Did you hear? South African fund managers are the most bullish on local equities since 2009, with 93% seeing more buys than sells, yet the same BofA survey shows almost none of them believe the growth story, buying what is cheap rather than what is improving.
This week in Seed Analytics Advisor Connect:
Upcoming events: Chances to network & earn CPD points.
The owner's dashboard: 3 numbers to predict next year's value.
Watch them monthly: How to steer the multiple before you sell.
New opportunities & advisory jobs for you to explore in SA.
A harder line on debarments & what drives two-pot exits.
Prompt of the week: Build your monthly value dashboard.
Take Note
ESG & Sustainable Investing: Integrating Values into Portfolios – Online, 30 Jun: FPI's Training Tuesday webinar on building ESG considerations into client portfolios. CPD points included. Register here.
Pretoria Business Network – Pretoria, 1 Jul: A relaxed business networking morning at Doppio Zero, Lynnridge Walk, from 08:30, with coffee, conversation and a quick growth tip. Free entry; just buy a coffee or breakfast. Details here.
The owner's dashboard: 3 numbers that predict next year's value
Three forward-looking numbers to watch every month…
Most owners only find out what their practice is worth when they sit down to sell it. By then, this year's numbers are already set, and the valuation simply reflects them; the work that would have changed it needed to happen quarters earlier.
The more useful truth is that a practice is priced on where it is heading, not where it has been, which means the figures worth watching are the leading ones: The numbers that tell you today where next year's value is drifting.
Here are three numbers an owner can act on every month.
1. The recurring-revenue ratio: annuity income as a share of total revenue
A buyer pays far more for predictable, recurring income than for one-off commission that has to be re-earned every year. The trend in this ratio tells you where next year's valuation is heading long before any valuation conversation happens. A rising share lifts the multiple, a falling one quietly erodes it.
Take action: Track recurring versus once-off revenue every month, set a target mix and move the once-off revenue line toward recurring each quarter. See how to switch to a recurring revenue mix.
2. Net flows and retention, broken down by client segment
Net new assets and the rate at which clients and assets stay are the clearest leading indicators of future revenue, and of whether a buyer will see your book as sticky. A book that is quietly leaking assets re-rates downward even while this year's revenue still looks healthy, because the leak is tomorrow's problem showing up early.
Take action: Watch net flows and retention by segment monthly, and treat any segment that turns net-negative as next quarter's priority. See how to win over your clients’ next-gen heirs.
3. Revenue per advisor (and how much of it rides on you)
Practice value scales when the book is productive and not dependent on the owner. Rising revenue per advisor shows the model works beyond your own desk; a falling share of revenue tied personally to you shows the practice can survive your absence, which is precisely what a buyer is paying for. The two together re-rate the multiple.
Take action: track revenue per advisor and the proportion of revenue that depends on you, and set a 12-month target to lower owner dependence. Also, see how to build a practice that runs without you.
Join the conversation…
Be honest, how often do you check what your practice is actually worth?
The leading numbers, already on one dashboard
The three numbers that move your practice's value (recurring-revenue mix, net flows and retention by segment, and your revenue per advisor) are not the kind you want to be reconstructing manually from a dozen platforms once a year at valuation time.
That is what Seed's Book Reports is built for: The analytics layer that pulls your whole book into 100+ charts and surfaces these leading indicators in a live monthly view. You get to track where the value is heading and can initiate changes as you need to.
Already on Seed?
Pull up your recurring-revenue mix and net flows by segment before your next management meeting, and make these leading indicators a standing monthly agenda item.
New to Seed?
Featured Section
New wealth and fin advisory career opportunities in SA
Senior Financial Advisor (Pretoria) @ Advisorly
Financial Advisors and Planners (Durban) @ Confiar BlueStar
Financial Advisor (Durbanville) @ IGrow Wealth Investments
Financial Adviser (Port Elizabeth) @ Envestpro Gravitas
Virtual Financial Advisor (Johannesburg) @ PPS
Financial Adviser (Paarl) @ Sanlam
In Case You Missed It…
Industry Roundup
A Harder Line on Debarment. The Financial Services Tribunal has upheld the debarment of a former Momentum advisor who used a relative's phone number to secure client consent, reinforcing that a single act of dishonesty can end a career under the FAIS fit-and-proper test.
What Really Drives Two-Pot Withdrawals. New EasyRetire data covering September 2024 to May 2026 found that 81,4% of its members chose not to touch their savings pot this tax year, well above the roughly 64% industry benchmark, despite the platform charging no withdrawal fees and stripping out process friction.
Oil Slides Further as Hormuz Traffic Resumes. Brent crude has extended its decline as more tankers move through the Strait of Hormuz following the US-Iran peace talks, easing the supply-shock fears that pushed fuel prices and inflation earlier in the year.
Cape Winelands Airport Moves Ahead. The privately funded R8 billion Cape Winelands Airport near Durbanville, backed by Growthpoint, is advancing toward construction, positioning it as a second international gateway for the Western Cape by 2028.
Prompt of the week
If you want AI to build you a monthly owner's dashboard…
This prompt produces a blank tracking template for the three value-leading numbers plus a plain-language guide to reading them. You fill in your own figures by hand each month; the AI only ever builds the frame.
How to use it:
Paste the prompt into your AI tool of choice.
Answer its three setup questions in general terms (your practice type, the revenue lines you run, how you segment clients) — no actual figures.
Save the template and interpretation guide it returns as your house version.
Each month, fill in your own numbers offline and watch the trends.
The Prompt:
You are helping a South African brokerage owner build a simple monthly dashboard to track the leading indicators of their practice's future value. Do not ask for or use any real revenue, AUM, flow, client or financial figures — build a blank, reusable template and a plain-language interpretation guide only, using [BRACKETED PLACEHOLDERS] for anything practice-specific.
First, ask me three short questions: (1) my practice type and roughly how many advisors I have, (2) the main revenue lines I run, in words (e.g. recurring advice fees, once-off commission), (3) how I segment my clients. Wait for my answers.
Then produce two things in South African English:
1. A one-page monthly dashboard template with three sections — recurring-revenue mix (annuity income as a share of total revenue), net flows and retention by client segment, and revenue per advisor with the share that depends on the owner — each with blank fields for this month, a target, and a trend arrow. Clean and branded-ready.
2. A short interpretation guide: for each number, one or two plain-language lines on what an upward or downward move usually signals for future practice value, and the first action to consider. Principles only, not financial advice.
Keep everything generic and reusable, and flag anywhere I should rely on my own management accounts or a qualified valuer rather than your wording.
Did You Know? On 25 June 1981, Microsoft was formally incorporated as a company (it was actually founded six years earlier by Bill Gates and Paul Allen). The incorporation was important as it came just weeks before the IBM PC launched, with Microsoft’s MS-DOS software going on to reshape both Microsoft's fortunes and the entire technology industry.
Till next time,
Seed Analytics Advisor Connect
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