News24 Business | Surge in cancer among young SA men shows need for income protection

Business News

Claims statistics highlight the need for income protection cover that pays out an ongoing income, particularly at younger ages.Income protection is a policy that pays out a monthly income benefit if you are disabled.Momentum has seen a dramatic increase in cancer in men under 40. For more financial stories, go to the News24 Business front page.Losing your income, even temporarily, can be financially devastating. Your income pays for everything in your life, so unless you are nearing retirement and have substantial assets, you will not survive unscathed.The most vulnerable years are up to our mid-40s, when we are focused on building our careers, growing our net worth, and, in many cases, raising a family. Income protection is crucial at this time.Young and bulletproofYounger people often believe that life insurance isn’t necessary and that money would be better spent elsewhere.”Living expenses take priority,” says George Kolbe, head of life insurance marketing at Momentum. “But as people become more aware of their own mortality or their families grow, they realise they need to insure themselves against a loss of income.”Claims statistics highlight the need for income protection cover that pays out an ongoing income, particularly at younger ages. Income protection is a policy that pays out a monthly income benefit if you are disabled, as defined in the policy.According to Bidvest Life’s claims statistics for 2023, clients aged 28 to 43 (millennials) accounted for 50% of all income protection claims.The statistics from Momentum Life tell a similar story, with around 25% of their income protection claims coming from clients under the age of 40. The next 35% of claims are made by those in their forties.At Old Mutual, clients under the age of 40 account for around 28% of the income protection claims.Policyholders were 17 times more likely to claim on their income protection benefits than on their life cover across all age groups, according to Bidvest Life.”This increases dramatically among millennials, who were 55 times more likely to claim on their income protection benefits than life cover benefits,” Nic Smit, Bidvest Life product and pricing executive, says.This is not surprising given that claiming for life cover is a once-off event. However, if your income protection policy is active and the claim is valid, you can claim income protection more than once.”In 2023, 49% of our income protection claims were made by policyholders who had previously claimed on the same policy,” Smit says, adding that 11% of them had claimed four or more times before.Cancer in men is on the riseBidvest Life’s experience is that childbirth is the most common claim event for younger clients aged 28 to 43, but claims for minor infections and cancer occur across all ages.Although musculoskeletal conditions account for 27% of income protection claims at Momentum, claims relating to the nervous system (14%), cancer (13%) and psychiatric and mental conditions (11%), such as severe depression, are also significant.”We have seen a dramatic increase in cancer in men under 40, from 7% in 2022 to 22% in 2023,” Kolbe says.”It is a stark reminder that men, regardless of age, must prioritise their health and financial security.”Your waiting period matters The longer you are prepared to wait before you claim on an income protection policy, the lower your premium, but don’t make the cost your main deciding factor when it comes to waiting periods. (Waiting periods are a length of time during which you cannot claim on a policy or from a medical scheme for all or certain benefits.)If you are unable to work due to illness or an accident, several factors come into play. If you’re employed, your first source of income protection is sick leave. You are entitled to 36 days of paid sick leave in every three-year cycle.If your employer provides group benefits that include income protection, this provides an additional layer of protection. Kolbe emphasises the importance of understanding the rules and how long you will be covered. “If you don’t have these benefits or are self-employed, you are far more vulnerable,” he adds.Waiting periods on income protection policies typically range from seven days to 30 days but can be as long as 90 days.In 2023, the average length of time for which Bidvest Life paid an income protection claim was 71 days, so if your claim was for this average period or less, selecting a 90-day waiting period would result in no chance of claiming.Furthermore, 42% of income protection claims lasted less than 30 days, highlighting the importance of considering the wisdom of even a seven- or 14-day waiting period if you want to ensure your financial needs and risks are adequately met.Younger clients claim on their income protection benefits for a shorter period of time than the overall average. “For clients younger than 28, the average claim period was 40 days,” Smit explains. “For those aged 28 to 43, it was 60 days, so choosing a shorter waiting period benefits them.”Remember: Lump sum vs income benefit There are two ways to protect your income: using disability cover that pays out a lump sum benefit or an income protection policy. A lump sum disability benefit can only be claimed if you are permanently disabled, whereas income protection can also be claimed if you are temporarily unable to work due to illness or an accident. Some income protection claims can become permanent if you don’t recover, Kolbe says.Income protection should be the first priority, particularly if you are in the vulnerable years of establishing a career and possibly a family. Having the right cover reduces financial risks and protects your lifestyle.Sylvia Walker is a financial planner at Andrew Prior Consultants. This article was first published on SmartAboutMoney.co.za, an initiative by the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA). News24 cannot be held liable for any investment decisions made based on the advice given by independent financial service providers. Under the ECT Act and to the fullest extent possible under the applicable law, News24 disclaims all responsibility or liability for any damages whatsoever resulting from the use of this site in any manner.

