What does Inflation mean to your Retirement Plan? The Human Side Of Money Presented By Client Care

by SFT | Aug 16, 2026 | Financial Planning, St Francis

Every month the Reserve Bank tells us what inflation is doing, and every month most of us nod, half-listen, and carry on. We know inflation is real. We know things cost more than they used to. But I don’t think we truly feel it, not in our bones, until we sit down and look at our own numbers over our own lifetime. So, let’s do that. Two things many of us know well: filling up the car and putting lamb chops on the braai.

 Back in 1980, R1,000 bought you 2,000 litres of petrol, or 149.5 kilograms of lamb chops. By 2000, that same R1,000 got you 333.3 litres, or 28.6 kilograms of chops. Roll forward to 2026, and R1,000 buys you 37.6 litres of petrol, about enough for a scooter, or 4.5 kilograms of lamb chops. Scary numbers, aren’t they.

Here’s the part that surprised me. Over that 56-year stretch, fuel inflation ran 61.5% higher than official CPI. Lamb chops, on the other hand, tracked almost exactly what the Reserve Bank told us inflation was doing. Same country, same period, two completely different stories.

 And that’s the real lesson. Inflation isn’t one number that applies equally to all of us. It’s personal. It’s shaped entirely by how we live. Two people who look identical to the man in the street, similar homes, similar cars, similar age, can be experiencing completely different rates of erosion depending on what they eat, what they drive, and where they holiday. This creep happens so slowly that most of us never notice it happening.

 This is exactly why I get uneasy when I see retirement plans built on static numbers and rules of thumb, treating every client as if they’re identical to their neighbour. That approach can lead to real trouble. On one side, you risk running out of money before you run out of life. On the other, sadder in my view, you leave behind a pile of money that could have funded experiences and time with the people you love most.

It’s never too late to take control of this. Your retirement plan should be as unique as you are, and building that only takes some time and care. If this has got you thinking about your own numbers, pop in for a chat. I know we can help.

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Dirk Groeneveld, Certified Financial Planner

t. 083 261 9287

e. dirk@clientcare.co.za

Client Care is pleased to welcome Emile van Niekerk to the St Francis Bay team.

by SFT | Aug 16, 2026 | Financial Planning, St Francis

Emile joins Client Care after spending more than 12 and a half years building a successful career in corporate finance and accounting. Starting as a graduate, he progressed through a variety of finance roles and ultimately worked his way up into senior management within a large, global automotive business. His career has taken him across the globe, with opportunities to work in the United States, Germany, Mexico, and the United Kingdom, providing him with valuable international experience across both manufacturing and sales organisations.

During his time in the UK, Emile qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant (CGMA), further strengthening his financial and commercial expertise. Throughout his career, he has worked across both commercial finance and statutory accounting, helping businesses make better long-term strategic financial decisions while also overseeing areas such as corporate tax, external audits, and the preparation of annual financial statements. During this time, he has also led teams of finance professionals and has always found the greatest satisfaction in building strong relationships and supporting the growth of those around him. Most recently, Emile worked as a Finance Manager of Continental Tyre South Africa.

While Emile thoroughly enjoyed his corporate career, he realised that what motivates him most isn’t simply working with numbers, it’s helping people make confident financial decisions that have a real and lasting impact on their lives. In a fitting example of long-term planning, the journey to Client Care actually began more than three years ago. While both living and working in London, Emile met Client Care’s founder, Dirk, over a conversation in a local pub. What started as a casual discussion about careers, financial planning, and shared values gradually evolved into an exciting opportunity. Three years later, that conversation has come full circle, with Emile joining the Client Care team in St Francis Bay to help clients plan confidently for their own futures and he is excited to now be part of helping our clients achieve their financial goals.

Away from the office, Emile has always been passionate about sport. In his younger years, he completed six Ironman 70.3 triathlons, with competing in Hawaii being a personal highlight. These days, however, with a five-month-old baby at home, his evenings are more likely to be spent at bath time than on a training ride, a role he enjoys just as much.

The Client Care team is delighted to have Emile on board and looks forward to introducing him to clients over the coming months.

