Send us Fan Mail

When the technology behind a financial platform changes, advisers can feel the impact long before the project is finished.

In this episode of PROpulsion LIVE, Georgina Smith joins us to unpack the recent migration of assets from the legacy STANLIB LISP platform to INN8, an 18-month project involving multiple channels, advisers, clients, products and internal teams.

We explore what made the migration work, what the team learned along the way, what Georgina would do differently, and why communication, preparation, feedback and expectation management matter so much during major technology change.

Georgina also shares the parallels between managing a prozject of this scale and her 72 km open-water swim from Fish Hoek to Hout Bay, including the role of preparation, resilience, teamwork and adapting when conditions change.
For financial advisers, the conversation turns practical.

We discuss:
- Why advisers should care when platform technology changes
- What questions they should be asking
- How technology change can affect advisers, support teams and clients
- What good communication and support from a platform should look like
- Why adviser engagement matters before, during and after the change
- What advisers can do to prepare rather than simply react

The big question we explore is:
What can advisers learn from a major platform migration about preparing for and managing technology change?

PROpulsion LIVE helps financial planners and advice businesses move From Knowing to Doing.

Send us Fan Mail

What does it take for financial advice to be experienced as a profession, rather than a product-driven sales process?

In this episode of PROpulsion LIVE, I speak with Jeff Paul about what needs to change if financial advisers want to build client-centred, professional and intergenerational advice practices.

Jeff has spent almost three decades in financial advice, leadership and adviser development. His career has taken him from financial adviser to senior leadership roles within Liberty, Managing Director of EQ-FIN, and now co-founder of Curated Wealth powered by Adviceworx.

We explore:

- Why some clients still question whether advice is driven by their needs or by products
- What client-centred financial planning looks like in practice
- How advisers can move from a financial plan to an intergenerational life-map
- The impact of incentives, product structures and business models on advice
- What professionalism demands beyond qualifications
- Why lifelong learning matters
- The role technology and AI should play in the advice process
- What advisers can start changing in their own practices

The big question guiding the conversation is:

**What needs to change for financial advice to be experienced by clients as a profession, rather than a product-driven sales process?**

PROpulsion LIVE helps financial planners and advice businesses move from knowing to doing, with practical conversations about building better financial planning businesses.

Send us Fan Mail

Is your technology making your business simpler, or are you changing the way your business works just to fit your technology?

In this episode of PROpulsion LIVE, I speak with Pieter Teessen of Teessen Consulting about how financial services businesses can use technology to reduce operational friction, connect information and give their people more time to focus on clients.

We explore an important question: How do you use technology to simplify your business rather than forcing your business to fit the technology?

Our conversation covers:
- Why businesses can end up adapting their processes around generic systems
- How to tell the difference between a technology problem and a process problem
- The cost of having client information spread across multiple systems
- Where automation and AI can reduce repetitive administration
- How better internal processes can improve the client experience
- What to consider when choosing a technology partner
- Where to start if your current technology environment has become too complicated

Pieter brings more than 25 years of experience working with financial services businesses through Teessen Consulting. Their work includes technology platforms such as InsureSuite, InsureCRM, CommSplit and InsurePortal, alongside consulting focused on business processes and operations.

If you work in a financial planning, advice, insurance or brokerage business, this conversation will help you think differently about the relationship between your processes and the technology supporting them.

The goal is not more technology. It is technology that helps the business work better.

Subscribe to PROpulsion for weekly conversations about building and running better financial planning businesses.

Send us Fan Mail

What changes when financial planning starts with the person, rather than the product?

In this episode of PROpulsion LIVE, Francois du Toit speaks with Russell Ho, CFP®, one of the 2026 FPI Financial Planner of the Year finalists, about the human-first approach he has built into his financial planning practice.

Russell works through what he calls his Three Hats.

First, he approaches the conversation as a financial therapist and behaviour coach, seeking to understand the client’s money story, fears, beliefs and behaviour.

Second, he steps into the role of lifestyle financial planner, helping the client build a roadmap around the life they want to live.

Only then does he put on the third hat, financial adviser, where technical advice, products and solutions enter the conversation.

We unpack what this looks like in practice, including:

Why understanding the person comes before analysing the numbers
What happens in Russell’s first conversation with a prospective client
How therapeutic listening can help planners get beyond surface-level answers
Why vulnerability plays a role in his client process
How he structures a personalised first-year client journey
Where AI may change the technical side of financial planning
Which human skills planners may need to develop further
What Russell has learnt from becoming a 2026 FPI Financial Planner of the Year finalist
Practical changes planners can make in their own client conversations

The bigger question behind the conversation is:

What does a human-first financial planning process look like in practice, and why does it matter more as AI gets better at the technical work?

If you are a financial planner, adviser or practice owner thinking about the future of advice, client relationships and where human advisers continue to add value, this conversation will give you plenty to think about and apply.