It was Grandma, in the cafe with a Scrabble tile: Game cafes are big holiday business

Business News

CALGARY – It’s the holidays, which means for many across the Prairies, there’s no better time to get locked in a dungeon with a dragon.
Or smoke out Colonel Mustard in the billiard room with the revolver.
Or — in the case of Janet Gutierrez and Katy Cadman — lay that magical X tile on a triple letter score.
“It’s the human contact,” Gutierrez said, lifting her head from a recent lunchtime Scrabble battle with Cadman at D6 Table Top Café in Calgary.
“We spend time and I know her interests and she knows mine…You don’t find this very often, right?”
Between rounds, the two can stare up at more than three walls of 650 games advertised in brightly coloured titles, divided into young adult, family-friendly, first timer and experienced gamer categories.
“It’s just a nice atmosphere,” said Gutierrez. “It isn’t noisy and they have food available that you can buy and stay the whole day.”
Cadman said she normally plays video games but sometimes likes a change of pace.
“We’re regulars here,” Cadman added. “We come just to play games. Just to kill time.”
Board gaming and the board gaming business tend to peak as families and friends gather for the holidays. But, like everything else, it’s at the mercy of economic and geopolitical peaks and troughs.
Solomon Kwan, 30, who opened D6 Table Top Cafe with his older brother Michael, said he and his family have always played board games, especially when public gatherings were cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During the isolation, I played a lot of board games with my parents. We had a lot of time and funnily enough my mom said, ‘If you’re going to buy another game you’d better turn it into a business,” Kwan said with a laugh.
“So we did.
“We just wanted to bring people together, especially after the isolation and board games was the perfect way to do it.”
Kwan’s personal favourite is Ark Nova, about putting animals in a zoo and releasing them back into the wild.
On a busy day, the cafe can host about 85 people. There are three private rooms for fans of the ever-popular Dungeons and Dragons.
“One thing a lot of people like about the room is we have dungeon lighting. We want to create a space that, as weird as it sounds, makes you feel like you’re playing in your own basement,” Kwan said.
“We named our store D6 Tabletop because of a six sided dice — a D6 is what’s commonly used in Dungeons and Dragons but it’s also the dice that most people would recognize.”
Kwan said Christmas is the busiest time of year. A number of families have already made reservations, companies have booked holiday parties and the cafe has even hosted one wedding.
Two provinces over, at Winnipeg’s Across the Board Game Cafe, some 1,800 gaming titles stretch from floor to ceiling, including classics like Clue and strategic ones like Kingdom Builder.
“We’re at capacity for December,” said co-owner Clinton Skibitzky.
“The cold months are very good for us because it’s an option to get out of the house that isn’t frigid. It cures cabin fever without getting the chills.”
During December, the space is filled open-to-close for corporate events, family shindigs and shoppers looking to snag gifts for the gamers in their lives.
Skibitzky said the café’s clientele ranges from children to older folks looking to play games from their youth.
He said “party games” are in high demand this time of year — ones that don’t take long to explain or play and can accommodate groups of all sizes.
A popular one has been a game called Just One, which requires players to discover as many mystery words as possible using one-word clues.
In Saskatoon, Roberta Alton, the owner of Breakout Escape Rooms and Board Game Lounge, says affordability is taking a bite out of gaming.
She said sales are down compared with last year, though up from two years ago. She said there have been fewer holiday parties and visits from individual patrons due to economic pressures.
“Christmas parties are down significantly this year from previous years, and it appears as though companies have less money to spend,” Alton said.
“I think companies are seeing less sales this year and so they are also then pulling their own spending.”
Alton added she’s noticed the board game café industry has shrunk over the last few years.
“It’s a very challenging business model,” she said.
“There are plenty of days where I think that I should just throw in the towel and reform all the space to escape rooms to move on. But we have a pretty loyal board games community here in Saskatoon that are fantastic.
“We’re still doing fine.”
And even when things look their bleakest, there are always the dragons.
Alton says the mythological fire-breathing beasts of the sky are popular for gaming because, well, they are mythological fire-breathing beasts of the sky.
“Dragons are fun,” Alton said.
“It’s always a big genre.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 22, 2024.
— With files from Brittany Hobson in Winnipeg and Jeremy Simes in Regina

Business Tech News: The Most Popular AI Tools Of 2024

Business News

Here are five things in business tech news that happened this week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?

