by admin | Sep 6, 2026 | Financial Planning, St Francis
There’s a phone call I’ve come to recognise over thirty years in this profession. It starts with, “Dirk, I need your advice about my mother,” and within a few sentences I can tell we’re already behind. A diagnosis has come, capacity is fading, and the family is trying to work out in a hurry what can still be done.
Sometimes there’s still a good answer. But it’s never as simple as it would have been a year earlier. In South Africa, so much of what we can legally do depends on one thing: whether a person still has the mental capacity to decide. Once that’s gone, some doors close for good.
Why plan early? Acting while the mind is clear means wishes are recorded, finances are protected, and families know their options without the cost and stress of an emergency court application. I’ve sat with families going through that, and the emotional toll often outweighs the financial one.
Your options, in brief:
Power of Attorney helps with financial matters while capacity is intact, but it automatically lapses once capacity is lost. It’s a bridge, not a long-term solution.
Administration, granted through the Master of the High Court, is a practical, less costly alternative when someone can no longer manage their affairs with proper oversight built in.
Curatorship, appointed through the High Court, offers more comprehensive management for advanced cognitive decline, with a curator acting in the person’s best interests.
Special Trusts (Type A) can offer long-term protection for someone with severe mental incapacity and safeguarding assets, ensuring continuity, and offering favourable tax treatment where requirements are met.
Advance Healthcare Directives record a person’s wishes about future medical care in writing, so loved ones and doctors aren’t left guessing when it matters most.
Wills should be reviewed and signed while capacity still allows it, ideally well before any diagnosis, so they reflect current wishes rather than an outdated chapter of life.
Before the crisis, not during it
None of this is about taking control away from someone. Done at the right time, it’s one of the most respectful things a family can do, preserving a person’s own wishes in their own words, made by their own hand, while they were still able to decide.
A dementia diagnosis is hard enough without a family untangling legal and financial matters under pressure. If there’s one thing to take from this; have the conversation now, while it’s still just a conversation.
As always, at Client care we happy to talk this through with you or your family, whenever it feels right.
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Dirk Groeneveld, Certified Financial Planner
t. 083 261 9287
e. dirk@clientcare.co.za
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Five Dangers Of DIY Financial Planning
Finding The Delicate Balance In Giving
Dead Money, Living Money
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Disclaimer:
This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute financial advice in any way or form. It is important to consult a financial planner to receive financial advice before acting on any information contained herein. Client Care and PWM and its directors, officers, and employees shall not be responsible and disclaim all liability for any loss, damage (whether direct, indirect, special or consequential) and/or expense of any nature whatsoever, which may be suffered as a result of, or which may be attributable, directly or indirectly, to the use of, or reliance upon any information contained in this article.
by admin | Sep 3, 2026 | St Francis
From colourful wildflowers and buzzing bees to fluttering butterflies and visiting birds, selected public spaces will be allowed to grow naturally as part of the municipality’s No Mow September campaign.
From 1 to 30 September 2026, mowing will be temporarily suspended at selected parks, public open spaces, greenbelts and road verges. The initiative allows grass, wildflowers and indigenous vegetation to flower, produce seeds and provide valuable food and habitat for insects and other wildlife.
The campaign supports biodiversity by creating natural spaces where pollinators such as bees and butterflies can find nectar and pollen, while giving local plant species an opportunity to establish and reproduce.
Signs reading “Pardon the Weeds, We Are Feeding the Bees” will be placed at participating sites to remind residents that these areas are intentionally being allowed to grow.
Kouga Executive Mayor, Hattingh Bornman, said the initiative demonstrates how a simple change in maintenance practices can have a meaningful environmental impact.
“No Mow September gives nature an opportunity to take centre stage. By allowing these spaces to grow and flower, we create valuable habitats for pollinators and other wildlife while supporting the biodiversity of our beautiful Kouga.”
He encouraged residents to embrace the initiative rather than viewing naturally growing vegetation as untidy.
“Sometimes we need to step back and allow nature to do what it does best. What may look like an overgrown patch is actually a busy ecosystem providing food, shelter and breeding opportunities for countless species.”
Residents can also participate at home by allowing suitable sections of their gardens to grow, planting indigenous and pollinator-friendly flowers, creating small wildflower patches and observing the wildlife attracted to these spaces.
