Know Your Money with Bronwyn Waner and Craig Finch
Know Your Money with Bronwyn Waner and Craig Finch
166. From Gym Discounts To Real Health: How Discovery Vitality Actually Works
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Think Vitality is just cheaper gym and flights? We sat down with Vaughan from Discovery Vitality’s technical team to pull back the curtain on how the programme really works—and how you can turn health data into everyday rewards that actually move the needle.
We start with the foundation: know your health. An annual health check and the Vitality Age assessment give you a clear baseline for blood pressure, BMI, glucose, and cholesterol. From there, the programme shifts from vague goals to concrete actions, rewarding behaviour that supports better outcomes. A key update many people miss: higher healthy food savings at Woolworths and Checkers are unlocked by completing those assessments, not by chasing status. That means real money back on groceries when you commit to the basics.
We also dig into practical setup and strategy. Inside the Discovery app, you can confirm your rewards, check what’s linked, and choose a primary in-store partner and a primary online partner to maximise 25% back across both shopping channels. Prefer Woolies in-store and Checkers Sixty60 online? Structure it that way and keep more in your pocket. Beyond carts and tills, we explore the full fitness ecosystem: traditional gyms, heart rate-based workouts, Team Vitality events, the Fitness Network, and even the surge in padel. Sleep now stands alongside nutrition and movement as a formal pillar, recognising how recovery drives performance, weight control, and long-term health.
For those chasing points with purpose, the heart rate workout tiers are still active, and the Vitality Points Guide remains your go-to for thresholds and caps. Our takeaway is simple and powerful: measure what matters, then make the next good choice easier with rewards that show up today while you build a healthier future. If you’re ready to turn Vitality into a clear plan—more savings, less guesswork, better habits—this conversation gives you the map.
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Meet The Hosts And Vitality Guest
SPEAKER_01Hello everybody, welcome to Know Your Money. I am Bronwin Wayner.
SPEAKER_03And I'm Craig Finch, and we are from Growth Financial Planning. We hope you enjoy our podcast.
SPEAKER_02Hello
Vitality’s Mission Beyond Discounts
SPEAKER_02everybody. Today we have Vogan from Discovery Vitality, who is she works in the technical side of Vitality. We thought to just bring someone on our podcast today because a lot of people assume that vitality is a lower gym premium and cheaper flights. And a lot of people talk about trying to get to gold and that it's difficult. So we thought to maybe just have someone here today just to demystify that and also just explain what vitality is, why it's there, and yeah. So thank you so much for being here.
SPEAKER_00Thank you very much, Brian. Thanks, Craig. Looking forward to the chat. You are as well.
SPEAKER_02So do you maybe just want to start um and and tell us what vitality is, where it's more than just gym and discounts.
SPEAKER_00So I think vitality at its core, you know, our mission is ultimately to make people healthier. And how we achieve this is by almost taking people on a journey through their health. So we sort of have these different parts of the program that are all sort of aimed at making people healthier. So there's a part of the program where we focus on people actually knowing your health, because I mean that's the first step to improving your health, right? Knowing where you stand. And then we have different parts of the program that help people be more active, eat well, and now even sleep well. And then I mean you can't talk about vitality without talking about rewards, as you said, with the travel. Um, you know, so ultimately we then reward people on their journey towards becoming a healthier version of themselves.
SPEAKER_03And the rewards I I realized the other day, there's also movie rewards. 100%. Which I didn't even know. Yeah. So to Broman's point, we think most of us use it for gym and travel, but there are many other parts of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, 100%. I mean, movies is such a big pull, actually. Um, I think, especially on premium, you know, kids are able to um, I think if you watch a movie before seven o'clock, your kids actually watch it for free. Okay. Um so in our marketing, you know, we see that movies are actually a very, very big pool. Um and yeah, I would be interested to see what movies people watch. Are they watching like, I don't know, boxing movies and stuff to inspire them to be healthier, or is it more the the realm concept?
