Did you hear? Brent crude has spiked above $86 a barrel again after the US reinstated a naval blockade on Iran and moved to charge a 20% fee on cargo through the Strait of Hormuz, the route for roughly a fifth of the world's oil.
This week in Seed Analytics Advisor Connect:
Upcoming events: Chances to network & earn CPD points.
Create economic touchpoints: A 3-move system for every rate call.
Your practice round: Next week's inflation print and rate decision.
New opportunities & advisory jobs for you to explore in SA.
The R3trn PIC suspends its CEO & Purple's big AI bet.
Prompt of the week: Your pre-announcement client email.
Take Note
Kyalami Business Network – Midrand, 22 Jul: A relaxed business networking morning at Doppio Zero, Kyalami Corner, from 08:30 (09:00 start), with coffee, conversation and a quick growth tip. Free entry; just buy a coffee or breakfast. Details here.
FPI Ethics & AI Masterclass – Online, 23 Jul: A half-day FPI masterclass on the ethics of AI in financial planning, including client trust, responsible adoption and where the lines sit. Details here.
How to use economic announcements to create valuable client touchpoints
A repeatable way to reach clients before the headlines do…
Every few weeks, the state or SARB make economic announcements (a rate decision, an inflation print, a Budget, a ratings review). The regular nature of these announcements allows advisors to do something unique: Build a system that uses the “news” as a way to engage your client base.
Imagine the impression it creates on a client when, just before every major announcement, you’re always there to show them how you’re making every eventuality work in their favour.
It’s a power play, especially now with AI automation (you’ll find the exact word-for-word prompt you can use to build this at the end of today’s edition), so we thought we’d show you how it could work, if you want to try it.
Next week is an ideal test run for this kind of thing: June inflation lands on Wednesday, 22 July, and the SARB's rate decision follows on Thursday, 23 July, back to back. This could be a great practice round for the 3-move system:
1. Beat the headline to the inbox
The value of a proactive note is almost entirely in its timing. Sent after the decision, it reads as damage control; sent before, it reads as foresight. You don't need to predict the outcome; you only need to be the first voice in your client's inbox with a plan for either result.
Take action: For next week's run, draft the note now and schedule it for Tuesday, 21 or early Wednesday, 22 July, before the print and the decision land.
2. Anchor on your client's plan, not the print
A client fixated on the rate is asking the wrong question. Your job in the email is to move them off the number and back onto the plan you built together, which already assumes rates rise and fall over its life. Say it plainly: this is expected, it's accounted for, nothing about your goals changes on Thursday. Reassurance lands when they can see the plan holding, not just hear that it does.
Take action: Add one line tying the moment to their goal or plan, for example, "a 25bp move either way doesn't change the retirement number we're working towards."
3. Close with a decision rule
Remove any doubt your client might have about upcoming economic decisions by telling them exactly what would make you act and what wouldn't, so a rate move becomes a non-event as it’s expected.
Take action: Finish with a clear "Right now, we don't need to do anything, but here's the level that would change that" line, then invite a reply rather than a call.
Run it once next week, and you'll have a template you barely change for the next decision, and the one after that.
Join the conversation…
Be honest, when the macro moves, who emails whom first?
A calm email lands better when they can see the plan holding
"Nothing that happens on Thursday is going to change our plan" is a stronger thing to say when the client can look at their own plan and watch it hold through the noise.
Seed's Wealth Stack gives every client an interactive, goal-based dashboard that already frames their money around previously agreed targets rather than the day's headline: Where they are against each goal, updated monthly, in a view you brand as your own.
So each time you send a proactive email, the reassurance isn't only words in an inbox; it's a live picture your client can open and see for themselves, which is exactly what keeps a secure client from becoming a nervous client.
Already on Seed?
Point to the client's Wealth Stack dashboard in your proactive note, so the "nothing changes" message comes with a plan they can see.
New to Seed?
Featured Section
New wealth and fin advisory career opportunities in SA
Financial Advisor (Cape Town) @ The Firebird Group
Financial Advisors (Cape Town) @ Succession Financial Planning
Financial Planning Consultant (Western Cape) @ Alexforbes
Broker Consultant (Umhlanga) @ Hereford Group
Financial Advisor (Umhlanga) @ Berghshire Wealth
Wealth Manager (Sandton) @ Sanlam
In Case You Missed It…
Industry Roundup
Purple Buys an AI Firm to Cut the Cost of Advice. Purple Group and its EasyEquities arm are acquiring Australian-founded Telescope AI for up to $10,75 million, positioning it as a "guidance" and research tool that helps advisors serve more clients without adding staff.
The R3 Trillion State Asset Manager Suspends Its CEO. South Africa's largest asset manager, the PIC, has placed CEO Patrick Dlamini on precautionary suspension pending an independent investigation into allegations flagged under its whistleblower policy. The PIC stressed the move is not a finding of wrongdoing.
How Advisors Are Handling the Push into Alternatives. As SA retail interest in hedge funds, private equity, infrastructure and commodities slowly grows, three wealth managers recently said they are treading carefully; typically capping alternatives at 5–10% of portfolios and stressing liquidity and manager due diligence.
South Africans Are Cutting Costs to Cope. According to BusinessTech, households under financial pressure are trimming discretionary spending; cancelling subscriptions, reducing medical-aid cover and even downsizing their homes to stay afloat.
Tribunal Upholds Debarment. The Financial Services Tribunal has dismissed a former Telesure representative's bid to overturn his debarment, finding a repeated refund-fraud scheme (taking out policies, cancelling them for refunds, then reversing the original premiums) incompatible with the honesty and integrity the FAIS Act demands.
Prompt of the week
If you want AI to help you build your pre-announcement client email in two minutes…
This prompt helps you write a calm, get-ahead-of-it email before a rate decision or inflation print (without starting from a blank page every time) in a reusable template you can fire off whenever the macro makes noise.
How to use it:
Paste the prompt into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini.
Answer the few bracketed questions it asks (client segment, tone, the goal you usually anchor to). Keep everything general.
Take the template it returns and fill in the specifics yourself for each client or segment before you send.
Important: Do not upload any client data, portfolio values, AUM, flows or personal information into an AI tool. This prompt builds an email template only; you fill in the numbers yourself, offline.
The Prompt:
You are a communications assistant for a South African financial advisor. Help me write a short, reusable "pre-announcement client email" template I can send to clients ahead of a market or macro event (such as an interest-rate decision or an inflation release), so they hear the plan from me before they read a headline.
First, ask me three quick questions, one at a time: (1) which client segment this is for and their general risk profile; (2) the tone I want (calm and plain, warm and personal, or brief and factual); (3) the kind of goal I usually anchor clients to (retirement number, income target, etc.). Do not ask for, and I will not give, any real client names, figures or portfolio data.
Then produce a template of no more than 180 words with clearly labelled [BRACKETED PLACEHOLDERS] wherever I need to add specifics. The template must: open by naming the upcoming event in one line; state plainly that this is expected and already built into the plan; reassure without predicting the outcome; and close with a clear decision rule ("here's what we're doing, and the level that would change that") plus an invitation to reply. Keep it in South African English. After the template, give me a one-line subject line and a two-line "what to tweak per client" note.
Did You Know? On 16 July 1969, Apollo 11 lifted off from Florida carrying three astronauts on the mission that, four days later, would make Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin the first people to set foot on the Moon.
Till next time,
Seed Analytics Advisor Connect
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