Read more: Henry 8, Belgian Beer Fest, Brandon Peel – What’s On This Weekend with St Francis Tourism
by admin | Aug 19, 2026 | St Francis
Summer has a habit of arriving before our bodies are quite ready for it. After months of winter, more time indoors and perhaps a little less movement than usual, everything can feel slightly tighter than it did in March.
Now is a good time to start loosening up.
You don’t need an extreme fitness programme or an immediate assault on the gym. A few weeks of regular, gentle stretching can help improve flexibility and mobility. More importantly, it gets the body moving again before summer brings longer walks, swimming, surfing, gardening and days spent on the beach.
Start Slowly And Keep Moving
The simplest approach is to start with gentle movements rather than trying to force a deep stretch. Move your shoulders, hips, ankles and spine through comfortable ranges of motion. Add some easy squats, lunges, calf stretches and slow rotations.
Calisthenics can also be remarkably simple. Bodyweight squats, gentle push-ups, leg raises and controlled movements don’t require equipment. Meanwhile, even ten or fifteen minutes at home can become a useful daily routine.
The objective isn’t to wake up sore the following morning. It’s to become a little looser and more supple as the weeks pass.
Yoga And Pilates In St Francis
Yoga and Pilates are excellent options because both combine controlled movement with strength, balance and flexibility. There are also plenty of yoga and Pilates options around St Francis, so you don’t necessarily need to work it all out yourself.
A good instructor can help you start at an appropriate level and avoid turning your first enthusiastic session into three uncomfortable days of walking sideways.
Consistency matters more than intensity. Two or three gentle sessions each week can gradually make movement feel easier.
Your Own Summer Beach Club
There’s still time before summer gets properly underway. Start stretching now, keep moving and gradually build a little strength and mobility.
By the time the warm mornings arrive, you’ll hopefully be moving more freely, feeling more supple and heading into summer with the chassis loosened up and ready for swimming, walking, surfing or simply heading down to your very own beach club.
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Read More:
Further reading:
Early Summer Or Late Winter? – Notes From The Editor
The Lost Art Of Going Away And Doing Diddly
Réunion Island Delivers A Different Kind Of Indian Ocean Escape For South Africans
When your world starts to press in, Happy Hour awaits in Mauritius
by admin | Jul 28, 2026 | St Francis, Surf Editorial
This is St Francis Bay
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by admin | Jul 28, 2026 | St Francis, Surf Editorial
When winter starts to feel endless, there is a simple solution. Point yourself towards Mauritius, where sunshine replaces cold fronts and every day begins with the promise of warm seas, gentle breezes and absolutely nowhere you need to be.
Also, modern life has become exhausting.
Every day comes with another challenge, another notification and another expert telling you to optimise your morning routine. Count your steps. Count your calories. Drink green juice. Lift heavier things. Sleep better. Work harder.
Or…
Go to a resort in Mauritius.
Wake up whenever you feel like it. Wander to breakfast in your sandals. Have another croissant because nobody has ever returned from Mauritius wishing they had eaten less pastry.
By 11 am, order a strong cocktail. It is holiday o’clock. There are no meetings. No deadlines. No smartwatch telling you to stand up because you’ve been sitting too long. Sitting is exactly what you came for.
Move slowly to the pool. Or don’t. The beach is also an excellent place to achieve absolutely nothing. Find a lounger, apply sunscreen with great commitment, then spend the next four hours admiring the ocean, reading three pages of a novel and wondering if it is too early for lunch.
It isn’t.
Lunch should be long. Dessert should be compulsory. The seafood should be fresh. The portions should be generous. The only thing getting a workout should be the buffet.
After lunch, have a massage. Then recover from the massage with a nap. Wake up just in time for another swim, another cocktail and another spectacular sunset that asks nothing of you except to sit still and enjoy it.
Dinner is another excuse to eat far more than you planned. Try everything. Go back for seconds. Pretend calories cannot swim across the Indian Ocean.
Tomorrow you can do it all again.
You do not need to become a better version of yourself every single day. Sometimes the best version of yourself is the one lying on a beach, slightly sunburnt, completely relaxed and wondering whether to order another mojito or simply stay exactly where you are.
Mauritius has an answer.
Why not both?
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