Celebrating 20 Years

The recent cold and wet weather in Cape Town reminded me of winters in Cape Town gone by. On the 1st of Aug 2004, I can distinctly remember the weather being very cold and very wet. It is amazing how you can remember something so long ago, when I battle to remember what I had for breakfast today!

That morning, I drove up to Constantia Nek – to what is now Beau Constantia Wine farm. I got out in the rain at the entrance to lift a rusted metal gate open. Driving in on a gravel road full of muddy puddles. All that was built at the time was a small cottage (now above the Chef Warehouse restaurant) and I drove on to our office which was above the shed where the farm equipment was stored. There was a cement floor which had no carpet, no heating and for the first month we used the cast iron outdoor table and chairs as our office furniture. I can still feel the cold as I write this. That was the start of Veritas Wealth – 20 years ago

My friend, Pierre Du Preez, who owned the farm coaxed me out of corporate life to set up my own business. He was a shareholder in Veritas at the start and was incredibly kind and encouraging.

My wife, Lisa, was 8 months pregnant with our son Connor, who turns 20 at the end of September. I was petrified and could not work out if the shake in my hand was from nerves or from the cold. But I was equally excited about the opportunity I had before me.

Veritas had something most financial planners starting out do not have, we had a philosophy called Lifestyle Financial Planning, which still remains the north star in our business.

I now sit, 20 years later, in a corner of our open plan office in Newlands and look across (with a quiet sense of pride) at the Veritas staff – many of whom have been with me for a good portion of these years.

Today we have Rick, Clare, Lore and Cole who are all CFP^® professionals. We are very excited about Shanell who has recently qualified as a CFP^® Professional. Shanell is a paraplanner who joined us as an intern in 2021.

Both of our other paraplanners are currently studying further – Mologadi who also joined as an intern in 2022, is sitting her board exams and Heidi has started studying towards her financial planner degree.

Bronwen will have been with us for 11 years in October, starting as an assistant to Rick and then took over the general running of the business from Tamsin when she moved to the UK.

We are all supported by a committed and passionate back-office team made up of Nazly, Chantal, Susan, Tauhirah

We celebrated Nazly’s 60th birthday with her family earlier this year, also acknowledging that she has worked at Veritas for 19 of the 20 years – Nazly was employee number 2.

We have had many highlights, including winning the FPI Financial Planner of the Year in 2013 and being in the top three of the FPI Approved Practise of the Year in 2023

Over the past few years, we have been building the capability of giving advice in UK. We have an association with a like-minded firm in Kent, with a business called Courtney Havers. Clare is now qualified to give advice under their license and is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (UK) We continue to help clients who are either leaving SA or have moved to the UK.

Within our business we have managed to build a culture of belonging, where everyone is valued and as a result are proud of their work and what we are trying to achieve for our clients. What is so heartwarming is that we have a group of individuals who work together as a team and who all genuinely care.

Together, we help clients get to a place where their life and their money meet!

A big thank you to all our clients for joining us on this journey.

Back Row: left to right: Mologadi Seroka, Susan Lockie, Cole Zweistra, Barry 0’Mahony, Clare Cousins, Lore Winter, Bronwen Reynolds, Rick Briers-Danks, Nazly Bazier, Heidi Young

Front Row: left to right: Tauhirah Isaacs, Shanell Domike, Chantal Wood