Your adviser must be licensed by the FSCA to give you financial advice. An FSP number means they are regulated, accountable, and must treat you fairly under the FAIS Act.

Our answer: Yes - XPert Wealth (Pty) Ltd, FSP No. 51670, authorised by the FSCA.

Conflicts of interest are real. You deserve to know whether your adviser earns more if you buy a specific product. Full fee transparency is a legal requirement under FAIS.

Our answer: We disclose all fees and remuneration in writing before you sign anything. You will always know exactly what you pay and why.

Between the team we hold CFP® designations, a Master of Commerce in Taxation, two law degrees, postgraduate diplomas in financial planning, a National Diploma in Public Relations Management with a Programme in Financial Management, and current FAIS regulatory examinations.

All representatives meet the FAIS fit and proper requirements, including class of business training and continuous professional development.

Every piece of advice should be documented in a Record of Advice. If something goes wrong, this protects you. If your adviser will not put it in writing, be cautious.

Our answer: Always. Every recommendation is documented in a formal Record of Advice that you receive and keep.

Your assets should be held by a licensed, regulated institution - not by the adviser directly.

Our answer: Your investments are held by regulated product providers. We are the adviser; your assets are never held by us.

We are not tied to any single product house, fund manager or insurer. We hold relationships across the market and compare on every case. Our conflict of interest policy is available on request.

There are three separate layers, and they are often confused. The advice fee is what you pay us. The platform fee is what the administration platform charges. The fund fee is charged by the manager of each underlying fund.

We disclose all three in writing, in rand terms as well as percentages, before you commit to anything.

No. The first consultation is free, carries no obligation, and you are under no pressure to proceed. You leave with an honest view of whether and how we can help - whether or not you become a client.

Product providers apply their own minimums, which differ by product and platform, and we will tell you what applies before you commit.

Yes. The ongoing advice fee is paid under a mandate you sign and can withdraw. Ending the advice relationship does not mean your investments are disturbed - they remain with the product provider.

No. Risk profiling, financial needs analysis, Record of Advice, portfolio reviews and ongoing advice are all included in the ongoing advice fee. There is no billing per service and no reason to avoid asking a question.

A relaxed conversation, about an hour, at our offices or over video call. We listen to your situation and your goals. There are no forms to complete and nothing is sold. We explain our process, our fees and what to expect.

Whatever you have to hand: recent statements for investments and retirement funds, policy schedules for any cover you hold, your latest payslip or financial statements, and a copy of your will if you have one. If you have none of it, come anyway - we can request most of it on your behalf.

No product is recommended before a full financial needs analysis is complete, and nothing is implemented before it is in writing. In practice that usually means a second meeting to present the analysis and the Record of Advice. Complex estates or business structures take longer.

No. Sometimes the right advice is to leave an investment exactly where it is. Where we do recommend a change, we show you the cost of switching, any penalties, and the reasoning, before you decide.

Yes. Meetings can be held over video call at a time that suits you, and documents can be signed electronically. Several of our clients are outside Gauteng and some are outside South Africa.

We report on a time-weighted return basis as the primary measure, which shows how the portfolio itself performed, and we show money-weighted return (IRR) alongside it, which reflects the effect of your own contribution and withdrawal timing.

The two figures answer different questions and we think you should see both. We use published minimum disclosure documents in the correct share class and platform, and we do not splice performance histories together.

Formal written reviews are part of the ongoing advice fee, and monitoring happens daily rather than annually. We contact you when something needs action - you should not have to chase us to find out how your money is doing.

Falls are a normal feature of investing, not a malfunction. The plan is built with them in mind, which is why the mandate is agreed in writing before any money is invested.

Our job at that point is to tell you what actually changed, what did not, and whether your plan still holds. Often the correct action is none.

Yes, both through rand-denominated offshore funds and through direct offshore investment using your annual allowances. Which route suits you depends on your tax position, your time horizon and what the money is for.

Mainly how they are taxed and how accessible they are. A unit trust is taxed in your hands at your own rates and is fully accessible. An endowment is taxed inside the policyholder fund at fixed rates, which can suit higher-bracket investors, and has a five-year restriction period. A tax-free savings account grows free of tax on growth, interest and dividends but is subject to annual and lifetime contribution limits.

Which is right depends on your marginal rate and your time horizon. Current contribution limits: verify against the current tax year.

There is no single number, and any adviser who gives you one before doing the analysis is guessing. It depends on what you want to spend, how long the money must last, what other income you will have, and what you have already accumulated.

We model it explicitly, and we stress-test the answer across a range of return assumptions rather than a single optimistic one.

Under the two-pot retirement system, contributions are split between a savings component and a retirement component. The savings component allows limited withdrawals before retirement; the retirement component is preserved until you retire.

Withdrawals are taxed at your marginal rate and permanently reduce your retirement capital, so they are rarely the cheapest source of cash.

Retirement fund contributions are deductible under section 11F, subject to a percentage of income and an annual rand cap. Contributions above the cap are not lost - they roll forward and can reduce tax on your eventual lump sum or annuity income.

A living annuity leaves you invested and in control of the drawdown rate, with the investment and longevity risk on you, and what remains passes to your beneficiaries. A guaranteed annuity pays a set income for life, transferring that risk to the insurer, but generally leaves nothing behind.

It is not always either-or - a combination is often the better answer. The right split depends on your other income, your health and how much certainty you need.

That depends on your age, your other income and how much volatility you can absorb. The first few years of drawdown matter disproportionately, because withdrawing from a falling portfolio does damage that later growth struggles to repair.

We stress-test the rate rather than applying a rule of thumb, and we revisit it at every review.

A medical scheme pays for your healthcare according to its rules and rates. Gap cover is a separate short-term insurance product that addresses the shortfall when a specialist charges more than the scheme rate.

Gap cover is not a substitute for a medical scheme, and it cannot be held without one.

They do different jobs. Lump sum disability cover pays out once, usually on permanent disability. Income protection replaces your monthly earnings while you cannot work, including for temporary conditions you would expect to recover from.

Most people need both, sized to an actual needs analysis rather than a round number.

Yes, and it is usually where we start. We audit what you hold, what it costs, and whether it still fits the life you have now. Cancelling cover you already hold is a decision to take carefully - replacing an older policy can mean new underwriting and new exclusions.

Yes. Claims support is part of what you get, across life, disability, health and short-term cover. You should not be negotiating a claim alone at the point you most need the money.

We process personal information in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act, for the purpose of giving you advice and meeting our regulatory record-keeping obligations. Our full privacy notice and PAIA manual.

Product providers and platforms need what is necessary to administer your investments and policies. Beyond that, we do not share your information without your consent, except where the law requires it.

Raise it with us first so we can put it right - complaints should be submitted in writing to our complaints officer: If it is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may refer the matter to the Office of the FAIS Ombud.