What has your career journey looked like?

I've been working for Old Mutual PFA (Personal Financial Advice) for 35 years, after starting out as an insurance salesman at the age of 23. After about six or seven years – when I was approaching 30 – I realised that you need to diversify if you want to build a proper practice as a financial adviser. You can't have one stream of income and rely on sales. You need to build a fee-based business where you also get paid for admin services, so that you can run a more holistic business and employ people. That's when I decided that corporate needed to be a big part of my business.

Tell us more about your current role.

My company – Deon Schoeman and Associates – is part of Old Mutual PFA. Being part of Old Mutual means that we run an independent business, but still benefit from the scale and support of a large institution. For example, Old Mutual handles fee collection and facilitates payments to us. While we have access to other products, we mostly service our clients with Old Mutual products. And because we’re loyal to Old Mutual, they are loyal to us; they give us really good service and look after us very nicely.

Our business is built on trusting, lasting relationships with clients. It’s about delivering on promises and being there for people when they need you. At the end of the day, a product is a product – the real difference is the advice. And, of course, if you have a lot of business with a company, then they're going to look after your clients. In 35 years, Old Mutual has never let me down.

How do you use your corporate book to build your retail business?

My corporate book has probably been the biggest funder of my retail business – your net is just so much wider. All of a sudden, you’re looking after a couple of hundred customers, and all of these people need to retire. If they know you've been around long enough, they're going to invest their pension with you – and if something happens to any of them, you’ll be the one who helps the family get through it.

If a company is on my corporate book, I receive data on all the people on the fund every month. Superfund are also very nice – they send you alerts when someone is up to five years out of retirement, or when somebody is leaving. And, obviously, they’ll contact the client and say, “Your retirement's coming up. Speak to the adviser on your fund.” 

I sell the full range of Old Mutual products – from life to savings to investments – and I get calls from my corporate clients all the time to do personal financial planning with them. They already know me, so I’m forever getting calls from corporate clients saying, “Listen, I need to put an education plan together for my children”, or even, “My brother’s retiring. Will you help his family out?” 

I’ve also found it helpful to have a direct relationship with the company’s HR or finance department, because they will tell you if somebody wants to retire or leave. This is hugely helpful in terms of finding retail clients – and you're helping the employer provide a better service to their employees as well.

What are some of the most significant challenges you have faced in your career?

People aren't retirement prone and very few employees want retirement funds – it's not like the old days. When I was young, we got a job because it had benefits and we’d have a retirement scheme. But the Gen Zs and Millennials don't feel the need to save so much for retirement. Given the option of saving 7.5% or 15% of their salary, most of them will go with 7.5%. So my challenge is really just educating people on retirement and what you need to save to be able to retire comfortably.

Very few people understand that you actually have to spend less than you earn, and be able to put away 20% of your salary on top of that! It's so simple, but I don't think people are taught it, and I don't think people speak about it at home. I have two sons, aged 26 and 24, and they both save 20% of their salary – and they've been doing it since they were 16. In fact, I think my oldest son is saving 80% of his salary! And that’s because we've always spoken about finance.

System changes can also be challenging, but there's no way that any business is going to run forever without needing to upgrade or change or improve. Work with it … If you just breathe, educate all your staff and help people, you’ll get over it and it won’t feel so difficult.

What aspects of your career do you find most rewarding?

The people you meet, the business you do, and just the life you live. It's actually been really great. You start out with a small book and then you set goals and keep building your book, which is really satisfying and creates a sense of achievement.

It’s also very rewarding when you've helped somebody plan for retirement and they actually get there and hit the number they aimed at. If you have a plan and stick to it, you get there. The problem is when you don't have a plan and you don't set goals. I always say: if you haven't got a plan, you follow somebody else's plan.

What advice do you have for other intermediaries?

1.   Have an annual business plan. If you want to achieve something, you need to know what the goal is, and then you need an action plan you can follow. I write one up every year, and we check it quarterly to see where we are according to our targets. I'm a strong believer that your thoughts become your actions, become your reality.

2.   Set realistic goals. It’s pointless setting a goal that you don’t believe you can achieve.

3.   Diversify your business. You can’t do only one thing, because everything works in cycles. If you're only in the investment business and there's a downturn in the market, it can be really tough. But if you diversify, you can offer more value to clients while protecting yourself from risk.

4.   Be advice-based, not product based. If you offer a holistic service – where you're actually not selling products, but financially advising a client and looking after all their finances – then they’re going to get a lot further with you.