Frequently Asked Questions

  • Are you licensed with the FSCA (previously FSB)?

    Yes, our FSCA license number is 43925. All financial planners are registered representatives with the Financial Sector Conduct Authority and you are able to verify our licence information here: FSP Search
    You are also welcome to view our license displayed in our office.

  • Are you a CFP® ( Certified Financial Planner®)?

    Yes, we have three Certified Financial Planners® in our financial planning team. We value education and continued development. The Certified Financial Planner® Designation requires a minimum standard of education (Post Graduate Diploma Requirements), Ethics (continued education requirements and declarations), Exams (passing the rigorous competency examinations) as well as Experience (3 year minimum experience requirement).

  • Do you consider yourself a fiduciary? Will you put my interest above your own?

    Yes, at the core of a fiduciary standard is placing the interest of the client ahead of our own. We subscribe to the code of ethics of the Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa as well as the Fiduciary Institute South Africa.

  • Do you follow the Financial Planning Institute’s 6 Step Process?

    Yes, we subscribe to the Financial Planning Institute’s 6 Step Process:

    Step 1: Establish and define the relationship with the client.

    Step 2: Collect the client’s information

    Step 3: Analyse and assess the client’s financial status.

    Step 4: Develop the financial planning recommendations and present them to the client.

    Step 5: Implement the client’s financial planning recommendations.

    Step 6: Review the client’s situation.

  • What services will you provide?

    We provide comprehensive financial planning services which consists of two main categories, Wealth Creation and Wealth Protection.

    Wealth Creation includes Investment Planning, Retirement Planning & Cashflow Analysis as well as Education Planning.

    Wealth Protection includes Insurance Planning, Estate Planning (including estate documents like Last Will & Testaments and Trust documents) as well as Health Planning.

  • What do you charge and provide for your fee?

    We will provide you with a service proposal which will explain our process, the fees charged and what you can expect to receive before you commit to anything.

  • What other services do you offer? (Wills, Taxation, Etc)

    Our core focus is on providing financial planning and product implementation. We also offer Tax & Accounting services through WealthUp Tax & Accounting (Pty) Ltd as well as Fiduciary Services through WealthUp Fiduciary (Pty) Ltd.

  • Do you have any references?

    We will gladly provide you with reference to clients that may have been through a similar life experience. Because we value our client’s privacy we choose not to publish this information.

  • How often will we meet?

    Our on-going meetings will be determined by your requirements. For clients with complex financial lives, we typically meet every 6 months with a minimum meeting of once per year.

  • Do you have a team that will be able to take over if something happens to you?

    Yes, we believe that a team approach is critical. You will have a relationship with more than one financial planner in our team to ensure that your financial planning needs are always met.

  • Are you independent or a tied agent?

    We are 100% independent and do not have any external shareholders

  • Which companies do you deal with?

    We have contracts in place with the following companies. We will gladly consider adding additional contracts, should you require this.

    Investment Products:
    Allan Gray, NinetyOne, Glacier, Coronation, Nedgroup Investments, Momentum, Investec, Sygnia, Stanlib, PPS Investments

    Insurance Products:
    PPS, Sanlam, Old Mutual, BrightRock ,Bidvest Life, Hollard, Momentum, Liberty Life, Discovery

  • Do you earn any products and fees from commission?

    We prefer to receive our income directly from our clients or deducted from their investment portfolios. Some insurance products (Medical Aids and Gap Cover policies) carry a small ongoing commission. Should you require long term insurance, we will disclose and discuss any potentially commissions that could be generated from the sale of these products before any product is implemented.

  • Why is the product right for me?

    We follow a detailed financial planning process to determine any potential need and suitable products. We will then find a suitable financial product based on your need as well as your affordability and preferences.

  • Do you have any conflict of interest?

    No, we do not have any conflict of interest as we do not have any external product providers who have any shareholding in us. We do however receive more than 30% of our income from Allan Gray. This is due to the administration and service efficiencies we experience when dealing with them as an administration platform.

  • Will you be paid more to recommend some products over others?

    No, our financial planning and product implementation charges do not differ between product providers.

  • How do you plan to bill for your service? At what rate? Are you negotiable?

    We charge an ongoing advice fee, levied against your investment portfolio. We provide a discounted rate for investment values that exceeds R20m.

  • What are my total fees? Not just portfolio fees, what is the bottom line total cost?

    We will provide you with a detailed fee breakdown consisting of advice fees, fund manager fees (also known as portfolio fees) as well as administration fees. We do not support insurance-based investments which often carries opaque pricing structures.

  • What are my initial fees, financial advice fees as well as administration fees, Fund Manager fees, and are there any performance fees?

    Upfront / Initial Fees: We typically do not charge initial investment fees unless it is used to cover the financial planning fee in part or in full.

    Financial Advice Fees: We charge an ongoing fee of 1% per annum. We provide a discounted rate for portfolio exceeding R20m.

    Administration Fees: We will provide you with a quotation of the ongoing administration fee which may range between 0% - 0.57% per annum depending on the size of the investment.

    Fund Manager Fees: The fund manager fees are based on your investment portfolio. We will also include transactions fees and performance-based fees, if any.

    We will provide you with a detailed breakdown of all fees, including percentage based and the fee in hard currency in our fee overview document.

  • On what basis do you select funds and fund managers?

    We utilise the expert research and analysis of our Discretionary Fund Manager Partner (DFM), PortfolioMetrix to help us determine suitable portfolios for local and offshore portfolios. We also conduct our own research and spend significant time with local and offshore fund managers.

  • What is my asset allocation? What is the logic underpinning it?

    Your asset allocation is key to achieving your long term objectives. We match your asset allocation to your risk tolerance as well as the amount of risk needed to achieve your goals. The asset allocation guidelines and assumptions are calculated by our discretionary fund manager partners, PortfolioMetrix. We continue to monitor and report on your asset allocation.

  • What level of returns can I expect?

    We will discuss historic range of returns from each portfolio, including what you can expect going forward in our cashflow analysis. We will provide you with a range of returns.

  • What investment vehicles will I be invested in? What are the pros and cons for each vehicle?

    This will largely be driven by your financial plan. We consider the use of retirement funds (Pension Funds, Provident Funds, Preservation Funds and Retirement Annuities) as well as post-retirement funds (Living Annuities and Life Annuities). We also consider voluntary investment vehicles like Unit Trusts, Linked Investment Platform Investments, Share Portfolios and Endowments. We avoid illiquid products like Structured Products and insurance-based investments.

  • Is my investment tax-efficient?

    As part of your financial plan we will consider your tax strategy. This is key in delivering suitable returns after costs and after taxes.

  • Where is your own money invested?

    Our own investments are aligned to our financial plans and range between passive and active managers.