We sit on your side of the table, work through the numbers in plain language, and write down the reasoning so you can see exactly how we got there.
§ 01 How we work
We are a small practice on Kloof Street. Most of what we do is unglamorous — reading the fine print, running the scenarios twice, and telling you what we'd do in your position. These are the three things that shape how we work.
01 — Independence
We are not tied to a single insurer, fund house or bank. That means the advice you get is the advice we'd give a family member — measured against your goals, not against a sales target. When a cheaper or simpler option exists, we say so.
02 — The working, written down
Every recommendation comes with the assumptions behind it: the growth rates we used, the tax we accounted for, the things we deliberately left out. If your circumstances change, you can see which part of the plan moves and why — no black box, no jargon.
03 — The long view
Markets wobble and budgets change. We build plans with enough slack to survive a bad year without you having to abandon the whole thing. Reviews happen on a schedule, and we adjust rather than restart.
§ 02 From the notebook
Short, dated write-ups on the questions clients actually ask us. Plain language, real numbers, no upsell.
A practical look at where investors who leaned on 12J deductions are putting capital in 2025, and the retirement-annuity route many of them overlooked.
Read the write-upWe ran the numbers on three household situations. In two of them, withdrawing was the wrong call by a wide margin. Here's how to tell which one you're in.
Read the write-upThe difference between having a will and having your affairs in order, covering executor's fees, offshore assets, and the paperwork that trips up most estates.
Read the write-upPeople don't come to us because the numbers are hard. They come because nobody has ever shown them the working. Once you can see how a decision was reached, most of the fear goes out of it.
Marijke Cormelis · Founder & Principal Adviser, Cormelis Financial Advisory
The Kloof Street Note
No market panic, no hot tips. Once a month we send the same kind of write-up you'll find in our notebook: a single financial question worked through properly, with the numbers and the caveats. Unsubscribe in one click, and we never share your address.
