SAARP negotiates with relevant companies to provide services at a reduced cost to our members. Our main source of income (excluding donations) is the commission which we receive when members use these products. SAARP is constantly on the lookout for new or additional services and products that can be of benefit to our members.

SAARP is a service organisation in terms of the registered Memorandum and Articles of Association. We exist solely for our members and there are no shareholders who can lay claim to assets or profits. Because of this, we are able to plough a large percentage of profits back into benefits for members.

SAARP also lobbies, promotes and intercedes on behalf of its members and senior citizens in general.

SAARP membership is free. The only qualifying requirement is that members are 50 years of age or older.

Membership and discount cards

When you join SAARP, you are automatically issued with a SAARP membership / Mahalas card that provides you with discounts and redeemable loyalty points. This is used all over South Africa, and the world, to obtain age related discounts.

The SAARP B-smart card is an additional card that you can apply for. As the B-smart card is a credit card, there are processes, such as FICA, to go through before a card is issued. With the SAARP B-smart card, you get a 5% annual bonus on all your purchases.

Social and leisure

SAARP has a network of social clubs around the country, where thousands of our members enjoy the camaraderie and outings offered by these clubs. Click here to find a club in your area. If there is no SAARP club in your area, and you think that a club is viable, contact SAARP for more details on starting or initiating a club.

SAARP, on behalf of its members, purchases Holiday Club points which are made available to our members at discount prices. Contact Renske at SAARP on 021 592 1279 renske@saarp.co.za

We have a special deal with African Sky Hotels for members. A substantial discount is offered to members by this hotel group. Members wishing to make use of this service should phone Renske at SAARP on 021 592-1279 to make arrangements.

SAARP has negotiated with Avis, Holiday Autos and First Care for discounted car hire rates for our members. Check here for details on how to book and get your discounted rate at each company.

Finance, insurance, wills

SAARP offers short term insurance policies through a number of companies to our members. Members have saved up to R10,000 per annum on their SAARP policies. Contact Renske or Beverly at SAARP 021 592 1279 or renske@saarp.co.za beverley@saarp.co.za

SAARP also offers special funeral insurance at reduced rates. Contact us at SAARP 021 592 1279 info@saarp.co.za

Members get a special discount for funeral services from Doves Undertakers. This is given to members who are able to produce their SAARP membership card when requiring these services.

SAARP members have access to a free wills and estate planning service through Warwick Private Wealth. For more information on this, click here.

Simple wills can also be done at long distance by fully qualified attorneys. Piet Matthee offers simple and quick solutions for uncomplicated estates. Click here for more information.

Health

A negotiated scheme with Impact Hearing gives members a R750 discount on the purchase of one of four well-known makes of hearing aids.

SAARP has also negotiated with SpecSavers for special discounts. For more information, click here.

Technology

SAARP has a special agreement with Universe Direct which enables us to offer refurbished, branded computers to our members at extremely low prices and also includes genuine licensed software which is normally an extremely expensive item. These items have a 12-month warranty.

Communication and information

SAARP produces a bilingual printed magazine, the SAARP Bulletin, twice a year. The Bulletin is only posted to members who choose to receive it, and who make a minimum donation of R30.00 per annum to defray the cost of production and postage. Sign up to receive the Bulletin here.

SAARP produces a free monthly e-newsletter in English and Afrikaans. If we have your e-mail address we will send you a free monthly e-newsletter. You can sign up for the newsletter here.

The SAARP Forum is a member-only forum where you can share and interact with other SAARP members. Here’s how to join.

SAARP is also on Facebook, and we encourage our members to use Facebook to interact with SAARP and with other SAARP members.

That is SAARP in a nutshell. You can find more information on all of these services on the relevant pages of our website.

You will recognise Microsoft Office 2010 documents by the x added to their file name extensions:

Word: old extension .doc new extension .docx

Excel: old extension .xls new extension .xlsx

PowerPoint: old extension .ppt new extension .pptx

These are the three steps to take to ensure that you can read the newer documents.

