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Your clients want a secure financial future for themselves, their families and generations to come. It’s a wonderful gift they can leave loved ones and is much more than a lump sum inheritance. But it’s nearly impossible to do alone. Work with your clients to help them plan their legacy using your expert advice, financial planning tools and products.
Legacies are more than just cash and investment handovers
Mention a financial legacy and a client may typically start thinking about the assets they leave for their loved ones and worry it isn’t enough. There’s little doubt we all appreciate a windfall and it can greatly improve our financial position, but financial legacies are much more. They are about knowing how to manage money, how to protect and grow wealth and how to cope with a financial shock. Legacies are also about the money habits our children learn from us, good and bad. Advisers can help clients with their financial legacies in at least five different ways.
Legacy #1: a valid will and estate plan
Recent surveys suggest that just over a third of South Africans have a will, we’re not the only country with a low number. A US study found less than 30% had a will. But the need and desire for a will and estate plan is much higher than these numbers suggest: over 90% of US clients and over 72% of UK investors want this service from their advisers when in their 40s and 50s.
Set up a time with your clients to help them draft or review their will. Unfortunately, there does come a time when it is too late, so emphasise that sooner is better. Wills are classic procrastination areas, often because there is discomfort talking about death. As a non-family member you can take some of the emotion out of the discussion and focus on the practicalities to get the ball rolling.
Clients generally know what they have and who they want to benefit, which is the first place to start. But then things can become a little more complex, which is where you can add valuable advice and insights:
Ensure beneficiaries can inherit or take ownership
It still happens that testators leave assets to minors, causing delays, frustrations and sometimes a fall in asset values as a result of delays. Beneficiaries of the will, and any investments and retirement savings products such as pension funds, should be updated and reviewed once a year.
Ensure minors are taken care of and a Guardian named
If necessary, a testamentary trust should be drafted or included in the will for this purpose.
Access to funds while the estate is wound up
Include plans for immediate access to cash for living expenses while the estate is being administered. This may include access to bank accounts so the family can pay their expenses. If necessary, ensure spouses have their own accounts.
Set up a plan for estate expenses
Death can be expensive as can winding up an estate with numerous costs applicable such as executor's fees. Estates with liquidity can manage these without the sale of assets. Estates with no plans for payment of these costs can fall in value dramatically. Life insurance can cover these costs, as can products such as the 1Life Wills and Estate Plan that now offers cover of up to R12 million. These funds can also be used to pay any taxes.
Draft comprehensive tax plans that can improve beneficiaries’ inheritances
Taxes on death may include personal tax, estate duty, capital gains tax (CGT) as well as any taxes applicable to offshore assets. These can mount up. Even though the JSE is down around 5% this year (to 25 March 2026), it is up over 100% over five years. For many, that is a substantial capital gain and accompanying tax bill. If clients have long-term investments, their estate will have a CGT bill.
Tax plans can also include tax-efficient investments, starting with the TFSA and RA, as well as making use of donations tax exemptions while the client is alive, such as tax-free donations between spouses and the R150 000 annual tax-free donations. You can read more about minimising clients’ estate duty in this blog.
As a caveat, tax plans need to be reviewed and updated as client needs and tax legislation change, such as in SA’s 2026 Budget, when CGT exclusions and tax-free donation limits were raised.
Wills and estate plans can become detailed and time-consuming to set up. The benefit for your client and their family however, is almost unquantifiable. When a client has a plan the estate can be wound up smoothly, the family can take possession of their inheritance relatively quickly and continue growing their wealth. Without a plan, winding up an estate can take years as well as a lot of funds in the estate.
Legacy #2: encourage clients to make financial planning a formal family affair
This makes a good gift because it gives a better chance of the family continuing the client’s legacy. Inheritances have proved easy to use up quickly and sometimes squander. As many as 70% of families can lose their wealth by the second generation and 90% by the third. Most often, this is down to a lack of communication. Clients may not want to talk about when they pass away with their families, but not doing so can hurt their family’s future financial stability. Help your clients have conversations with family, or bring them all into your office so you can explain what the plan is, why it was drawn up and how the beneficiaries can use their financial legacies to maintain and grow wealth.
There’s also an advice opportunity here. One study found that 90% of those receiving a legacy leave their benefactor’s adviser. Get to know the family and you have a better chance of keeping the business.
Legacy #3: encourage clients to practice good financial habits
We learn more by experience and observation than words, so how your client manages money acts as an example to their children. A client who has insurance for asset protection and invests every month, and talks about it, has money-savvy kids. Studies have shown that financial knowledge leads to greater financial resilience, which means less financial stress for future generations.
You can help clients with online financial education courses, share tips in your newsletters, even record a series of YouTube videos talking about money that your clients and their families can view.
A really good financial habit is the drafting and following of a financial plan. Kids learn about money early, with one study suggesting their habits are formed before their teen years. Getting your client to introduce the concept of a financial plan and budget early in their life can help children become familiar with money and managing tools.
Legacy #4: help clients explain potential financial setbacks and how to manage them
These can be fraud and theft, a fall in an investment’s value, an accident, such as car accident, and the ever-present unexpected expense. You help your client prepare for these with insurance, diversification in investments and emergency funds. They can pass this knowledge on to their families, including how to stay safe from fraud and identity theft.
A financial shock may also require that a client asks for help, perhaps from a financial adviser, debt counsellor, attorney, even family member. This is something many find hard to do, but it’s a legacy that can empower loved ones and lets them know they are not alone.
Legacy #5: using experts
If your client needs an inter vivos trust, a complex tax plan, debt restructuring and a financial plan they need to consult an expert. If these are not your area, team up with an expert. For the client, they get the plan they need, you get a potential source of business growth and expertise and your client’s family gets to see the need for specialist advice and help.
Legacies, like managing money, are journeys
It is essential for clients to have wills and estate plans, but their financial legacy is also built in how they impart money values and management styles to their families. Leave a family with R1 million and no knowledge of financial products and plans and that money is easily spent. Leave R500 000 and a wealth of knowledge on how to invest, how to protect wealth and how to manage budgets and your client’s family has a good chance of growing that R500 000.