Nathalie Burrows, Editor at EBnet
The conversations at this year’s FPI Annual Refresher prompted me to reflect on how privileged I am as a financial planning professional to know the things that I do about money. Knowing builds confidence to make decisions. And we take that confidence for granted.
As the day unfolded, experts in their fields shared their thoughts on the themes of:
COFI and the financial planner’s practice
Financial planning professionals certainly note and appreciate that the Conduct of Financial Institutions (COFI) Bill, set for implementation in 2026, will profoundly reshape financial advice in South Africa. The shifting from product-based to activity-based licensing, COFI demands advisers demonstrate genuine client support and tangible benefits from their advice.
COFI has implications for each of the six steps in the financial planning process, but to summarise the highlights shared by Lelane Bezuidenhout, CEO of the FPI, in her opening address:
- Gather comprehensive client data on circumstances, objectives, financial needs and risk tolerance before providing advice.
- Document the full advice process – including scope definition, product rationale, disclosures, charges and warnings on incomplete information.
- Ensure recommendations deliver fair client outcomes, aligning with Treating Customers Fairly principles and avoiding conflicts of interest.
- Implement robust systems for complaints handling, root-cause analysis and ongoing client monitoring after the advice has been implemented.
Ok, so COFI compliance is the new minimum standard but what does that mean practically for advisors and savers?
Well … it leads seamlessly into …
Holistic financial planning
Holistic financial advice takes a comprehensive and integrated approach to a client’s whole financial life, rather than just looking at the isolated issues traditionally being investments or insurance. It considers all the interconnected elements that make up a client’s financial world, like budgeting, debt management, retirement planning, tax, estate planning, risk protection and even lifestyle goals – specifically tailored to that individual’s circumstances, values and long term aspirations.
Approaching the six step process with this in mind recognises that, from a client’s point of view, financial decisions ripple across every aspect of their lives – not just the sub-category that their financial advisor is registered for. After all, every investor or saver is a whole human, with a need for a holistic view of all their money – silo’d advice will lead to suboptimal outcomes.
And to quote the most used phrase in the benefits and savings industries right now, “we want to improve outcomes”.
So how do we do this? I can’t say it better than the FPI’s Financial Planner of the Year, Nicola Langridge, who shared two very simple questions that will lead to a broader conversation:
- What are your goals?
- What brings you joy?
By prompting this conversation with your client, you will be able to link money to meaning. And that is holistic financial planning.
But what about …
AI and financial planning
Just this week EBnet.Stream had a conversation with Anne Cabot-Alletzhauser, about her recently finding her perfect financial advisor. Anne lists the criteria she has of her personal planner, and you can guess what ticked all those boxes.
So how then does a financial advisor remain “useful” (as Errol Meyer called it in the Refresher)?
Well, asking Nicola’s two questions will reveal intensely human and complex personal needs and vulnerabilities. Made even more complicated when planning as a married couple – where two peoples’ perspectives need to be respected and catered for. (A nod again to Errol who shared some mediation tips on how to handle conflicting priorities between married clients.)
While AI can process data and do big sums (like calculating how much I’ll need when I retire) in the blink of an eye (rules/product based), it can’t discuss my fears about my health in old age, my concerns about my children’s futures or my worries about whether I’ll outlive my annuity (outcomes/principles based). That requires a human connection.
And so yes, knowing builds confidence to make decisions. And the legislation and technology are changing the playing field of financial advice. This represents opportunity to build the sustainable financial planning practice of the future by linking money to meaning, taking the time to care, noting that Continuous Professional Development is a responsibility to clients and giving an individual a holistic view of their money story, and reviewing that as often as needed.
The point is, as Wessel Oosthuizen so eloquently put it, “we cannot use the same assumptions that we’ve been using up to now, and expect success as financial professionals”.
ENDS