Step 1: download the free Office compatibility pack

By installing the compatibility pack (in addition to your existing Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003), you will be able to open, edit, and save files using the file formats in newer versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint .

The compatibility pack can also be used with the Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003, Excel Viewer 2003, and PowerPoint Viewer 2003 to view files saved in these new formats.

Go to this website: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&CTT=5&origin=HA010370115&id=3

and click on the ‘download’ button. Save the download file, called FileFormatConverters.exe to your hard drive. Make a note of where you have saved it, as you will need to access it again.

Please note that it is a large download (37.0 MB), so it is best to do this on a good internet connection.

Step 2: install the Office compatibility pack

It is best, while installing any program, to close all other programs. In this particular case, at least make sure that your Microsoft Office programs (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) are not running.

Find the saved download file FileFormatConverters.exe on your hard drive and double-click it to start the setup program.

Then simply follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.

Step 3: use the compatibility pack

If you have not already done so as part of the installation instructions, you may have to restart your computer to ensure that the changes have taken effect.

Now all you need to do is use Word, Excel or PowerPoint as you normally would – but now you can open, edit and save .docx .xlsx and .pptx documents.

When you visit the SAARP website (and most other websites) GA registers your IP address and gets information from your computer such as whether you have visited the website before or not, where you are geographically, what pages you visit and for how long you stay on the page and website. GA also gets information such as the browser and operating system you’re using, your screen resolution, colour configuration and whether you are using flash or java or not.

This information helps SAARP and our webmaster know what kind of technology our audience is using, so that we can adapt the website to our audience. In no way is it possible to find out who used the website, because no personal information can be collected via an IP address. In fact, for most people, your IP address changes all the time. The information that GA gathers can only tell that at a certain time, a certain computer with certain characteristics logged onto this website and visited certain pages for a certain period of time. This is why, when you may contact us with a website-related problem, we still need to ask you personally what operating system you are using, and which browser you are using – we cannot link any of our statistics to a particular person.

The data is compiled so that we can tell how many people (not who) visited our website for how long, and which pages they looked at. Of those people, we can tell how many people (not which ones) use Internet Explorer as opposed to Firefox, for example. We can also tell how many visitors (not which ones) were from South Africa as opposed to other countries.

The text above is an explanation of Google Analytics, and what it does. The official disclaimer written by Google is:

GOOGLE ANALYTICS DISCLAIMER
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

In many instances a simple Will could satisfy these legal requirements, but in a number of cases this may not be true. You do not want your Will to be declared invalid through a technicality and/or to die intestate. Should you die intestate your loved ones can be severely prejudiced as the assets of a deceased person will be divided in terms of the Intestate Succession Act. Those close and dear to you might have to share their intended inheritance with those not so close to you.

Questions you should ask yourself include: Is the Will signed properly? Have amendments been executed correctly? Can the existing Will be challenged through a technicality? Has any personal situation changed since executing the Will? When considering the founding of a Trust, there are a number of characteristics and benefits attached to the various types of Trusts. Where there is no Will or no provision has been made for a Testamentary Trust, monies and inheritance meant for Minors will be held in the Government’s Guardian’s Fund which means that assets forming part of a minor’s inheritance will be liquidated and then paid over to the Guardian’s Fund. Whatever your situation, we advise that you revisit and, if required, draw up and/or update your existing Will as soon as possible. Negligence could have unintended, yet avoidable, consequences.

If you are one of those who feel that your estate planning and Will is not entirely up to date, or would simply like advice, please contact our service provider:
Adrian Van Zyl
General Manager, Warwick Trust & Administrative Services (PTY) Ltd
Tel: 0860 109 147
Fax: +27 21 794 0849
Cell: +27 083 307 0395
and get expert advice and assistance.

