Financial Planning
Over 55 years of Trust and Friendship
Your car is insured, but is your life?
Long term insurance covers an irreplaceable asset: YOUR LIFE.
This includes life policies, investment planning, retirement planning, estate planning, medical aid and gap cover.
At Reid Raetzer, we know that your most important asset is your the ability to earn an income. Our specialist Life Brokers will help you protect this asset, assess your financial vulnerabilities and provide solutions to generate income or capital on both a personal and business basis.
We have partnered with all the major South African insurance companies to give you the power to build a policy portfolio that best suits your financial plan and lifestyle. Ensuring that you always have the ability to choose from the latest benefits at the best premiums enables us to build a holistic financial portfolio, which is our ultimate goal for you.
Personal
Independence, to a large degree, depends on whether or not we can afford to look after ourselves and our loved ones. A loss of life, disability, disease and retrenchment are all risks to our income and to our financial stability. We cannot control when these events may occur but Reid Raetzer can help you protect your financial stability against them. This is Personal Financial Planning. Our Life Brokers have built legacies for their clients by assisting them in building their personal financial plans. Financial Planning is not something you order, it’s something you tailor with guidance.
Commercial
Reid Raetzer offers Corporate Financial Planning and Advisory Services that improve the financial risk management and succession planning of businesses and business owners. We understand that you as a business owner have a lot on your plate, and if something were to happen to you, or a key individual in your business, then it is likely that your family, your business and yourself could be left in a financial crisis. By analyzing your financial risk and implementing the right solutions, we can ensure that your business, your family and yourself are protected from a negative financial impact if tragedy struck.
Personal Financial Planning Services
Life Cover | Disability | Severe Illness | Income Protection
Wealth Protection is the foundation of Financial Planning. A Financial Needs Analysis is conducted and the risks that you and/or your family would face in the event of your death, your becoming disabled or the contraction of a severe illness are calculated and analyzed.
The three main events that we will look at is death, disability and severe illness. Within each of these circumstances are a vast amount of needs specific to each client. Anything and everything from covering your bond, paying off your vehicle, providing funding for school fees and varsity to enabling you to convert your vehicle to being wheelchair friendly, provide you with your income or the ability to hire a chef or have your groceries delivered. When it comes to Financial Planning, one size does not fit all.
Life Cover policies provide cover in the event of death. The amount needed is calculated by looking at the expenses that you have that would continue after your death, for example your child’s school fees, and also the debt that you have that would need to be covered. Taxes and your estate costs are also taken into account to ensure that you are correctly covered for your needs.
Disability cover comes in the form of two primary benefits, a lump-sum benefit and income protection.
Income Protection should always be the starting point when planning to cover financial shortfalls for disability. The benefit will provide a cover amount based on your net salary, paying out on a monthly basis. Income Protection products vary depending on the insurance company and it wise to go through each offering with one of our Life Brokers to ensure that you are covered correctly.
Lump-sum disability benefits are need specific, meaning that we calculate the benefit based on your needs for adaptation and any other requirements such as debt that needs to be covered. When we discuss adaptation, we refer to needs such as the conversion of your vehicle to being wheelchair friendly, whether or not you would need to make changes to your property and any other financial obstacles that would need to be addressed to cater for your disability and enable you to live a lifestyle that is as comfortable as possible.
Severe Illness, or Dread Disease, Cover is becoming increasingly important, especially in the younger generations. Previously a heart attack, cancer or stroke was viewed as a condition that would only affect you in your later years in life. We are seeing more and more claims affecting the 20 and 30 year old age bracket and it is increasing on a yearly basis.
Severe Illness cover is necessary to cover medical costs that are over and above the provision of your medical aid and gap cover, and also to provide for those unforeseen expenses. We unfortunately forget the mundane daily tasks we perform with ease, such as grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning. Having the financial capability to delegate these tasks to an external provider allows more time for recovery and rest.
Lastly, and most importantly, Severe Illness cover, if calculated correctly could allow you to put your career on hold and focus on your recovery. A mild heart attach or early stage cancer may not render you disabled as you might still be able to fulfill the roles and responsibilities of your occupation. In turn, this leaves you in the same position of stress and day to day activity that you had prior to your condition, which is not conducive to a full recovery. If you had the financial resources to put your occupation on hold for a year, for example, and focus on your recovery, this could have a drastic effect on whether your illness may advance or not. Our Life Brokers will discuss this with you and together we can build a financial plan that will cater specifically to your needs in the event of Severe Illness.
What is your objective or reason for investing?
What are we saving for? Is it specific or is it for a rainy day?
What is your timeframe for achieving your desired outcome?
If you are investing for a specific goal or need, how long do you have in order to achieve this? If you are putting funds aside for a rainy day, do you know when the weather will change?
What is your affordability?
How much can you invest without negatively impacting your monthly cashflow? The three questions we have just read through work together. If you have a big goal with small time, then you are going to need big funding. If you have a big goal with a big amount of time then a smaller amount of funding will be required.
What now?
By taking into account your answers to the above, we can now assist you in developing your investment plan and provide you with the most effective solution to achieve your goal. We will discuss:- Which is the most suitable product for you.