Business Tech News #1 – The most popular AI tools of 2024 (and what that even means).
David Gewirtz of ZDNet reported on the most popular AI tools for 2024. Highlighting data that was gathered in August, the most utilized AI tools by market share are the following: ChatGPT (54.96 percent); publishing tool Canva (14.92 percent); translation platform DeepL (5.38 percent); Google Gemini (4.75 percent); and Character.AI (3.90 percent). Gewirtz noted that measuring the popularity for each is challenging as some tools are standalone while others are embedded in products. Metrics from platforms like Semrush and Similarweb were used to estimate traffic volume. Claude, Perplexity AI, and Microsoft Copilot were also on the list. (Source: ZDNet)

Why this is important for your business:
All are fine and fun. But this like when the iPhone was introduced and then the AppStore came along and all these apps appeared. The good ones either became unicorns or were gobbled up by big tech. The list above? I’m betting when we look at it in just a few years it will be completely different. In 2024, AI was overhyped and unreliable and certainly not ready for prime-time for any business to use. But of course these applications will be better and smarter and likely replaced by more advanced offerings.

Business Tech News #2 – Big changes are coming to AI in 2025: Microsoft.
According to executives at Microsoft, significant changes coming to AI in 2025. Ashley Llorens – Microsoft’s corporate vice president and managing director – said that we can expect AI to handle “a more sophisticated set of tasks.” Companies will release more powerful and energy-efficient AI models. AI Agents will become more prominent, performing specific tasks autonomously or semi-autonomously (e.g., extracting specific information from expense reports or simulating conversations to analyze which company processes are most efficient). Efforts to bring AI features to more consumers will be stepped-up. Microsoft is developing AI agents to connect employees and facilitate tasks like scheduling “coffee chats” with colleagues. (Source: Yahoo Finance)

Why this is important for your business:
I’ve written here about agents. And I’ve written here about how some industries – particularly financial services – are already replacing people with AI applications. All of this will be rolled out in 2025. But before you get too excited, just remember the oldest law in technology: NEVER buy the first version of any software applications, particularly if it’s been made by Microsoft. Agents will need a year or two to get rid of the bugs and become more pervasive in our business applications. We’ll need that time to fully understand what they can and how they can be best used in our businesses.

Business Tech News #3 – LegalZoom and 1-800Accountant join forces to deliver full-service tax and bookkeeping solutions for small business owners.

LegalZoom and 1-800Accountant have entered into a multi-year strategic partnership to offer full-service tax and bookkeeping solutions for small business owners. According to the press release, LegalZoom customers will have access to year-round, expert-led bookkeeping and tax services provided by 1-800Accountant. A recent survey revealed that tax management, liability protection, and legitimacy are key motivations for small business owners, making advisory services critically important. This collaboration aims to enhance LegalZoom’s ecosystem of products, partnerships, and services that support small business owners’ legal, compliance, and business management needs. The new product offering is expected to launch in January 2025. (Source: GlobeNewswire)

Why this is important for your business:
It’s a nice idea for businesses that use either service to take advantage of the other service. Hopefully this partnership will provide for a more cost-effective solution. But this is going to be for very small businesses, maybe those with less than 10 employees. As companies get bigger and more complex their taxes need to be done by CPAs and other knowledgeable professions who are more intimately familiar with their clients’ activities, and not just an “800” accounting service with a revolving staff.
Business Tech News #4 – This is how HR will transform in 2025.
HR expert Cheryl Swirnow outlined her key predictions for how human resources will transform by 2025. Swirnow anticipates that HR will shift from a support role to a central player in corporate leadership, with over 55 percent of CEOs involving HR leaders in strategic decisions. HR will no longer be seen as the sole answer to retention and cultural challenges – instead, companies will adopt a more collaborative, cross-functional approach. Investments in HR Tech will increase significantly as companies that don’t adopt advanced HR technology will struggle to remain competitive. Additionally, employee wellbeing – an issue that workers have been more vocal about in the pandemic era – will become a central business priority. “HR isn’t just a side player—it’s a game-changer for business success,” Swirnow said. (Source: Fast Company)
Why this is important for your business:
CEOs involving HR leaders in their strategic decisions isn’t a tech issue, it’s a critical management issue and we should all be doing that. HR tech decisions need to be collaborative with HR executives, IT and other leaders within an organization.
5 – Wix releases AI feature for businesses to engage with customers online.
Wix’s new AI feature – AI Site-Chat – is designed to help businesses engage with customers online. The AI Site-Chat acts as a virtual agent, answering customer questions and providing relevant information around the clock – even when business owners are unavailable. It integrates with the site’s internal systems to pull live data, ensuring accurate and up-to-date responses – a key function in capturing leads. The chat feature is fully customizable to reflect the brand’s voice and can be configured with specific guidelines. “Businesses can seamlessly use this feature to deliver real-time, conversational customer service, sales, and support in one place,” said Yaniv Ben Simon, Head of Product for AI Site-Chat at Wix. (Source: MarTech Cube)
Why this is important for your business:
This is great, but businesses should also be looking at similar AI offerings from their CRM (customer relationship management) providers. Most of the good, mainstream CRM platforms have this kind of functionality available that’s easily integrated into a website and can then be used for further service and marketing actions.
Every Sunday I summarize five business tech news stories and offer my thoughts on why they’re important for your business.

