I should have talked about this a week or so ago – if you are thinking about changing plans on your medical aid. If you are, and haven\u2019t let them know, you should still be able to get in your request on Monday, that being the 1st. Most schemes want a month\u2019s notice, especially if you\u2019re move \u2018down\u2019 a plan level: paying them less. They don\u2019t seem to mind moving up at any stage of the year: paying them more!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you are thinking of changing your plan level, go to your medical aid\u2019s website and download the 2026 plans and contributions to compare and choose. Learn to understand the benefits you get on your scheme, line by line. Consider not having a savings account unless you get a few additional risk benefits that come with it, or you need the cash management help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Black Friday. I think that is today. Although it has become days and weeks rather than a day. Remember, you don\u2019t save by spending. You save by not spending. Stay home and you won\u2019t spend what you don\u2019t need to spend. Although you can shop from home so that point of mine is a bit irrelevant\u2026. The banks are the big winners. Because most people are shopping with money they don\u2019t have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you really needed something, and you were going to spend anyway, then the way to save is to pay the amount that you have not spent, i.e. the difference, into your bond or a savings space. Now you have spent and saved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have also seen quite a few warnings about scams catching you out during these specials. Be careful of emails and SMS\u2019s and phone calls offering you things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The post discusses the importance of notifying your medical aid about plan changes by the deadline, especially when downgrading coverage. It emphasizes understanding benefits and cautious spending during Black Friday sales, encouraging saving instead of spending. It also warns against potential scams related to holiday shopping promotions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-thoughts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions\/255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}