- Assessing your risk profile to make sure you do not take on more risk than you are comfortable with.
- Based on your risk profile, we will propose the investment funds that we believe will assist you in achieving your investment goal.
Will your income continue when your salary stops? What a daunting thought?
Quite often this is the area of a Financial Plan that is forgotten, or avoided, yet probably the most important considering that time is greatest factor in helping us achieve your goal.
In order to provide an income for yourself for almost the same amount of time as half your working life, we need to be proactive and specific. Our Life Brokers don’t just provide “RA’s”, they provide a retirement planning solution that will cater for every scenario that you can think of. They will review this solution with you on an annual basis to make sure that you are on track and make adjustments accordingly. The earlier we start this process, the easier it is going to be.
A Financial Plan is not complete without a Will, in fact this will be most important document you will ever sign. A Last Will & Testament is not a document to be forgotten though, it needs to be updated and reviewed annually.
Our partners enable us to provide our clients with access to expert advice in the drafting of Wills and the setting up of Trusts if necessary.
Important questions on the drafting of Wills:
- Does your will include an Exclusion of Inheritance Clause?
- Have you reviewed who your nominated executors and guardians are? Are they qualified for the roles and responsibilities of the position?
- If your children are of minor age, is there provision for a trust to be set up on the death of both parents?
These and other important questions need to be answered in order to solidify the Financial Plan that we have created together. Our Life Brokers know the questions to ask.
Medical Aid & GAP Cover have unfortunately become necessities in our country. State facilities are overcrowded and underfunded and cannot cope with the sheer volume of patients. Imagine needing to consult an oncologist and there isn’t one, in the hospital or in the province? This is not the predicament you want to find yourself in.
We understand that Medical Aid & GAP Cover options come with an enormous price tag, which is why we have partnered with only the best insurers in this field to provide a range of options that are affordable and can be customized to your needs.
Our Life Brokers are able to guide you through an out of the box thinking when choosing your medical to ensure that your solution provides you with sufficient cover whilst remaining efficient on your wallet.
Commercial Financial Planning Services
Pension Funds | Group Life | Medical Aid & GAP Cover
“Train people well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” – Sir Richard Branson
Reid Raetzer values its staff. Without them, we wouldn’t have a business. We take the same care when dealing with our Corporate Clients because our staff members are not numbers to us, and neither are yours.
Pension / Provident Funds
A Pension (or Provident) Fund is the foundation upon which a holistic employee benefit offering is built. We enable our Corporate Clients to provide their Employees with a competitive retirement and insurance benefits package, thus increasing their staff retention rate which contributes to the overall financial wellness of the business. Often when we hear the words pension or provident funds, we immediately think of saving for retirement. However, they can be so much more. A pension or provident fund is the platform that provides an employee with retirement savings, risk benefits such as life cover and/or disability cover and funeral cover. We are also seeing a growing trend whereby businesses are incorporating severe illness benefits into the funds as well. Our Corporate Brokers will be able to assist in not only structuring the correct offering in accordance with the needs of the business, but also in presenting these benefits to your staff and explaining the value and impact that it will have on their future.
Health Benefits
A healthier workforce is a more productive workforce. Employers that provide healthcare benefits to their Employees reap the benefits of a happier, more engaged workforce with a lower staff turnover rate. Our Corporate Brokers are able to assist our clients in implementing Medical aid, Medical insurance and GAP Cover Schemes that cater to the needs of the business and its Employees.The implementation of a Buy & Sell Agreement, also known as a partner agreement, is imperative when a business has two or more shareholders that do not have an intention of leaving their shares in the business to a family member.
A Buy & Sell Agreement is an agreement between shareholders that provides for the sale of the shareholder’s shares on death and/or disability.
The benefits of implementing a Buy & Sell Agreement are the following:
- The purchase price of the shareholder’s shares is determined up front
- An agreement is in place that guarantees a sale on death or disability
- The funding for the purchase of these shares is already in place by means of a life policy
For more information on Buy & Sell Agreements, speak to one of our Corporate Specialists.
A Contingent Liability policy is used for a business owner that has signed surety for the debt of their business.
This is a contractual agreement that is funded by a life policy in the event that a business owner should pass away or become disabled. The death or disability of a business owner would trigger a claim on the life policy, thereby enforcing the agreement between the owner and the business.
The proceeds of the claim would be used to settle the debt that the owner signed surety for, releasing their obligation to the bank and securing the financial stability of the company.
It is common to find a life policy in place without a signed Contingent Liability Agreement. This could cause severe consequences on the death of a business owner.
For more information on Contingent Liability Policies and Agreements, speak to one of our Corporate Specialists.
Do you have a staff member in your employ that without them, your business would suffer financial loss? A staff member, who to replace, would take a great deal of time and training? This is the importance of Keyman Assurance.
Keyman Policies provide a business with an insurance option that will cover the life of your valuable employee and provide your business with a lump sum payment should this employee pass away or become disabled. We understand that there will be costs involved in replacing this employee, and worse, there could be a loss of turnover. Keyman Assurance Policies are implemented to provide for this loss and assist the business in the adjustment period.
For more information, speak to one of our Corporate Specialists to find out more about Keyman Assurance Policies.