Turning My Passions into Rewards: my journey with a unique program

While recharging my Garmin watch for the third time in a week, I debated with myself about whether I should spend $1,200 on a new, solar-powered version. Surely I can live with charging the watch every other day and keep the money in my bank account?

As I plugged my watch in to charge yet another time, I remembered that I’d heard a conversation at work about a unique program (which I won't name here) that gave members either a free Apple watch or discounted Garmin watches!

I decided to explore what else this program had to offer and how much it would cost me to get involved – were the costs (time and money) worth the $600 saving on the watch I wanted? As both Financial Advisor and Client in this scenario, it would also be a great opportunity to test out the product for my own clients.

The Initial Attraction

Turns out that as a member, the more I exercise, the more points I’d get. It looks like I could earn 500 points each time I ran for over an hour and with just 10,000 points, I could advance to the next status level of the program. Two more levels and I’d get half-price international airfares. If I maintained my regular exercise routine, I'd soon be eligible for two discounted plane tickets! Oh, and I’d get to buy my new, solar-powered watch half-price, as soon as my account was activated.

The Affordable Membership

The application process required me to have a valid life insurance policy with a specific insurance company. While I can configure it so that my superannuation covers the cost of this life insurance, and I’d only pay about $10 a month for the reward program membership in my name, if I could save $5,000 on airfares - and get the new watch - it seemed like a good deal to me!

Beyond the Savings

As well as saving money on watches, hopefully I'd secure discounted airfares to travel to more triathlons or marathons around Australia and New Zealand. Sure, I'd reap the health benefits, but I’m already committed to my fitness journey regardless. Right away, saving $600 on a watch I was planning to buy anyway was motivation enough to inquire more. If all goes well, the bonus kicker will be saving a few thousand dollars on my next international flight.

In following posts, I'll delve into the application process and how I’ll get my superannuation to cover the insurance costs, along with letting you know of any hurdles I face along the way.