Employee benefits and personal finance are often viewed and treated as separate entities, when in fact, they are just two parts of a bigger picture. This article explores the importance of looking at client finances holistically.
In the early part of my career, I worked for a medium-size company that offered surprisingly comprehensive employee benefits. While staff appreciated the partially subsidised medical cover they received for themselves and their dependants, the mandatory contribution to a provident fund was met with considerably less enthusiasm. For many of the predominantly young employees, the idea that they were being forced to put money aside for their future selves felt nonsensical. They used words like “ridiculous”, “outrageous”, and even “robbery”. The reason: they had never worked with a financial adviser and couldn’t grasp how this investment contributed to their overall financial wellbeing in the context of their personal finance.
Financial divisions
Even those who do seek out financial advice in their personal capacity don’t always appreciate how their employee benefits fit into the picture. For many clients, the two fit into separate packages. In the one: their personal finance – savings, insurance, retirement plans. In the other: their employee benefits – medical aid, group risk cover, and retirement funds. Because the latter gets deducted prior to their salary arriving in their bank account, it can often feel out of sight, out of mind. Clients may talk about having “stuff” with their employer, while not fully understanding the products or how they fit into their lives.
In reality, these seemingly disparate financial entities are part of one story. And intermediaries who treat them as one interconnected journey are better positioned to deliver meaningful, long-term impact.
“A holistic approach to insurance and financial planning means understanding that the whole is more than just the sum of its parts,” says Jaco Oosthuizen, Co-Founder and MD of YuLife SA. “At YuLife, we believe in integrating both an individual’s personal and work-related financial needs into a single, cohesive strategy – one that supports every aspect of their wellbeing.”
Why are employee benefits still seen as separate?
Traditionally, employee benefits are seen as the employer’s domain, while personal finance is left to the individual. But that way of thinking is not serving clients or advisers. “This siloed perspective overlooks a critical truth: financial wellbeing is holistic, and what happens in one area inevitably impacts the other,” says Oosthuizen.
This is especially relevant as the world of work evolves and people have longer careers. Data analysis by Sanlam Corporate revealed that South Africa’s true retirement age is around 80 – considerably higher than many South Africans expect and plan for. Commenting on the findings, Kanyisa Mkhize, CEO of Sanlam Corporate, said: “Our internal member data indicates that while 65 remains the official retirement age, most South Africans can’t afford to retire at this age. Most people will need to work an additional 15 years to achieve financial security in retirement. This 15-year gap represents a financial challenge and a fundamental shift in how we think about retirement planning and employee benefits in South Africa. This gap between expectation and reality presents significant challenges for individuals, businesses, and the broader economy. It also highlights the critical role that holistic benefits will play in shaping a more secure future for our workforce.”
With the two-pot system in place, advice around retirement savings is more important than ever. In the 2024 Sanlam Benchmark Survey, 59% of respondents said they would access funds from their retirement savings. For desperate employees, this may seem like a lifeline in the short term, but ultimately, it can lead to additional financial stress. And in the same survey, 80% of respondents indicated they were currently experiencing financial stress that was impacting their mental health. This can spill over into the workplace.
“An employee’s financial stress at home can easily carry over into the workplace, affecting focus, engagement, and overall wellbeing,” Oosthuizen continues. “Likewise, meaningful benefits at work can provide much-needed stability and support in an individual’s personal life.”
In other words, when one part of a client’s financial life is neglected, the effects ripple outward. A high-performing employee might be grappling with debt or inadequate insurance cover at home, undermining their resilience. Or they may be sitting on underutilised workplace benefits simply because they don’t understand what’s available – or how those benefits fit into their bigger picture.
“Many employees are unclear about how their benefits align with their personal financial goals or how to optimise them for maximum impact,” Oosthuizen notes. “This disconnect prevents employees from fully leveraging the resources available to them.”
In the 2024 Old Mutual Workplace Benefits Primary Research powered by LIMRA, 84% of employees surveyed reported they were satisfied with their employee benefits. However, there was a small discrepancy between which benefits employees valued most, compared to the benefits ranked as most important.
Employers’ top five benefits:
- retirement savings plan (92%)
- medical aid (73%)
- group funeral cover (68%)
- group life cover (63%)
- employee assistance programmes (61%)
- financial advice (60%)
Employees’ top five benefits:
- medical aid (98%)
- retirement savings plan (95%)
- employee assistance programmes (80%)
- health/medical insurance (77%)
- mental health benefits (75%)
The cost of a fragmented approach
The consequences of not taking a holistic approach can be serious: Misalignment between benefits and personal cover, underinsurance, or inefficient savings strategies. “The risk of not adopting a holistic approach to financial planning is that clients may be left with significant gaps in their protection and long-term security,” says Oosthuizen. “Without considering the full spectrum of their financial lives – including insurance coverage, employee benefits, and personal financial goals – individuals can easily become underinsured, overexposed, or misaligned in key areas of their financial wellbeing.”
And there’s a deeper issue too: the failure to see finance as a key part of overall wellness.
“Our physical, mental, and financial health are deeply interconnected,” says Oosthuizen. “For example, a client who isn’t getting enough quality sleep or regular exercise may experience higher stress levels, leading to impulsive financial decisions. One small imbalance can trigger a chain of events that derails progress toward long-term financial stability. By taking a holistic view, we can help clients build more resilient foundations — supporting not just their financial goals, but their overall wellbeing.”
