What inspired you to become a financial planner?
I don’t believe anyone chooses to become a financial planner – well, not as first choice. You enter this industry by accident and then you develop a heart for people and their well-being.
I am a theologian by training, and I started my working career as a full-time minister in the flatlands of the Free State. The drought in 2014 forced me to reconsider my career and I joined the BlueStar practice my mom had built since 2007, after she had herself made the move from PR into financial planning in 2004. I may have made a career move, but my calling is still alive, and I still have the opportunity to get invited to congregations and towns across the Free State to give a sermon on a Sunday
Ministry taught me to listen, to ask questions, to understand people in the context of their lives and to walk alongside them through significant transitions. Those skills have proved just as important in financial planning as technical knowledge about investments, retirement and risk.
I also came to realise that financial planning is about much more than money. Money is connected to almost every important area of our lives – our families, careers, retirement, health, relationships, legacy and ultimately the kind of life we want to live.
That is what has kept me passionate about the profession. I enjoy the technical side of financial planning, but what really motivates me is helping people make good decisions. Sometimes that means explaining an investment strategy or retirement plan. At other times, it means helping someone slow down, see the bigger picture and understand what their money is actually meant to make possible.
The longer I have been in the profession, the more convinced I have become that financial planning sits at the intersection of money and life. A technically sound financial plan is important, but it only becomes a good plan when it makes sense for the person who has to live with it.
So, while I may have entered the industry almost by accident, I developed a heart for the people behind the numbers. That has ultimately become the part of financial planning that inspires me most.
What prompts clients to come to you? Do you have a niche or distinctive value offering?
Our clients are primarily affluent professionals and couples, and people approaching or already in retirement. But I think our niche is perhaps less about a particular demographic and more about the type of relationship clients are looking for.
We work best with people who want an ongoing financial planning relationship rather than simply a financial product. We want to understand where they are, where they want to go, what is changing in their lives and what matters to them.
We deliberately try not to start with the product. We start with the person.
Our process therefore goes beyond simply gathering financial information. We want to understand things such as a client’s wellbeing, life transitions, communication preferences, strengths and circumstances. We then bring the technical financial planning into that context.
I think that is an important distinction. Lots of advisers describe themselves as holistic. For us, holistic means that the financial plan has to make sense in the context of the client’s actual life.
What do you believe is the most important thing you do for clients?
I believe our most important role is helping clients make good financial decisions in the context of their lives.
Money is rarely the real objective. Behind the money there is usually something more important – security, family, freedom, dignity, opportunity or leaving something meaningful behind.
Sometimes the most valuable thing I can do for a client isn’t finding a better investment. It is helping them avoid making a bad decision.
I also think a technically correct financial plan isn’t enough. The client needs to understand it, trust it, feel that it reflects who they are and ultimately take ownership of it.
Our job is therefore not simply to give advice. It is to help clients become confident decision-makers about their money and their lives.
What are the biggest mistakes that you see clients make?
One of the biggest is focusing too much on investment returns and not enough on the overall financial plan.
Clients understandably ask, “What return did I get?” But I think there is another question that is often more important: “How much of the wealth I have created will ultimately remain available to me and my family?”
Financial planning isn’t simply about what you make. It is also about what you keep.
That means considering tax, fees, unnecessary risk, investment behaviour, retirement structures, estate planning, liquidity and succession. Sometimes protecting and structuring wealth intelligently creates more value than trying to earn another percentage point of return.
I also see people making major financial decisions during major life transitions – retirement, the death of a spouse, an inheritance, selling a business or a career change – when emotions can be running high.
One of the things we try to do is help clients slow those decisions down. Not every decision needs to be made immediately, and not every decision made during a period of uncertainty should become a permanent decision.
How do you charge for your services?
Our fees depend on the nature and complexity of the advice and services we provide. We believe clients should understand what they are paying for and, more importantly, what they receive in return.
The relationship isn’t about a once-off transaction. Financial planning is ongoing because people’s circumstances, goals and financial environment change.
For us, the value lies in the advice, judgement, accountability, implementation and ongoing relationship – not simply in placing a financial product. Although we are tied advisors and get remunerated by commission and investment management fees, we put a plan in place that is in the client’s best interest and to their benefit.
Ultimately, I think a good fee conversation should be quite straightforward: the client should understand the value they receive and be comfortable that the relationship is worthwhile.
How do you utilise social media as a financial planner?
Primarily through education.
I don’t see social media simply as a lead-generation tool. It gives us an opportunity to explain financial concepts, comment on current issues and help people think differently about money before they ever become clients.
I use platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook to share thoughts about investments, retirement planning, financial behaviour, markets and broader financial wellbeing. I’ve also written for Moneyweb, which provides another platform for education.
One of the benefits of social media is that prospective clients can get a sense of how you think before they meet you. In that sense, it becomes part of the relationship-building process.
