What shaped 2025, and what it tells us about 2026
A global, behavioural, outcome-led reset for financial advice
2025 didn’t deliver one single defining event for South African financial advisers. It delivered something more important: a set of reinforcing shifts that changed how clients show up, what portfolios must be built to withstand, and what “good advice” increasingly means in practice.
These are my perspectives based on an overview of several articles shared by the specialists at Momentum Investments, for publishing in COVER in 2025.
If 2024 was the year advisers started talking seriously about global diversification, retirement adequacy and behavioural finance, 2025 was the year those themes moved from “good ideas” to operating reality. Clients became more informed, more anxious, more outcome-focused, and far less tolerant of advice that looks like product selection dressed up as planning. At the same time, advisers faced rising complexity: global shocks, persistent rand risk, retirement system changes, and the steady approach of outcome-based regulation.
Across the insights shared by investment specialists, DFMs and advice leaders, five forces shaped 2025, and each one points to clear deductions for 2026.
1) Rand fatigue went mainstream, and offshore became a hygiene factor
The most obvious 2025 shift was the normalisation of offshore investing as a core planning tool, not a high-net-worth luxury. Advisers increasingly worked with clients who felt “rand fatigue”, not necessarily panic, but a quiet recognition that a locally bound strategy is structurally limited.
As Francois Lombard, Head: Investment distribution at Momentum Distribution Services, puts it: “Diversification isn’t just a theory in a textbook. It’s a real-world strategy that helps smooth returns and protect purchasing power across market cycles.”
When the JSE represents a sliver of the global opportunity set, the argument for broader exposure becomes less philosophical and more practical. Offshore isn’t only about chasing returns. It’s about expanding the investable universe, accessing sectors not meaningfully represented locally, reducing single-country concentration, and building currency resilience into the portfolio.
Lombard uses a framing that feels especially relevant to 2026 client conversations: “Think of a diversified portfolio as a G.L.O.B.E.: geographically layered, opportunity-balanced exposure.”
The deduction for 2026: Offshore allocations will be judged less by whether they exist, and more by how well they are structured. Clients will expect you to translate global access into a coherent plan: why this jurisdiction, why this wrapper, how this fits their estate plan, how this manages currency exposure, and what it means for ongoing reporting and tax administration.
This is where platforms matter, not as the headline, but as the enabling layer. As Robert Rhodes, Managing Director of Momentum Wealth International, notes: “In today’s interconnected world, offshore investing is no longer a luxury, it’s a strategic necessity.” He also frames what advisers increasingly want from offshore providers: “Momentum Wealth International is more than a platform. It’s a partnership.”
2) Diversification evolved from asset mix to portfolio architecture
Diversification in 2025 was not limited to “some local equity, some offshore equity.” It expanded into a more mature discussion about architecture: multi-asset strategies, manager diversification, sector diversification, and the discipline required to stay invested across cycles.
Carl Chetty, Head of investment proposition at Equilibrium, captures the shift: “Multi-asset portfolios provide a dynamic framework for diversification and risk management, two critical pillars of modern investing.” The point is not simply variety; it’s resilience by design.
In uncertain markets, clients don’t only want returns; they want stability, clarity, and confidence that someone has built a portfolio that won’t force emotional decisions every time headlines spike. Multi-asset approaches help because they give advisers a disciplined framework and reduce the temptation to “fund hop” every time the market turns.
Chetty’s phrase is memorable because it speaks to the behavioural side of diversification too: “With Equilibrium’s multi-asset solutions, the blend is your friend.”
The deduction for 2026: advisers who can articulate portfolio resilience, not just performance, will win. That means making diversification visible and understandable, and using disciplined frameworks (model portfolios, outcome-based targets, and clear time-horizon thinking) that help clients remain invested.
3) Advice became outcome-led, and retirement planning became more “engineered”
One of the strongest signals from 2025 was the shift from product comparisons to outcome design, especially in retirement. Clients are increasingly asking a different set of questions:
- what income is secure for life?
- what remains flexible?
- what happens if markets disappoint?
- what does this mean for healthcare costs, longevity risk, and legacy?
Traditional “either/or” product thinking is giving way to blended solutions that aim to protect essential income while keeping growth and flexibility alive. In practice, advisers are increasingly structuring retirement income into two parts: income certainty for essential expenses, and flexible income for discretionary goals.
Martin Riekert, Chief Commercial Officer at Momentum Investments, nails a critical 2025 learning: “Understanding the Guaranteed Annuity Portfolio’s potential is essential, but its successful application relies on a comprehensive financial planning approach tailored to individual needs.” In other words, product innovation doesn’t replace advice, it raises the bar for advice.
“Diversification isn’t just a theory in a textbook. It’s a real-world strategy that helps smooth returns and protect purchasing power across market cycles.”