Subscribe to PROpulsion for weekly conversations about building and running better financial planning businesses.

#FinancialPlanning #FinancialAdvice #HumanFirstAdvice #FinancialPlanner #ArtificialIntelligence #ClientExperience #PROpulsionLIVE

Send us Fan Mail

Financial planning is changing, but what should financial planners be doing now to prepare for 2030?

In this episode of PROpulsion LIVE, Francois du Toit speaks with Lelane Bezuidenhout, CEO of the Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa, about the trends shaping financial planning in South Africa and around the world.

They explore what these changes could mean for financial planners, practices and the clients they serve.

The conversation covers:

• The trends shaping financial planning today
• What the financial planner of 2030 may look like
• The skills planners need to start building now
• Why human skills matter as technology and AI develop
• The challenges facing financial planning practices
• What FPI's Vision 2030 means for the profession
• The role of professional bodies and lifelong learning
• Practical steps planners can take to prepare for what comes next

The big question for this episode is:

**What should financial planners start doing now to stay relevant as the profession changes towards 2030?**

PROpulsion LIVE helps financial planners and advice businesses turn ideas into action and build better financial planning businesses.

Subscribe to the channel and join the conversation live.

#FinancialPlanning #FinancialAdviser #CFPProfessional #FutureOfFinancialPlanning #PROpulsionLIVE

Send us Fan Mail

What does it take to build a financial planning practice around better client decisions, not just better financial outcomes?

In this episode of PROpulsion LIVE, I speak with Gareth Collier, CFP®, founder of Firecrest Group and one of the finalists in the FPI Financial Planner of the Year competition.

We explore how Gareth approaches financial planning, how he works with clients, and what he has learnt from moving from an established practice to building his own.

The conversation goes beyond investments and technical advice. We look at how Gareth thinks about client conversations, process, implementation, technology, and the role of the planner in helping people make decisions that support the life they want to live.

We discuss:

• What good financial planning looks like to Gareth
• How he approaches the first client conversation
• The process behind understanding what matters to a client
• How he helps clients move from understanding to action
• What building Firecrest has taught him about running a financial planning practice
• Where technology fits into the advice process
• What should remain firmly in the hands of the human planner
• What the FPI Financial Planner of the Year process has revealed about the way he works

If you are a financial planner, adviser, practice owner or part of an advice business, this episode offers a practical look at how one planner is thinking about better decisions, better processes and building a practice around both.

PROpulsion LIVE Season 7: From Knowing to Doing.

Send us Fan Mail

South Africa’s life and disability protection gap has reached R50.4 trillion, despite years of financial education, stronger regulation and a more professional advice industry.

So what are we missing?

In this episode of PROpulsion LIVE, Prof. Prince Sarpong joins us to explore why he believes the problem is not mainly financial literacy, but legibility. In simple terms, people may understand that they are exposed, but they often do not know their own financial position clearly enough to act.

We discuss:

Why the protection gap keeps growing
The difference between literacy and legibility
Why “screening, not schooling” may be a better approach
How advisers can create salience without shame
What SikaSync is designed to show clients
Why protection advice may open new opportunities for growing advice businesses
What advisers can do differently in their client conversations

The one big question we explore is:

If financial literacy is not closing South Africa’s R50.4 trillion protection gap, what needs to change to help more people understand their own risk and act on it?

The conversation draws on Prince’s working paper, Financial Planning for the Greater Good, which argues for a diagnostic-led model that makes personal financial exposure clearer and more actionable.

Here is the link to Sika Smart that Prince spoke about: https://sikasmart.epistemica.co.za/

Subscribe to PROpulsion LIVE for weekly conversations about building and running better financial planning businesses.

Send us Fan Mail

What will it take to build a stronger financial planning profession for the future?

In this episode of PROpulsion LIVE, Francois du Toit speaks with Brendan Dunn, CFP® Professional and CA(SA), Executive Head Johannesburg at Hewett Wealth and a finalist in the 2026 FPI Financial Planner of the Year Awards.

Brendan was also a finalist in 2025, giving him a valuable perspective on professional growth, raising standards and the responsibility financial planners have towards the future of the profession.

We explore three areas that can make a difference:

The challenges facing new and younger financial planners
How experienced professionals and firms can support new entrants
Building credibility and a professional reputation
Why the best financial advice starts with understanding the whole client
The role of financial education beyond your existing client base
What Brendan learned from becoming an FPI Financial Planner of the Year finalist two years running
What financial planners can start doing now to shape the profession they want to see

The big question we explore is:

What do we need to do today to build a stronger financial planning profession for the future?

PROpulsion LIVE is for financial planners, advisers, firm owners and anyone working to build a better financial planning business and profession.

Subscribe to the channel and join the conversation.