Why it matters

Short-term debt is money you borrow from credit cards, store cards or personal loans. As short-term debt increases, so does the interest on the debt, as well as your monthly repayments.

If debt is not carefully managed, you can end up spending most of your salary paying off debt and not having any money left over for saving and investing in your future.

How we determine your Debt Management points

First, we look at how much of your salary is being used to pay off your short-term debt every month. It’s important to manage this amount, because as your short-term debt rises, so do your repayments. Which means less money for you to save, invest and spend come pay day.

Next, we look at how consistently you are paying off debt. Inconsistently paying off debt also costs you a lot of money in extra interest and penalties, and even a single missed payment can damage your credit record.

How to earn more points

To improve your Debt Management points, you need to lower the amount that you have to pay towards debt every month. And you do this by paying off existing debt consistently and on time, and not taking on new debt.

By doing this consistently, you improve your debt-to-income ratio, and earn more Debt Management points towards your Vitality Money status. In order to achieve the maximum amount of points, your minimum amount for repayments should be less than 5% of your income.

To see how many points you can earn on your unique profile, go to Debt Management under the Vitality Money section of the Discovery Bank app. Use the orange slider of the Debt Management Tool to see by how much your points will increase if you lower your monthly debt-repayment amount.

Why it matters

Savings is your safety net against all of life’s unexpected little (or big) expenses, such as a leaky roof or even losing your job. By having enough savings built up, you can guarantee that you don’t have to cash in retirement investments or go into debt when unexpected expenses pop up. Savings therefore play a major role in your long-term goal of financial independence.

Your goal should be to have at least three months’ gross salary in savings. This will ensure that a financial setback, such as losing your job or needing to do major repair work to your house, does not leave you and your family financially vulnerable and needing to cash in on your investments or take on short-term debt.

How we determine your Savings points

Using the three-month gross salary benchmark, we set your savings target amount. In order to earn the maximum amount of Savings points, you need to have this amount of money in a savings account.

Then we look at all your savings accounts and investments that are not specifically earmarked for retirement to see how you are doing towards this goal. The closer you are to the goal amount, the higher your Savings points will be.

How to earn more Savings points

Don’t stress if your points are low, because you can improve your Savings points straight away with every rand you save. Your Savings points will increase as the balance of your savings increase, so start saving right away. And what is even better is that you can get amazing boosted interest rates with Vitality Money, which will help you grow your even faster through compound interest. You will automatically earn points for savings with Discovery, to earn points for savings with other institutions you can upload documents showing the savings in the Vitality Money section of the Discovery Bank app.

It is very important that you keep growing your savings consistently and avoid using it unless absolutely necessary. If you do use your savings and the balance goes down, your Savings points will also go down.

To see how many points you can earn on your unique profile, go to Savings under the Vitality Money section of the Discovery Bank app. Use the orange slider of the Savings Tool to see by how much your points will increase as you increase your savings towards the goal set by the tool.

Why it matters

Insurance goes hand in hand with savings in keeping your financial future and your assets secure when unexpected events, such as a car accident or illness, happen. Having insurance that covers you in emergencies, means that your financial plan and security won’t fall apart if life throws a few curveballs your way.

The three most important types of insurance to have are:

1. Medical aid – to help you manage your medical expenses and to protect you from the high costs of medical emergencies.
    
2. Short-term insurance – to protect you from accidents and unforeseen losses.
    
3. Life cover – to protect you and your loved ones in the event  of death, disability or illness.

How we determine your Insurance points

To determine your Insurance points score, we look at what insurance you have in place and where there might be a gap in your cover, which could result in your financial resilience being affected.

To achieve the maximum number of points in this category, you need to have all three types of essential insurance in place – medical aid, short-term insurance, and life cover. You will earn Insurance points for having the right type of cover in place.

It is important to note though is that your Insurance points do not measure whether the amount of cover you have in place is enough, only whether you have the cover in place or not. In order to make sure you have the right amount of cover, we suggest you check in with your financial adviser on a regular basis.