In the Sanlam Benchmark Survey, 53% of respondents said they believe a holistic integrated health and financial wellness programme delivers higher productivity and staff happiness.
It’s a compelling case for integration – not just for clients, but for the teams advising them. When financial advisers and employee benefits consultants work together more intentionally, the result is a strategy that supports both employer and employee goals.
“This could mean offering educational sessions where employees learn how their personal financial planning can complement their workplace benefits,” Oosthuizen suggests. “Regular communication ensures the financial strategies they design are unified and truly serve the client’s best interests.”
Bringing the two together
One could argue that it’s the responsibility of the individual to engage with their HR department, understand their benefits and ensure they are sufficiently educated to spot any gaps that need to be filled. However, employees don’t always know what they don’t know – and that knowledge gap can be wide.
In the 2023 Momentum Unisa Household Financial Wellness Index, 45.7% of 19.2 million households deemed themselves to be financially literate in a self-assessment, yet only 15% were actually found to be financially literate on evaluation. “It points to a much bigger problem, as financially harmful decisions may flow from a belief of possessing financial knowledge which actually does not exist – and when the damage is done the household may not understand why it happened,” the report stated.
What’s more, the report revealed that lack of financial literacy was apparent across the board, as noted here: “Demographic analyses of the 15% of households who are actually financially literate revealed that South Africa’s financial literacy challenge is widespread and not contained to certain groups – although some groups are a bit more financially literate than others. It also contradicted some beliefs and assumptions on who is supposed to be financially literate or not.” And while the percentage of financial literacy increased with level of education, having a high level of education did not guarantee financial literacy – only around 20% of graduates and postgraduates were found to be financially literate.
These findings highlight the importance of not assuming that staff understand their employee benefits. “In our experience, a significant number of employees lack a full understanding of the value and breadth of their company benefits. This gap in awareness often leads to underutilisation, which not only diminishes the potential impact of these benefits but can also negatively affect overall employee satisfaction and engagement,” says Oosthuizen. “Many employees are unclear about how their benefits align with their personal financial goals or how to optimise them for maximum impact. This disconnect prevents employees from fully leveraging the resources available to them, hindering both their financial wellbeing and their overall workplace experience.”
The value of medical cover may be more tangible and immediately apparent, based on a person’s lived experience. When it comes to risk and life planning, however, you’re speaking in what-ifs, and those abstract scenarios can become confusing. There’s a good chance an individual might not be aware that various risk products exist or understand why they might need them. Similarly, retirement may feel like a lifetime away when you’re in your 20s, 30s or even 40s, and investing for it when you have immediate expenses like home and car repayments or travel aspirations can seem almost illogical.
In the Momentum/Unisa survey, it was apparent that respondents needed guidance around saving for retirement: “Both financially literate and financially not literate households portrayed a broad understanding of the concept of saving for retirement. Both, however, lacked detail on when (what age) they should start saving for retirement and how much of their income they should allocate towards retirement provision.”
Financial planning adds value through educating clients, helping them envision their future needs, and showing them how it all fits together.
Technology making it easier
Digital tools are playing a vital role in breaking down the traditional barriers between employee benefits and personal finance. Platforms that consolidate data from multiple sources allow advisers to present a full view of a client’s financial position – and spot gaps before they become risks.
“At YuLife, we leverage technology to track and optimise employee benefits, while also providing a wellness platform that ties into an individual’s broader financial and lifestyle goals,” Oosthuizen explains. This kind of integration helps clients see the bigger picture – and understand where top-up cover or additional financial planning might be needed.
Other developments, like actively managed exchange-traded funds (AMETFs), are also reshaping what’s possible in personal financial planning. According to Deresh Lawangee, CEO of EasyRetire, AMETFs are democratising access to sophisticated investment strategies – many of which were previously out of reach for the average employee.
“AMETFs have seen rapid adoption globally and are now making their mark in South Africa. Recent regulatory developments have enabled their listing on the JSE, opening a new avenue for local investors to access active strategies in a more flexible, transparent format. For retail advisors and DFMs, this represents a fresh opportunity to rethink how they deliver actively managed portfolios,” says Lawangee.
This matters because it allows financial advisers to match group retirement and savings benefits with dynamic, personalised portfolio strategies – without the delays and admin that once made such integration clunky and impractical.
“Strategic asset allocation adjustments can be implemented efficiently, often within minutes,” says Lawangee. “These efficiencies translate into real-time responsiveness, cost control, and enhanced flexibility – exactly what advisors need in today’s fast-moving markets.”
Making holistic advice the new normal
Ultimately, embracing a more joined-up approach doesn’t just benefit clients – it elevates the role of the intermediary. When employee benefits are used as a gateway to deeper conversations about long-term goals, advisers move beyond product experts to becoming trusted partners.
“It transforms the adviser-client relationship from transactional to consultative,” says Oosthuizen. “By positioning employee benefits as a key component of the larger financial picture, advisers can build stronger, more meaningful relationships with clients.”
That’s especially relevant in today’s volatile economic landscape, where many employees are looking for reassurance, stability, and guidance – not just from their HR departments, but from the professionals who help them plan their financial futures.
The opportunity is clear: by closing the gap between personal finance and workplace benefits, intermediaries can offer advice that’s more relevant, more resilient, and more human. “A holistic approach is not just a trend,” says Oosthuizen. “It’s the future of financial planning.”