What do you enjoy most about being a financial planner?
The people.
We have the privilege of being invited into very personal parts of people’s lives. We talk about money, but often the real conversations are about family, retirement, fears, dreams, work, ageing and what they want their lives to look like.
I particularly enjoy the “lightbulb moments” when something that has been confusing suddenly makes sense to a client.
I also enjoy the long-term nature of the relationships. We can meet someone when they are building their career, walk with them as they build wealth, help them navigate retirement and eventually help their family with the next generation.
Being trusted with those decisions is a privilege.
You have studied extensively… what has been the benefit of your studies and is there any specific qualification or area of study that you would recommend to other financial planners or aspirant financial planners?
My formal studies have given me the technical foundation to do the job properly, but I think their greatest benefit has been teaching me how to think.
Interestingly, some of the most valuable learning I bring into financial planning did not come from finance alone. My studies in theology taught me a great deal about people, values, listening, meaning and the questions people wrestle with during important life transitions.
Financial planning ultimately sits at the intersection of money and life, so understanding people is every bit as important as understanding products and markets.
Teaching has also influenced me significantly. If you teach something, you have to understand it deeply enough to explain it simply. That has made me very conscious of the importance of client education.
For someone entering the profession, I would recommend building a strong technical foundation and obtaining the appropriate professional qualifications. But I would also encourage them to study behavioural finance, psychology, communication and anything that helps them understand people better.
A great financial planner needs to understand both money and people.
What are the biggest challenges you face as a financial planner?
Financial planning is becoming increasingly complex. There is more information, more regulation, more products and more financial content available to clients than ever before.
But I think the bigger challenge is helping clients distinguish between information and wisdom. Having access to more information doesn’t necessarily result in better decisions.
Technology and artificial intelligence will also change the profession significantly. A lot of the calculations, comparisons and information-gathering that advisers traditionally did can increasingly be automated.
I don’t see that as a threat to good financial planners. I think it makes the human part of the profession more important.
The profession is moving from product → investment → planning → behaviour → life.
Technology can increasingly deal with information. The human adviser will increasingly add value through judgement, context, behaviour, relationships, difficult conversations and helping clients make good decisions.
What is the biggest change you have seen in financial planning during your career?
When I started in 2015, financial planning was still much more product-driven. The adviser was often seen primarily as the person who could provide a financial product or investment.
The profession has progressively moved from selling products, to managing money, to building financial plans.
I think the next evolution is understanding the human being behind the plan.
Clients have access to an enormous amount of information today. They can research markets and compare investments within seconds. So the value of the adviser cannot simply be access to information.
The real value is increasingly in helping a client understand what that information means for them, how their behaviour might affect the outcome, and how their financial decisions fit into the life they want to build.
That, to me, is what modern financial planning should look like.
What’s your one wish for the future of the financial planning profession?
My wish is that financial planning becomes recognised less as a financial-products profession and increasingly as a true helping profession.
Technical competence will always matter. We need people who understand investments, tax, retirement planning, estate planning and risk.
But the best planners of the future will combine that competence with an ability to understand people, families, behaviour, wellbeing and the transitions people experience throughout life.
I would like people to see a financial planner as a professional they call before making important financial decisions, rather than someone they see when they want to buy a financial product.
What is your secret behind establishing great relationships with clients, and is there anything unique about your Bloemfontein client base?
I think the secret is quite simple: be genuinely interested in the person sitting across the table from you.
Listen before you advise. Ask questions. Don’t assume you know what is important to the client. And then do what you say you are going to do.
Trust takes time, and financial planning is particularly dependent on trust because clients allow us into very personal areas of their lives.
I have also learned that a great client relationship shouldn’t depend entirely on one individual adviser. Clients should have confidence in the practice around the adviser as well.
At Jenwil BlueStar (based in Bloemfontein and Potchefstroom), we are deliberately building a team-based environment where clients know there are people, processes and expertise around them. That creates continuity and, I believe, ultimately greater peace of mind. I think our FPI Approved Professional Practice status is an important recognition of that commitment to professionalism.
There is also something special about practising in Bloemfontein and Potchefstroom. Relationships and reputation matter. In communities like these, you build your reputation one relationship at a time. At the same time, our practice now works with clients across South Africa, so we have been able to combine that relationship-based approach with a much broader client base.
Anything else you would like to add for our readers?
Perhaps the biggest lesson I have learned is that clients don’t really come to us for investments, retirement products or policies. They come because there is something they want their money to make possible.
Our job is to discover what that is and then bring the technical expertise, discipline and long-term relationship required to help them get there.
That is what we are trying to build at Jenwil. Good financial planning should leave a client with more than a better portfolio. It should leave them with greater clarity, confidence and peace of mind about their future.
Ultimately, I don’t want our clients simply to become better investors. I want them to become more confident decision-makers about their money and their lives.