How to earn more Insurance points

You will receive Insurance points for each one of the three types of cover. If you have all three types of cover in place, you will receive the maximum amount of Insurance points.

To see how many points you can earn on your unique profile, go to Insurance under the Vitality Money section of the Discovery Bank app. Use the orange slider of the Insurance Tool to see by how much your points will increase as you add any missing types of insurance to your profile.

Why it matters

When you retire, you will obviously still need an income to pay for your monthly expenses. In order to stop working at some point in the future and not be reliant on a monthly income from your job, you’re going to need to have assets that generate this income for you.

Your goal should be to have at least 70% of your current monthly income available to you when you retire. By starting as early as possible and making sure that you use compound interest to your advantage, you can make sure that you have enough saved up for this goal by the time you stop working.

It is therefore very important to take stock of your retirement readiness to see if you are on track to retire comfortably one day. You don’t want to realise that you did not save enough after it is too late to do something about it.

How we determine your Retirement points

You will receive Retirement points based on whether you are on track to retire at your desired retirement age (say 65 for example). We look at a whole range of factors when calculating this, including:

• The size of your assets
• The amount you save each month
• At what age you plan to retire
• The amount you plan on spending in retirement.
   

Based on these factors, you will receive a number of Retirement points that will help show you how well you are doing towards your retirement goal. Don’t worry if your points are on the low side, it is never too late to save towards your retirement and the Retiment Tool will help guide you along the way.

How to earn more Retirement points

To increase the amount of Retirement points you have, you can:

• Increase your monthly contributions towards your retirement investments so that your total investment grows faster.
• Increase your retirement age – in other words, you’ll work longer and increase the number of years you’ll work before retirement, which will give you longer to save up.
• Decrease the amount you plan to spend in retirement.

To see how many points you can earn on your unique retirement profile, go to Retirement under the Vitality Money section of the Discovery Bank app. Use the orange slider of the Retirement Tool to see by how increasing your monthly contributions can affect your Retirement Points.

Why it matters

Whether you buy a house or choose to rent, it goes without saying that you will need a place to live when you retire. Property management and retirement are therefore closely related. You either want to have your homeloan paid off before you retire, or have enough savings built up to cover rent and living expenses during retirement.

How we determine your Property points

To retire comfortably, you need to make sure that you have no secured debt repayments – like house repayments – when you stop working. Settling debt in retirement will really detract from your quality of life.

Your Property points measure how you’re tracking towards this retirement goal, and there are two ways the points are calculated, depending on whether you own or rent the place you live in.

If you own your home, the points are calculated by looking at how much outstanding secured debt you have, and comparing it to an age-related benchmark. This means that as you get closer to retirement, more of your property should be paid off.

If you rent your home, the points calculation will consider all savings and investments that can be used to cover your accommodation expenses in retirement. In other words, this is all the savings you have that is not part of your emergency savings (three times your gross salary) or that is tied to retirement investments. By doing this, we’re making sure that you can comfortably afford to pay for a place to live in retirement.

How to earn more Property points

To increase the amount of Property points you have, you can:

• Pay off more of your secured debt (home loan and vehicle finance)
• Build up more savings towards paying for property or rent in retirement.

To see how many points you can earn on your unique property management profile, go to Property under the Vitality Money section of the Discovery Bank app.

The Property Tool will show you your goal and how you are tracking towards that goal. You can use the orange slider of the Property Tool to see by how reducing your secured debt or increasing your savings can affect your Property Points.

Understanding the Property Tool goals:

Your Property goal amount depends on your unique profile and takes your current secured debt and savings into account. Depending on whether you own property or choose to rent, you will receive one of the following types of goals:

If you own property: Taking your age and amount of secured debt into account, we will set a goal for you. The goal amount gives you an indication of what your debt amount should be in order to remain on track to be debt-free by your chosen retirement age.

If you are saving for retirement: Taking your age and how many years you have remaining before retirement into account, we will set a savings goal for you. This amount is how much you need to save over and above the emergency fund amount in order to be on track towards having enough savings to pay for a place to live in retirement.