payback 41% of my premiums that consists of Life cover, Disability, Trauma or Severe Illness, Income Protection which covers my lifestyle expenses and debit orders etc and the automatic parents “frail care” / severe illness benefits.

I am also privileged to be one of 251 people in SA that have been awarded Diamond status. This is reached when you have been a gold member for 3 years plus. What this means to me, is more discounts and paybacks in various ways as a Discovery member.

We, as the Meadow Group, have appointed Masthead to be our new official Compliance Officers.

My staff and I have recently completed certain required exams and assignments, so we are ready to offer you better support with more skills and knowledge! Our communication with our clients is regulated by law and we would love to see, hear and be more in touch with you!
This is why we use sms’s, emails, and our website to arrange appointments with you, our client. Sometimes we even use the telephone!

The problem that I have is that some of my clients experience changes in their life such as career changes, marital status, addresses etc of which we might not be notified and as such we might not be able to provide our services to you as effectively as possible.

So please I urge you, update us on all changes in your life, so that you can receive the quality service we have to offer you and to prevent a crisis unattended.

We had a good look at ways how and how much the other Independent Financial Planners/ Advisors are charging for various services and ways to keep their practises afloat and cover their costs of offering services and running their practises.

Some Brokers only offers Advice on Investments, others on only life assurance or medical aids, car and household insurance and lastly have the client running to other parties to have a will drafted at a cost or to set up a trust or CC.

We have built this foundation already for you, our client with our different divisions and specialists in various fields working with diversified company that offers all the options. We are known as a financial “one stop shop” that helps, guides and assists you from the beginning till the end ”financial planning through the cycle of life.”

I have spoken to a lot of my clients to ask around their opinions on what they see as fair and this resulted in me introducing a very fair and balanced environment of a new business agreement between you as my client and me, with all the services from our diversified group still available to you. The way I have structured it with our Compliance officers as well as the research I have done on most financial services practises, is in my opinion fair and reasonable.

At this very moment there are clients outside our company structure, that pay around R250 to have either a debit order changed, or beneficiary amended, to request tax certificates, an up to date statement of their portfolio etc. They are in addition to this still paying a monthly fee of R50 –R250 pm in a lot of these cases.

A monthly debit order of R30.00 will be known as the administration fee and in the new servicing agreement contract my responsibilities to you and the services you gain from it are clearly laid out.

Unlimited administrative changes such as debit orders, beneficiaries, contact information etc
Unlimited statements on your portfolios.
A newsletter updating you on various topics, advice, issues, new products and concepts etc.
Keeping you up to date with the issuing of your contracts, follow-ups and reminders etc.
Invites to seminars / workshops varying from investments, retirement, vitality, health and life etc. (mainly in the region of Port Elizabeth).

P.S. Hopefully in this year we should have a system in place where you can log into your own profile. See the last topic underneath.

Other than the new above-mentioned administrative service, it goes without saying that you will always be ensured of the best advice suited to your needs with a product that is the best for your needs, thereby ensuring a winning relationship between you and me.

During the course of this year, we should have in place a system that allows you our client to visit our website and then from within have a link to allow for the creation of your own username and password, so that you can at any stage log into your profile, update details get more info and lots more added value.

This is in the pipeline and as soon as it becomes active we will certainly make you aware of it.

Is your will up to date?
When are you going to save more for your different stages of life?
Are your investments diversified?
Are you tax wise?
Do you need a CC or Trust registered?
Do you have the correct balance within your car and household insurance?
Do you reduce your expenses and make use of a proper budget plan?
Are you a member of Discovery’s Vitality benefits?
When last have you updated your info and made contact with your Broker?
Do you have an emergency fund?
Make contact with our team to get your question answered.