Unlike most financial institutions, they draft wills at no cost to our members, if they are nominated as Executors to the estate. They prefer and recommend that a member of your family be appointed as a co-Executor to the estate to ensure that your family’s wishes are carried out and to improve the communications between the Executors, the family and beneficiaries.

February 2012

We often comment on the differences between cultures while forgetting that the cultural gap between generations can be just as great, if not greater. We have a need to be able to interact with our contemporaries, people who have similar life experiences and interests – rather than only with our children or grandchildren. We are not too old to enjoy ourselves, to have fun, and to participate in many activities with those of our own age.

About twelve percent of current SAARP members belong to our Social Clubs scattered across South Africa. If you are one of the eighty-eight percent who are missing out on the fun, this is your chance to change your life. The clubs all meet at least once a month where refreshments and entertainments are the order of the day. In addition to these monthly meetings most clubs cater for a variety of other interests including regular outings to interesting venues. These outings, together with stimulating speakers and entertainers give a sense of belonging which comes from socializing with others who have similar interests. In addition, bingo, scrabble, bridge, braais, breakfasts, walks, lunches, hikes, 10 pin bowling and theatre outings at greatly reduced prices are just some of the other fun diversions that our social club members enjoy.

What’s more, most clubs try to keep costs down and to look for economic benefits in their area where they negotiate discounts for their members.

These local benefits enhance the many others that you, as a SAARP member, enjoy. Benefits such as a bi-annual printed bulletin and a monthly e-newsletter; a Holiday Club which offers off peak accommodation at unbelievably low rates; a free will service; a 5 per cent annual discount with a b-Smart buying card; a Mahalas Membership Card where you can earn spot discounts or points which you can later convert to purchases; and short term insurance at very competitive rates and a host of benefits  that are always being added to.

In the various regions the club chairmen meet regularly to exchange ideas on outings, entertainers and benefits. Our website has a list of contact numbers to help you find a club in your area. Why not change your life today, pick up the telephone and contact your nearest club chairman, it may just turn out to be one of the best things you’ve done in years. If you are a live wire and need to be involved, or are itching to still use the skills you honed over a lifetime, clubs are always looking for volunteers to serve on their committees. Some clubs have up to fifteen committee members all of whom handle specific portfolios.  The committees usually meet once a month and ensure that a really good tea accompanies their meetings.

Every day medical science is proving that the onset of disease, and particularly dementia, is counteracted by an active mind and an active body.  I recall one young lady who was concerned that her dad was ill and wasting away before the age of seventy. She got him interested in using his lifelong hobby of carpentry to build sets for their local theatrical society. When last heard of he was an active, healthy eighty-two year old rushing around the set of their latest play – for which he had designed and built all the sets.

Remember, “A stranger is just a friend you do not know.” So, pick up the phone and contact your nearest club today – this has been a life changing event for many people and it may just provide you with a whole new perspective and “adding life to your years”.

By Ray Hattingh

September 2011

Website browsers can be downloaded FREE from the internet. The main browsers are Internet Explorer, Go ogle Chrome, Firefox and Safari. Based on our website statistics we know that the vast majority (62%) of our website users use Internet Explorer to view the internet. Next is Firefox (20%), followed by Google Chrome, sometimes referred to simply as Chrome (8%) and Safari (6%).

For many years Internet Explorer, being a Microsoft product, has held the lion’s share of the market. That seems to be changing quickly lately, with Firefox, which is open-source software, eating into its market share. The new Google Chrome has also won many supporters, with many claiming that Chrome is faster than other browsers. Safari is originally an Apple Mac product, now available for PCs too. Which browser you use is really up to you. Seen as though they are all free to download, download them and give them a try. The author of this article has recently moved from Firefox to Safari, for its nicer handling of bookmarked pages.

