The 10 conversations you need to have with a financial adviser (but probably haven’t)
By Aldert Brink, CEO: Momentum Financial Planning
This World Financial Planning Day, don’t look past the usual questions about saving, investing, and retirement. The conversations you’ve been putting off may be the ones that matter most.
Most people know the familiar questions: How much should I save? Where should I invest? When can I retire?
A good financial plan also has to deal with the harder ones. What happens if you die? How much debt is too much? What if your parents need your help, or your career changes direction? These questions aren’t comfortable, so they often wait for a crisis, or for a big life event like a wedding, a baby, a new home or a career change.
Financial planning is most valuable before those moments arrive. Here are ten conversations worth having with your adviser. Tick off the ones you’ve had, and notice the ones you haven’t.
1. What happens to my family if I die?
It’s the question everyone avoids, and the one with the most consequences. The conversation covers how much cover you need, who it would support, and whether it would settle debt, replace your income, and keep your family’s plans on track. Bring your policies. Your adviser can check whether they still match your life today, not the life you had when you took them out.
2. What if I can’t work?
Your ability to earn is probably your biggest financial asset, yet it’s rarely insured. Ask how disability and income protection cover would work for you, and how long your household could manage if your income stopped or dropped. Momentum’s Life Insurance 2025 claims data shows that these events aren’t rare. Approximately 49% of monthly income protection payments in 2025 went to disability claims.
3. Could we cope with a serious illness?
Medical advances mean many people now survive conditions that were once fatal, but recovery brings costs, and often lost income. Momentum’s 2025 claims data shows that 87% of clients who died from cancer or cardiovascular conditions did not have critical illness cover in place. A conversation about critical illness cover isn’t about fear. It’s about knowing whether your savings could carry you through treatment and recovery.
4. How much debt is too much?
Many people are embarrassed to raise this one. You aren’t alone. The Eighty20 and XDS Credit Stress Report found that 41.8% of credit-active South Africans are in default on at least one credit agreement. South African Reserve Bank data puts household debt at 62.2% of annual disposable income in the first quarter of 2026. Your adviser can help you look at the full picture, prioritise repayments, and see how debt affects your goals, without judgement.
5. What if my career changes?
Retrenchment, a career break, a move into self-employment, or a side business can all change your finances overnight. Raise it while things are stable. Ask how big your emergency fund should be, what would happen to your benefits and retirement contributions, and how to keep your plan going through a gap in income.
6. Will my parents need my financial support?
Many South Africans are supporting children and ageing parents at the same time. It’s a caring responsibility, and also a financial one. Talk through what you already contribute, what may be needed later, and how to fit it into your own plan without derailing your retirement, or your children’s future. If you can, bring your parents into the conversation too.
7. Is the retirement I’m picturing the one I’m saving for?
Most people know they should save for retirement. Fewer have tested whether the lifestyle they expect is realistic. Ask your adviser to show you what your current savings could provide, what your expenses may look like in retirement, and whether debt will follow you there. The gap between expectation and reality is far easier to close at 40 than at 60.
8. Do our money habits match our goals?
This conversation is about behaviour as much as numbers. It covers whether you and your partner are aligned on spending, saving, and risk, and whether habits are quietly working against your plan. It also includes topics that are hard to admit, like gambling. An adviser can help you work through these issues without shame.
9. How will we pay for our children’s future?
Education is a long journey and a costly one. School fee inflation at government schools has, on average, run about 2.6% above inflation every year since 2012, according to an analysis by the South African Reserve Bank. Talk about what you want to fund, when the costs will hit and what would happen to that plan if something happened to you. Your adviser can also help you think about what money lessons you want to pass on.
10. What happens to my plan when life doesn’t go to plan?
Every plan meets surprises, such as divorce, illness, a job loss, rising inflation, or an economic shock. A good plan isn’t one that assumes nothing will go wrong. It has been stress-tested for the possibility that something will. Ask your adviser how your plan would hold up under different scenarios, and how often it should be reviewed. A yearly check, or a check after any major life event, is a good habit.
Why the conversation matters more than the product
Notice how the ten conversations connect. Debt affects your ability to save. Your career affects your cover. Your parents’ needs affect your retirement. The value of an adviser lies in seeing those links, and helping you make decisions that work together instead of one product at a time.
So, where do you start? Look back over the ten questions. Which one made you pause? Which one have you been putting off? That’s where you start. Take your questions, your policies, and your concerns to a financial adviser and they will guide you through the rest.
