The call comes on a Tuesday morning. A hospital number. The kind of call that rearranges everything before you have finished saying hello.
By that evening, Nomsa a 41-year-old marketing director from Johannesburg’s northern suburbs is sitting at her late husband’s desk, trying to find a number for the funeral home her mother-in-law had recommended. Her daughters are at her sister’s house. There are thirty-seven unread messages on her phone, each one beginning with a variation of I am so sorry.
What she does not have is a will. What she does not have is a list of his policies. What she does not have is any certainty about where the family stands financially because those were conversations they had always agreed to have soon.
What most South Africans do not know until they are inside it, is that a death triggers an immediate administrative and financial cascade. Bank accounts may be frozen pending the winding up of the estate. A funeral home will typically require a deposit before arrangements can proceed. A death certificate can take days to obtain. Without a valid will, the Master of the High Court must appoint an executor, a process that can take months, and during which the estate’s assets cannot be distributed.
In Nomsa’s case, the funeral cover her husband had taken out through his employer paid out within 48 hours.
But the funeral cover was not the end of the financial story. It was the beginning of a longer, harder one.
South Africa’s insurance statistics tell a national story in two numbers: 78% of South Africans over 60 have funeral cover. Only 38% have life insurance. Those two figures represent the gap between honouring a life and protecting the people it leaves behind.
For Nomsa’s family, the months after the funeral revealed exactly what that gap means. The bond on the family home required a monthly repayment that her income alone could not comfortably sustain. The private school fees her daughters had always attended became a source of anxiety rather than certainty. The investment account they had been building together was accessible but without her husband’s income, drawing it down felt like dismantling the future they had built.
She is not alone in this experience. It is, in fact, a remarkably common one. Research consistently shows that even high-income South African households are significantly under-insured against the long-term financial consequences of a breadwinner’s death.
In the years since, Nomsa has become, in her own words, ‘obsessive’ about financial preparedness. She has a valid will. She has reviewed her own life cover twice. She has a financial adviser she meets with annually. Her daughters are nominated beneficiaries on every policy she holds.
She does not say any of this with pride. She says it with the particular exhaustion of someone who learned a lesson she would rather not have needed.
‘My husband was not reckless,’ she says. ‘He was busy. He was building things. He thought we had time. And the truth is, most of us think that, right up until we don’t.’
Financial preparedness is not a single product or a single conversation. It is a series of decisions, a will, a beneficiary nomination, a life cover review and regular conversations with a qualified financial adviser, made at key moments throughout an adult life. It is the decision to treat the people you love as a financial priority, not just an emotional one.
For many families, this means taking a more holistic approach to financial planning. Solutions such as Liberty’s Lifestyle Protector and Legacy Protection Plan are designed to support these conversations, helping clients align life cover, estate planning and broader financial goals as part of a long-term strategy to protect both their lifestyle and the legacy they hope to leave behind.
That is the conversation this report is asking every South African professional to begin, not because death is imminent, but because the people who depend on you deserve to know that when that day comes, whenever it comes, they will not face it alone.
Disclaimer:
This article does not constitute tax, legal, financial, regulatory, accounting, technical or other advice. The material has been created for information purpose only and does not contain any personal recommendations. While every care has been taken in preparing this material, no member of Liberty gives any representation, warranty or undertaking and accepts no responsibility or liability as to the accuracy, or completeness, of the information presented. Please consult your financial adviser should you require advice of a financial nature and/or intermediary services.
• Liberty Group Limited is a Licensed Life Insurer, an Authorised Financial Services Provider (no 2409) and part of the Standard Bank Group. Terms and Conditions apply.
We sat down with Carlo Gil, Financial Adviser at Liberty, to discuss the financial planning gaps that many South Africans only discover when it’s too late.
Q: We often hear ‘life cover’ and ‘funeral cover’ used interchangeably. Can you set the record straight? What does each one actually do for a South African family?
Carlo Gil: They serve very different purposes. Funeral cover helps families manage the immediate costs of a funeral and usually pays out quickly. Life cover is designed to protect a family’s long-term financial future.
If a breadwinner dies, life cover can help replace lost income, settle debt, fund children’s education and provide financial stability. A funeral is a once-off expense. The loss of an income can affect a family for years. Many South Africans have funeral cover but remain underinsured when it comes to protecting the people who depend on them financially.
Q: At what point should someone be reviewing or restructuring their life cover?
Carlo Gil: Life cover should be reviewed regularly, ideally every year and whenever there’s a major life change.
Getting married, having children, buying property, starting a business, taking on debt or receiving a significant salary increase can all affect your financial responsibilities. The cover you needed at 30 is rarely the cover you need at 45. Many professionals focus on growing their wealth but forget to update the protection strategy behind it.
Q: What are the biggest mistakes you see high-earning South Africans make when it comes to protecting their estates?
Carlo Gil: One of the biggest mistakes is assuming that wealth automatically means financial preparedness. I’ve seen estates worth millions run into difficulties because there wasn’t enough liquidity.
Families can inherit valuable assets such as property, investments or business interests but still struggle to cover estate costs, taxes and debt. Investments, life cover, retirement planning and estate planning should work together. Without that integration, families can face unnecessary delays, costs and financial pressure.
Q: Estate duty catches many families off guard. How should professionals use life cover to plan for this?
Carlo Gil: Estate duty, executor’s fees, capital gains tax and outstanding debt can create significant liabilities when an estate is wound up.
The challenge is that families may inherit valuable assets but have limited access to cash. This can force the sale of property, investments or even a family business that was intended to stay in the family. Properly structured life cover can create the liquidity needed to meet these obligations and help preserve assets for future generations.
Q: If readers do just one thing after reading this, what should it be?
Carlo Gil: Book a meeting with a qualified financial adviser and ask one simple question: If I weren’t here tomorrow, would my family be financially secure?
It’s often a revealing conversation. Many people discover gaps they didn’t know existed, whether that’s insufficient life cover, an outdated will, estate planning issues or retirement
shortfalls. Financial preparedness isn’t about expecting the worst. It’s about making sure the people you care about are protected, whatever life brings.
Disclaimer: The following Q&A forms part of a one-page spread in the Mail & Guardian Living Forward 2026 Special Report. The views expressed are those of Carlo Gil, Financial Adviser at Liberty, and are intended for informational purposes only. Readers should seek professional financial advice tailored to their individual circumstances.