Five forces shaping the future of financial advice in South Africa

FINANCIAL advice is changing, whether people realise it or not.

- JOHAN MINNIE

FINANCIAL advice is shifting from products to people, with a stronger focus on personalised guidance and real-life outcomes.

It is changing because the way households earn, spend, and plan has shifted, and because the rules that govern advice are being rewritten at the same time.What people need from their financial adviser is not the same as it was even a few years ago, and the industry must respond - or fall behind.

What this means is that the job of a financial adviser no longer begins and ends with products or portfolios. People now want their advisers to address the realities of their day-to-day financial lives and help them navigate and adapt to uncertainty, and that shift in expectations means advisers must change how they work in response. Five shifts, in particular, are setting the direction for what comes next in financial advice.

Digital tools and AI are now part of everyday financial life. Clients compare products online, track their spending on apps, and arrive at advice meetings armed with more information than they once had. What an adviser has to bring to this table is not just information, but interpretation. Only a human adviser can look holistically at a client's life and dreams and help them plan specific to their context, within our unique South African landscape.