Read more:

An Investment Portfolio Without a Plan is Meaningless

Five Dangers Of DIY Financial Planning

Finding The Delicate Balance In Giving

Dead Money, Living Money

The Women Who Balance the Books, And So Much More – The Human Side Of Money, presented by Client Care

by SFT | Aug 9, 2026 | Financial Planning, St Francis

It’s Sunday, it’s Women’s Day, and it’s a public holiday. Here in South Africa, we have so many of them that it’s easy to lose track, and true to form, my phone has already been buzzing since early morning with the usual memes from mates asking, tongue firmly in cheek, “when’s International Men’s Day?” I have good, decent friends, and all of it is said in jest. But it did get me thinking, and I’d like to use this space to share something a little more personal.

I have a mother, three sisters, a wife, four daughters, a daughter-in-law-to-be, and 2 granddaughters. That’s a lot of women in one man’s life — all of them strong, capable, and yes, sometimes a little scary. When I reflect on what each of them has walked through in their lives, the premature loss of a parent, watching parents’ divorce, tough financial seasons, raising a difficult child, marital strain, careers quietly set aside for the sake of the family, it’s impossible not to feel deep respect for every one of them. Today, they range from six months old to ninety-two, and my life would look very different without a single one of them in it.

It’s much the same in my professional life. Over thirty years, I’ve sat across the table from countless women, breadwinners, widows, single mothers, who aren’t just holding things together – they’re flourishing, financially and personally, regardless of the path that got them there. And yet I still see it often: households where the finances default to the man, almost without either party deciding it should be that way. In our practice, we actively work against that pattern. Women are every bit as capable with money as men are, and in my experience, their instinct for the wider family picture, the school fees, the ageing parent, the child who needs a bit more support this year, often makes their financial planning sharper and more grounded than anyone gives them credit for.

This isn’t a dig at men. It’s simply a nod from someone lucky enough to be surrounded by remarkable women his whole life. Given everything, they carry, quietly and without much fuss, setting aside one day to say thank you feels like the very least we can do.

Happy Women’s Day.

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Dirk Groeneveld, Certified Financial Planner

t. 083 261 9287

e. dirk@clientcare.co.za

It’s All in the Planning – The Human Side Of Money Presented By Client Care

by SFT | Aug 2, 2026 | Financial Planning, St Francis

Last week was a busy week, and on Tuesday, I drove to PE early in the morning as I had my first online meeting at eight. The next meeting was with a new prospective client who happily decided they’d like to work with us. A great start to the day, but it was the next three meetings that made the day special

All three were reviews, with clients who started working with me around 25 years ago, back when Client Care was still finding its feet. It was only on the drive home that I understood why I felt so happy and strangely at peace. In my mind, I went back through the years with each of these couples. Each had encountered challenges along their way to retirement, many changes, highs and lows. But through all of it, they had trusted me to help them plan, structure, and stay the course.

 The first gentleman worked at the same listed-company I was at 25 years ago, and from where Client Care started. When retirement arrived, the company wasn’t ready to lose his knowledge as he ran a large national corporate short-term insurance account, and truthfully, neither was he. He stayed on another two and a half years, easing into retirement. Since then, he has and still does spend much of his time driving around the country to his grandchildren’s sports days and school concerts, and loving every minute of it.

The second couple chose a very different path. They retired early and spent several years volunteering with churches in Vietnam and travelling to neighbouring countries. Since coming home, they’ve thrown themselves back into family life and into travelling with friends and loved ones.

The third client spent many years in the employee benefits department at the same company where I worked at the time. She lives independently but stays close to a large extended family, children both here and in the UK, and no shortage of grandchildren’s stories to share.

Three very different lives. Yet they share something important. All three have retired well, in their own way. Happy, content, and financially secure.

In each meeting, we probably spent less than ten minutes talking about markets or money. The rest of the time went to their lives, their families, their travels, and the memories built over the 25 years we have worked together. Their future plans were also discussed.

And that’s when it struck me again. Their success never came from a magical fund manager, a clever tax loophole, or a lucky market call. It came from having a clear plan that reflected how they wanted to live, structuring it properly, and simply sticking to it.

Nothing fancy. One foot in front of the other, day after day, year after year.

This, to me, is the real value of financial planning. A sound plan, a sensible investment philosophy, and the discipline to stay the course.

