Aldert Brink, CEO of Momentum Financial Planning

The role of financial advisers has always been rooted in helping clients make informed decisions about their finances. Traditionally, advisers were primarily recognised for their technical expertise – making sense of complex financial products, navigating tax considerations, and developing strategies to protect and grow one’s wealth. While these capabilities are still relevant, the profession has evolved and now incorporates a deeper human dimension.

According to Aldert Brink, CEO of Momentum Financial Planning (MFP), the industry is progressively embracing a model centred on deeper client relationships, empathy, and human partnership. Today, the most successful financial advisers go beyond technical planning; they act as life coaches, trusted professionals who combine technical insight with emotional intelligence. They are long-term partners, vested in their clients’ financial and personal journeys.

Beyond the numbers: The coaching shift

Financial advice today is no longer defined solely by the ability to deliver technical financial answers, as the role has evolved from product-centric to human-centric planning. Increasingly, the role involves helping clients navigate the complexities associated with financial decisions and life’s defining moments.

“In the current financial landscape, empathy is no longer simply a soft skill, but rather it is a strategic capability that bridges the gap between technical data and security,” says Brink. “The value a trusted adviser brings, stems from their ability to engage with the client’s lived experience. This emotional intelligence allows them to support clients during sensitive moments that an algorithm cannot touch, whether that involves navigating the anxiety of a health-related crisis or facilitating conversations around a family’s legacy planning.”

By acknowledging clients’ concerns and providing a steady, informed presence, advisers can help transform financial planning from a transactional exercise into a long-term partnership. In doing so, they ensure that financial plans are not only technically robust but also aligned with the realities of their clients’ lives.

This broader approach to advice is also attracting new talent to the profession. A growing number of career changers in their 30s and 40s are moving into financial planning and advice, bringing diverse occupational backgrounds and life experiences that strengthen their ability to engage with clients on a more personal level.

“Technical proficiency is merely the baseline,” says Brink. “The real work of a financial adviser happens in the uncomfortable spaces: facilitating a difficult conversation between spouses about a will or guiding a client through the implications of health-related changes to life cover. To be successful today, an adviser must be able to translate science into practical, human support.” By being part expert, part translator, and part coach, they can turn cold, complex data into meaningful, actionable support that clients can trust and act on.

The digital paradox: Why human advice still matters

“Questions are often raised about the future relevance of human advisers. As digital platforms and robo-advisers increasingly leverage artificial intelligence, the role of human advisers is evolving to provide guidance that machines cannot replicate.” Brink believes technology will strengthen the profession rather than replace it.

“AI is an excellent tool for processing information and creating back-office efficiencies in a highly regulated environment,” he says. “However, financial decisions are rarely purely mathematical. During moments of vulnerability – whether it’s a sudden loss, a serious illness, or a major life transition – clients value the reassurance of a trusted adviser who can help them navigate both the emotional and financial implications. At a time of crisis, a family is not looking for support from an algorithm. They want somebody who can help them navigate through their grief and trauma while ensuring that their financial world doesn’t collapse.”

Human advisers also play a critical role in helping clients overcome behavioural barriers to financial planning. Many individuals struggle with what Brink refers to as the “ostrich approach” – postponing difficult financial decisions in favour of short-term gains.

“Financial planning is inherently intangible,” he explains. “Unlike purchasing a physical product, the value often lies in the future security it provides. Advisers help clients connect today’s decisions with tomorrow’s outcomes.”

When planning becomes a lifeline

For Brink, the importance of financial advice is not only practical – it is also deeply personal.

In his early 30s, he received a call that profoundly shaped his understanding of the industry’s purpose. A close friend from university – who had been the best man at his wedding – had tragically died in a cycling accident. At the time, his friend’s wife was seven months pregnant with their first child.

“The weeks that followed were incredibly difficult,” Brink recalls. “She was facing the loss of her husband while preparing to welcome their daughter into the world, knowing her child would never meet her father.”

Yet despite the unimaginable grief, one element of her life remained stable. Because Brink’s friend had worked as a financial adviser, his affairs were in order. He had a valid will, group life insurance and a savings plan for his daughter.

“It did not lessen the emotional pain of the loss,” Brink says, “but it meant she didn’t have to face financial uncertainty during the most difficult period of her life. That experience reinforced for me why our industry exists – to ensure that when life’s storms arrive, families have a financial foundation that allows them to focus on healing rather than on financial worries.”

Closing the advice gap through proactive partnership

Despite the clear benefits of expert financial advice, a significant advice gap remains in South Africa. Only about 9% of households engage the services of a financial adviser, meaning 91% are navigating finances without qualified guidance. Research consistently shows that individuals who work with financial advisers achieve stronger long-term savings outcomes, so households should not rely solely on their own planning capabilities.

Brink believes advisers have an important role to play in narrowing this gap by strengthening ongoing engagement with clients.

An “engaged client”, he explains, is someone who has a clear and actionable financial plan, an up-to-date will, appropriate risk protection, and a regular review process with their adviser to ensure their strategy evolves as life changes.

“For every engaged client, there are often several family members – children, spouses or parents – whose financial stability is strengthened by that one relationship,” he says.

By focusing on these foundational strategies, advisers help clients reframe financial protection from reluctance to long-term resilience.

“In a world of increasingly complex risks, financial advisers serve as protective partners to their clients,” Brink concludes. “Their role is to turn planning into preparedness and ultimately, to ensure that the promises made on paper translate into real security for the families they serve.”

ENDS

Ed’s note: EBnet.Stream discusses Momentum’s 2025 Financial Advice Research Report with Monique Schehle, Insights Lead: Strategy & Planning at Momentum here.