Whichever browser you choose, you may as well keep up to date with the latest version, as it is free to do so. If your browser doesn’t give you an automatic message that your browser is out of date, simply check in periodically with the relevant website, which will always have the latest version available for downloading. To check which version you are currently using, try the ‘help’ or settings button in the programme, and click on ‘About [the product]‘. This will usually state the version number. Check this against the latest version for download from the relevant product website. When you download a browser, use the official page of the software that you wish to download:

Internet Explorer: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/default.aspx

Firefox: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

Google Chrome: http://www.google.com/chrome

Safari: http://www.apple.com/safari/

Another area you really must keep up to date is your anti-virus software. But that’s the topic of another article. We’ll publish that soon. In the meantime, keep your browser up to date – you may well find that some of your other internet-related problems are solved by doing so.

By Desi Doran

August 2011

On the other hand, even road signs on major freeways are going electronic. This allows for people to be kept informed of changing circumstances. For instance they can be updated on an accident having taken place which is causing a delay or roadside hazards or road works being done a few kilometres ahead.

Naturally seeing one of your children or grandchildren smiling at you and telling you over the internet that they miss you is also preferable to waiting a week or so for a photograph and a letter even if it says the same thing. You can also capture photos of your loved ones over the internet and you have them almost immediately. It is hard to introduce a friend of yours by post even if the letter is accompanied by a photo, but having the person next to you, on camera, enables a relationship to develop with people who are geographically far removed from you. Books are available in electronic format at half the hard copy price; libraries of information are available on the internet at no cost; encyclopaedias are no longer stored on a bookshelf.

Cost is of course a major factor in everyone’s budget today, and when you compare the cost of electronic communication with the hard copy, the differential can be frightening. My colleague, Ray Hattingh, wrote in answer to a query in this regard, that the cost of producing a Bulletin in hard copy and mailing it out to me at my home address is approximately R 15-00 per copy. By contrast, mailing an electronic copy to a member by e-mail costs in the order of two cents per copy (R0-02). We have to ask the question – how would you prefer to communicate with members if you are a non-profit making organisation?

The down side of the ease of electronic communication is also a fact of life and as such open and unmonitored access to the internet should not be freely available to youngsters until they have developed the ability to discriminate between that which is good and that which is not. Predators of all types also roam the electronic highways and young people should be guided by their parents in this regard. This may possibly be the most compelling reason for people to become computer literate – so that they are able to protect and guide their children.

Virtually all business and marketing organisations are trying to get hold of as many e-mail addresses and cell phone numbers as possible. This is because they want to be able to bombard us with all types of offers and information regarding a myriad of products, events and deals.

If you don’t like getting a lot of e-junk (e-mails with a sales pitch) you can , of course, make them disappear by merely pressing the “delete” button. Should you not want to receive any of this type of communication from an organisation again, most will give you the option to “Opt Out” by returning an electronic reply note to remove you from their database, and you will not be bothered by that organisation again.

The new Consumer Protection Act is extremely prescriptive in this regard, and attempts to protect consumers from being bombarded with all types of marketing ploys – be they e-mails, SMS’s, pamphlets or the like. The low cost factor means that companies can afford to send out much more information than ever before, and you can then become the recipient of “tons” of junk mail which actually does no more than force you to exercise your delete button, and of course to take some time looking at what is to be deleted.

Closing our eyes to these changes does not make them disappear – let’s get ourselves as literate as possible in this regard and in so doing, use these available facilities positively. Share these thoughts with your friends; you could be doing them a favour!

By Paul Rosenbrock

July 2011

Economic development, as far as the individual is concerned, is no longer just that – it is in essence a science of marketing specialisation in the various branches of the economy of which you and I form a part. We all need certain goods and services such as:

• Food and Clothing
• Tools of Communication (telephone, computer, cell phone etc.)
• Power (heating e.g. for water, cooling e.g. for refrigerators and deep freezers etc.)
• A place to stay (anything from a room to a mansion depending upon your finances)
• A financial institution such as a bank
• Medical care
• A viable means of transport etc. etc.

Very few goods and services are supplied to the end user without them going through some form of middle man / agent / store / financial intermediary or the like. In fact you and I cannot even die without creating a business opportunity for someone in the Funeral Business.