SPEAKER_03But the movies is going to the movie, you go to stick in the core whenever, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00100%. Okay. What's the kinical, yeah.
Know Your Health And Annual Checks
SPEAKER_03Okay, part of the and then know your health. What why is that important?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, before you can improve anything, right, it's so important to know where you stand. Um so obviously, I think um a lot of our members know about the health check that they have to do every year. And essentially what that helps you do is it helps you track your health year on year. Because I mean life is so busy, right? I think oftentimes you you don't even realize how your health is changing. So with us prioritizing knowing your health, it really helps members know where they stand at all times and which sort of aspects of their health to work on.
SPEAKER_03And is that the the visit to clicks or the or the pharmacy scam and they do the blood tests, the height, the weight, blood pressure?
SPEAKER_00100%.
SPEAKER_03That's a big part of the points you can earn, right?
SPEAKER_00It is. It's a big part of the points you can earn, but I think something um a lot of people don't realize is it's also a big part of sort of the I guess rewards you get back. Um so I think a few years ago we actually changed our um, I guess, reward structure to move from status-based to actually just completion of your um health
How Rewards Really Work Now
SPEAKER_00check. You know, so I mean that's a very big thing that I think a lot of people aren't aware of. They still think, you know, maximizing their healthy food to get the 25% is status-based, but it's actually based on completion of your health check um and also your, I guess, like um, I guess your kind of age assessment, those two stuff.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so just so just to unpack that a little bit before you would get like 10% discount at your preferred partner. I think it's wollies and clicks, I mean wollies and checkers right now. Depending on um the the points you got. Whereas now, just by completing it, you can move up to that higher earning 25% back at Woolworths or Checkers on healthy food items. But I think the most important thing that you've said is the core of vitality is not to be a rewards program. And I think people see it as that, but what what it's actually doing is just trying to create awareness and let you understand yourself a little bit better, and then they're trying to put these tools in place to help you maintain that healthy lifestyle, and that's why those reward programs are linked, and you also change partners every now and then, obviously, based on clients, which is really good. I mean, Woolworths is a new one, and it's actually such a I mean, not Woolworth's check is a new one because of of that change, and it's it's so worth it. I mean, I know Woolworths, their salmon is like so expensive, but if you really work at Vitality and you you engage in this, you can get 50% back, so you can pay that price, but actually only pay 50%. So I think the essence of what you guys are doing is to help people feel better, and it gets a little bit confused in the fact that it's rewards, but you're giving the rewards to an incentivize the healthy behavior, right?
SPEAKER_00100%, you know. As I said, the mission is to make people healthier. And I mean, if we think about New Year's resolution, everyone always has a resolution that is somehow tied to their health. And I mean, we all know the long-term uh benefits of being healthier, and what we're trying to do at vitality is almost to bring those long-term benefits into the short term, and how we do that is through the rewards. But it's important to note that the rewards are, you know, the main reason why they exist is ultimately to make people healthier.
SPEAKER_03Um so you know your health and then you've got to make changes, and those changes is is it healthy eating and exercise, or what is the is at the next stage?
SPEAKER_00Yeah,
Eating Well, Weight Coaching, And Fitness
SPEAKER_00correct. So I mean, once you know your health and you know sort of what your starting point is, obviously we know that health is very holistic. Um so a very important part of health is obviously eating well, and in that part, as you spoke to um sort of I guess um earlier, you know, healthy food is a key part of eating well with our partners, Woolies and Checkers. But also another part of that eating well is our healthy weight program, which is essentially a program that helps members lose weight. Um, you know, you sort of get access to a personal coach, um, nutrition plans and so forth. So, again, really helping you at all parts of that eating well stage. And then obviously, as you said, gym is very popular, and that's sort of the second wedge of our program, actually helping people to be more fit. Um, as you probably know, members like to be fit in a multitude of ways. So you get your your gym people who really enjoy uh Virgin Active and Planet Fitness, but we also give points for heart rate workouts, there's team vitality, the vitality fitness network. So really trying to give people, you know, whatever they need to be active.