It’s worked for the past 25 years. I have little doubt it’ll work for the next 25 too.

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Dirk Groeneveld, Certified Financial Planner

t. 083 261 9287

e. dirk@clientcare.co.za

The Conversation We Keep Avoiding: Income Protection for Our Young Adults – The Human Side Of Money Presented By Client Care

by SFT | Jul 26, 2026 | Financial Planning, St Francis

Most of what I write about lives in the world of retirement and investing. Today I want to talk about something we tend to skip over entirely — protecting our children’s income the moment they start earning it.

When I began my career, most of us worked for corporates with a pension or provident fund, and tucked inside that fund was usually life cover and disability benefit, often without us even asking for it. Today, that safety net has largely disappeared. Smaller businesses in particular rarely offer it, which means the responsibility now sits squarely with the individual — often a 22 or 25-year-old who has never been asked to think about it.

Of all the risk benefits available, I believe income protection is the most important by far. Here’s why: you can lose your ability to earn through illness or injury and still live a long, full life. That’s not a tragedy in the dramatic sense — it’s simply a long life without an income. And when that happens, who carries the cost? The state? A spouse? Your own children one day? None of us want to be on either end of that arrangement.

Let’s look at the numbers. A 25-year-old earning R30,000 a month, with income growing at 6.5% a year until retirement at 65, will earn roughly R63.2 million over their working life. That’s the asset we’re talking about protecting. To insure it costs in the region of R300 a month — about R3,600 a year.

And the likelihood of needing it is far higher than most young people assume. For a healthy, non-smoking 25-year-old male, the risk of being unable to work for more than 14 days due to illness or injury before age 70 sits at around 92%. Permanent disability risk is closer to 15%, and critical illness around 37%.

These aren’t figures meant to alarm — they’re simply the reality our children are stepping into without the structures we once had. This is a conversation worth having early, gently, and often. Not because insurance is exciting, but because it buys the one thing none of us can otherwise guarantee: the ability to keep providing for the people we love, no matter what life throws at us.

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Dirk Groeneveld, Certified Financial Planner

t. 083 261 9287

e. dirk@clientcare.co.za

Retirement Is More Than The Numbers – The Human Side Of Money Presented By Client Care

by SFT | Jul 12, 2026 | Financial Planning, St Francis

At Client Care, we’re always glad to meet new people. We love what we do, and there’s a particular kind of satisfaction that comes from helping someone retire comfortably, with dignity, and then go on to live their best life, by choice, rather than by chance.

After more than thirty years in this business, we’re fortunate that most of our new clients find us through referrals – from existing clients, and even from people who’ve never worked with us but know, through others, that we can be trusted.

We recently met a new couple, referred by a mutual friend. They’ve been together since their early twenties, and over the last twenty-five years, they’ve built a successful business from scratch and raised a family. They’re now at the stage where they can save more meaningfully and start thinking properly about the next chapter of their lives.

Many people, looking at what this couple has achieved, might assume that planning out their last working decade should come naturally to them. After all, how hard can it be?

The truth is, they could certainly try to go it alone. But their years in business have taught them something valuable: asking for help is usually cheaper, in the end, than wandering into territory you don’t fully understand.

We see this pattern often. People come to us out of a quiet fear that they’ve left things too late. In our experience, it very seldom is.

Our process starts by helping clients understand exactly where they stand today, and then mapping out how to get to where they want to be. Every person walks their own road, so every financial plan should speak to their life and their particular story.

Yes, the numbers have to add up. But over a retirement that might stretch across thirty-five years, there are many levers that can be pulled to shape the outcome someone wants. And that outcome needs to reflect personal values – the things that matter most to them. Some people live for travel. Others live for their sport. Almost everyone will do anything for their family.

These softer questions are, in truth, the most important part of the plan. It’s easy to miss this if you’re working with an adviser who only does the numbers. The numbers, honestly, are the easy part. Good retirement planning gets that right, but it also pays close attention to the human side.

If your numbers look fine but something still feels like it’s missing, chances are we can help. Pop in for a chat.

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Dirk Groeneveld, Certified Financial Planner

t. 083 261 9287

e. dirk@clientcare.co.za