Now let us do a bit of good old fashioned arithmetic:

Each intermediary wants to maximise their slice of income by getting you to use their services rather than going to the opposition. For this reason, channelling as much of your money as they can through their organisation or affiliates is the name of the game. They will attempt to attract you to their fold by offering a variety of “benefits” or freebies. They then carry on the process of trying to build a feeling of “loyalty” by offering further benefits such as loyalty cards to you. These benefits are normally linked to the amount of money you channel through the particular card or organisation and they tend to be incremental in nature – i.e. the more you spend the more you “earn”.

Let’s be honest – there is no such thing as a free lunch. You and I must know that we are continually being targeted because our income, measured over time and carefully channelled on a particular financial route, will increase the profit of the shareholders to whom that organisation belongs.

In fact the “war” out there is part of the process we call free enterprise and the greater the slice of your or my income that can be anchored to a particular organisation by whatever incentive is used in the process means a greater measure of financial success and stability for that organisation.

This is why we work so hard at trying to negotiate special benefits for our members. However, the unique difference is that YOU ARE THE SHAREHOLDER and no other person is getting a slice of your hard earned money. When you decide who you will be supporting, think about supporting yourself and give SAARP a chance to give you quotations on what we have to offer.

By Paul Rosenbrock

June 2011

Naturally it just isn’t possible to go through this process without ruffling some feathers upwind or downwind, because this type of process always involves change, and change is the one thing that tends to make people uncomfortable. Change is however, also the one factor that ensures both growth and service delivery in an organisation.

Anyway the sole reason is to ensure we become a better organisation for you as members. The review we are having, finds us looking amongst other factors at:

• A newly designed, easier to read and friendlier website.
• The menu of new special products we have on offer for you.
• Our communication with members.
• A re-allocation of staff at Head Office to ensure better service for members.
• An increased yet more secure record keeping system.

Over a period we will keep members informed of progress and look forward to ensuring that you become our greatest ambassadors as a result of the level of value you experience as a SAARP member.

By Paul Rosenbrock

SAARP is built on the basis of servicing the needs of the Senior citizen in South Africa. To shrink the vision of servicing these needs to a brute insurance marketing operation, because this is the current primary source of income, somehow reduces the broad and noble ideals of the vision to a balance sheet, survival-mode, and mission-focussed operation.

Without detracting from the necessity of being acutely aware of the financial realities and the implications of adequate cash flow, the strategy SAARP needs to develop and follow includes Short Term insurance as a very important component , but also other products servicing the broad and varied needs of the senior community should ensure a balance between income and the research and development of specialised knowledge required to enable the organisation to fulfil the total broad spectrum role of its vision.

Remaining on top of the diverse and changing needs of the senior citizens, requires dedication and specialisation by staff members. It also calls for a smattering if idealism because SAARP isn’t an organisation that prides itself on ensuring that staff members are paid top rates for the jobs they are doing. In fact SAARP has been brutally frank with all employees in the sense that they have all had this organisational reality communicated to them. In short – this organisation is driven by vision rather than by profit.

Normally recognised and acknowledged standards of planning and measurement of achievement are not the applicable management default. Being driven by ideals means the standards are different, without negating the realities of the bottom line which ensures our survival. We do not have any shareholders to satisfy and if we were for instance, to unexpectantly become beneficiaries of the Bill Gates Foundation, our challenge would be to decide upon the ways in which we could spend the money to greatest effect enhancing the lives of as many of our members as possible.

We therefore say to our members:

• If we enquire regarding your insurance, it is because we want to do more for you.
• If we enquire about your Will, your computer literacy or any other aspect of your needs, it is because we would like to be instrumental in ensuring that whilst keeping within your budget you are living with dignity. In this way we hope to improve on the service we already offer.
• We are not being intrusive – we care about you.

by Paul Rosenbrock

May 2011