Sleep, Padel, And Diverse Workouts
SPEAKER_00Um, and then we also introduce sleep as a new pillar to the program, which we'll we'll chat about, but that's something we we're really excited about. So really tackling health in a holistic way.
SPEAKER_03And I'll see paddles being added as well. Yes, but oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00100%. I mean, if you if you drive around and you see all the paddle caught, you'll probably understand why we did that. Good thing. Yeah, 100%.
Navigating The App And Points Guide
SPEAKER_02I think just maybe one last question to to close off is I know sometimes when people log on to the website and they click on vitality, it can feel a little bit overwhelming. Like, how do you check that you are linked to all of those rewards program things? How do you know what you're um supposed to to do, you know, all those health checks? Do you perhaps have any like tips or maybe something we can add in the in the link of the of the episode to say like follow this link to check your your health, follow this link to, you know, make sure that all your you you've linked checkers and willwers and things like that. And then sorry, just one last one. The I know that there's like a certain heart rate table, but I'm not sure if that applies anymore. But when you do a workout, say for 30 minutes, you can either get a hundred points, two hundred points, or three hundred points. And that's dependent on your heart rate and your age. I know there used to be a table that you could check that, like, can you send that link or where can they find that link?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, 100%. So, I mean, on your first question, sort of just knowing if you've done everything, um, all of that currently sits in our corporate app. Um, so you would know there's kind of a vitality button you could click on.
Linking Woolies And Checkers For Savings
SPEAKER_00If you scroll down, you'll see kind of a rewards section, and that would show you um everything you need to know with regards to rewards. But I think the one advice I can give people, again, given that most of our benefits are linked to health check and I guess age assessment completion, just make sure once a year you do your health check um, yeah, and your I guess age assessment, and you should be sorted. Um so that's the first one. And then the second one, very good point. Um, so the heart rate uh, I guess points attached to um heart rate workouts is still a thing. We do have a vitality points guide which actually breaks down all our points, not just the um heart rate workout points. So that is something that I can share with you and we can.
SPEAKER_02And can you just pop it in the link?
SPEAKER_00100%.
SPEAKER_03So back to just the the healthy eating, the checkers and the Woolworths connection, can you have both cards linked or both stores linked?
SPEAKER_00Yes, you can. Um choose a store. So you can have both linked. Um, so how it works is you have to choose a partner for, I guess, in-store shopping and then also um, I guess like online shopping. Um so in both cases you can choose both a primary partner and a secondary partner. So the primary partner would get the 25% and then your secondary partner would get the 10%. But what you can do is, for example, if you know you usually order from 60-60, uh, but for woolies you prefer being in-store. You can make your in-store primary partner Woolies get your 25% when you're in-store, and then make your um kind of, I guess, um, online partner checkers in that case to also get your 25%.
SPEAKER_03And then how do you physically link that? Do you go on the app and link it? It's all in the app. You don't have to go into a store. No. So it's all done via Vatility on the app.
SPEAKER_02You just have to have a Woolworths card and a checker's card. So you're correct. Yeah, with those providers.
SPEAKER_03A credit card for Woolworths and not a credit card. Just a healthy eating card. Yeah, the main difference.
SPEAKER_02But now it's also the app, so you just have to download the Woolies app, actually.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_02Awesome. That was some
Closing And Where To Subscribe
SPEAKER_02great insights. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_03Look forward to the next episode. Me too. Especially with the upgrades for the new year. Very exciting stuff. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Thank you.
SPEAKER_03Thank you for listening. If you have enjoyed this podcast or would like to subscribe, please visit our website at www.growthfp.co.za. The information we have provided in this podcast is our personal opinion. For more detailed information, please discuss your financial association with a financial planner.