Science and human ingenuity will help minimise effects of climate crisis, says microbiology organisation

Science and Health

How should the government approach public information campaigns on climate awareness at a time when people are preoccupied with immediate pressures? In the context of public messaging, fear appeals have long been a popular tactic, writes Linda Stewart, news editor at Applied Microbiology International. Vegan food. Picture: Keith Heppell Fear-based messages, highlighting threats like physical…

Scientists: Ancient climate crisis warns of ocean acidification effects

Science and Health

The study, published recently in the journal Nature Geoscience, was conducted jointly by researchers from Peking University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of California at Riverside and other institutes.
The team reconstructed the state of ocean acidification during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a climatic event characterized by significant increases in global temperatures and severe ecosystem disruptions. The study found striking parallels between ocean acidification during the PETM and current trends caused by rising atmospheric carbon dioxide.
During the PETM, the sharp increase in carbon emissions led to a sharp decrease in ocean pH, which reduced the availability of carbonate ions needed by marine organisms to form shells, a critical component of ocean carbon storage.
Using paleoclimate data assimilation that combines proxy records with simulations of Earth system models, the researchers reconstructed changes in the chemical composition of carbonates in the ocean. They calculated that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rose from 890 parts per million (ppm) to 1980 ppm during the PETM, which was accompanied by an average decrease in ocean pH of 0.46 units.
“These findings are a clear warning for the future,” said Li Mingsong, a professor at Peking University, adding that the drop in ocean pH during the PETM closely resembles modern predictions under high-emission scenarios.
Li noted that the current rate of carbon emissions is much faster than during the PETM, posing a serious threat to marine ecosystems and biodiversity.
“The PETM, which lasted about 200,000 years, represents a natural analogue of what uncontrolled carbon emissions can cause today. The accelerated emissions we face today pose an even greater, long-term threat to marine life, especially in vulnerable regions like the Arctic,” Li added.
According to the researchers, the findings underscore the lasting consequences of increased carbon emissions and highlight the urgent need for climate action to protect ocean health and global biodiversity. | BGNES 

When Dumbledore Actor Michael Gambon Revealed He Never Harry Potter Books

Arts & Culture, Books

Did Micheal Gambon read the Harry Potter books? (Photo Credit – Instagram)
Micheal Gambon didn’t read the Barry Potter books, not a single one. His reason? Simple. Micheal trusted the script and stuck to it—literally. During an interview, Gambon unapologetically explained his reasoning: “No point in reading the books because you’re playing with [screenwriter] Steve Kloves’ words.”

For Gambon, the magic of the wizarding world lay in the script, not the source material. And honestly, who could argue with a legend who effortlessly blended gravitas with charm?

Gambon stepped into some big shoes after Harris’ death in 2002. Fans already adored Harris’ portrayal of the gentle, grandfatherly Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films. But Gambon wasn’t about to imitate. Instead, he brought his own “a little scary” flavor.

“He’s got to be a bit scary. All headmasters should be a bit scary, shouldn’t they?” he mused. To Gambon, Dumbledore wasn’t just a whimsical, kindly figure. He was a protector—fierce, calculated, and not afraid to throw down when needed. Fans might’ve winced at some of his bold choices, but Gambon stayed true to his vision.
Sure, some diehard Potterheads weren’t thrilled. They missed the softness Harris brought to the role. Gambon’s infamous “Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?!” moment still sparks debates. (Yes, it was fiery. No, it wasn’t “book accurate.”) But Gambon didn’t flinch. He let his performance stand tall, rooted in instinct rather than pages.
And his instincts worked. Gambon’s Dumbledore became a fixture in pop culture, celebrated for his commanding presence and his ability to humanize the all-powerful wizard. He didn’t just play Dumbledore—he owned him.
Off-screen, Gambon cherished the love fans showered upon the franchise. He often reflected on the overwhelming passion of Harry Potter devotees. One memory stood out—a rainy premiere for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, where fans braved a storm just to catch a glimpse of the cast. Gambon admitted, “I was really moved.”
That connection with audiences wasn’t limited to his Potter days. Gambon’s career, spanning decades, left behind a legacy few can match. From the stage to the big screen, he carried himself with humility, wit, and a sprinkle of mischief—just like the character he so memorably portrayed.
Skipping the books might seem sacrilegious to some, but for Gambon, it was genius. By avoiding Rowling’s novels, he focused entirely on the script and his interpretation of Dumbledore. The result? A portrayal that was equal parts commanding and tender, fiery yet lovable. Gambon didn’t just read about the magic; he became it.
Though Michael Gambon left us in 2023, his spellbinding performances—and his unconventional choices—continue to enchant fans worldwide.
For more such stories, check out Hollywood News
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