Capital Legacy — Wills Month

Once again, it is what's involved. And once again, it's proudly brought to you by Capital Legacy. Capital Legacy are SA's number one Wills and Estates specialists. And it's particularly apt that my guest today is the CEO of Capital Legacy, Alex Simeonides. And we're talking about Wills and Wills Month. And it's sad, but there's a couple of things we're going to discuss about this, but first and foremost, welcome to you, Alex. Yes, thanks for having me again, David. Good to be back. Yeah. And sadly, as I was looking, I believe this is going to be our last sort of chat in this series. So it always feels like there's never enough time to discuss everything that we need to discuss, but never mind. So you are the CEO of Capital Legacy, the co-founder of it. We've been talking, I can't believe it. Hey, this is our fourth sort of little chat in this episode. And we've been talking Wills Trusts, a state administration. And most importantly, it is Wills Week. And then of course, you guys just took it a step further, though, and you decided you're going to make it into Wills Month. So it's a big month for you this month of September. As I said, it's Wills Week, and you also now made it into Wills Month. And there's some other exciting developments. So Alex, tell us what is happening and what makes the month of September so special. Well, the month of September, September October is always very special. I mean, the Law Society of South Africa many years ago introduced this concept called Wills Week. And Wills Week, they encouraged people to go get their Wills done and remove the barrier. And that being the cost of the lawyer to draft the Wills. And so during Wills Week, all their lawyers will do your simple will and your simple will if you go to the offices for free, which seems unbelievable if you think about that statement. What we realized with the initiative is a fantastic initiative is it's a great opportunity to raise awareness. So we believe, you know, first and foremost, awareness is one of the problems to people getting Wills done. And that's why we did Wills Month. And then this time around this year, it's actually our 10th year anniversary. So and we obviously we started in September. So the stars have aligned and it's just a really super special time for us to be able to be talking to so many people about what we're so passionate about, and you getting your will and celebrating 10 years of doing it. Fantastic stuff. But then on Wednesday, Friday, we had a look and your colors and everything have changed. Talk to me about that.

Yes, you saw it. You saw it. Yeah, so last Friday, we decided to shock everyone. And we swapped out our royal blue, if you may, and we are now a proud yellow. And you may initially go, ah, yellow. And it really is some beautiful, beautiful, slick and professional color. We think it really represents where we've evolved to and where we want to get to. And there was something about it. I couldn't quite put my finger on David when you know, you always get these marketing people and they come and they pitch you about the color and everything. And actually, they said some words that really resonated with me and something I hadn't really done myself. And they say, you know, the color yellow celebrates life. And what you're doing is actually you are enabling life after you've lost a loved one. Yes, it's about the person who's lost their life. But it's actually also about the people you leave behind and the lives they need to live in. We really like the fact that they settled on yellow to represent that. That is okay. Yeah, I never thought about that either. And I think, yeah, okay, because it's not just about death. I mean, automatically, you go, oh, yeah, well, it's about death. But as you said, it's the lives that come afterwards.

But why now? I mean, you know, you started back in what, 2012. And we all got used to the blue and now the yellow. Why now specifically? So, you know, and sort of commemorating our 10 years, my instruction was, you know, I think we need to, the new broom sweeps came, we need to freshen up, we need to liven up. As I mentioned earlier, we need to also, you know, when we did the, I mean, the truth of the matter, David, is when we did that initial logo, it was at two o'clock in the morning in a dining at a dining room table, part time with some graphic design help. And, you know, Capital Legacy has grown to represent the trust of hundreds of thousands of people. And as a professional company, I just didn't quite feel that our brand reflected that. And so the push with the yellow and the black has really reflected that that step into professionalism. Well, look, it's definitely striking. I mean, it catches your attention, as you said, slick. So is this part of an ongoing plan? Are you committing to this growth and continued growth of this business? So I think as far as long as we are committed to actually truly making a difference, I'm going to sound cheesy, like a beauty pageant here, but truly committed to actually getting people to do their wills, we will naturally grow. We're well aware of the fact that there are many other companies now who've entered the fray as our competitors. And if they do well as well, then you know what, we've also done well, because that's what we initially set out to do.

And we know that, you know, if we get people to do their wills, we will be the beneficiaries of that from a corporate point of view. And so there's a huge room for growth, because so little people have done their wills. So yes, absolutely, we are very committed to that growth story. I mentioned that earlier on, because the statistics are scary. I mean, I would have thought after all that you guys are doing, maybe things would have changed. But the research I saw, I'm not sure how current it is, but something like 70% plus of South Africans don't have a will. Yeah, it's the I mean, it has dropped, it has dropped. But in the context of things, it hasn't moved, because we deal with millions of people, as you know, David, another scary stat just to share it with you is that and this is something we're driving in wills month is to actually sign your will. You won't believe the incredible amounts of people, David, who actually go through the effort of drafting their will with us sitting with a consultant putting aside an hour of the day, and then they don't sign it. And there's many reasons for that. So that's also part of what we're trying to bring to the fore in terms of wills month, but actually to sign your will. Can I can I and every time it feels like you're talking directly to me and only to me because I have experience of that as well. We've we've mentioned in the last couple of episodes about my uncle passing away. And my uncle had changed his will. And he had it changed with some lawyers where he was where he was currently staying, and said, yeah, I'll be back to sign it and subsequently got covered and passed away. So the will that he changed the way it changed it, he changed the beneficiaries, because that is what he wanted to do at that time. And thereafter, because it wasn't signed, it reverted back to an old will. And yeah, his his wishes essentially weren't fulfilled, because that will wasn't signed. And apparently people don't care about the intent that you wanted to change it. The problem is you didn't sign it.

That's exactly it. And, you know, I think some of the simplest things, David, the fact that people just don't have access to a printer, for example, because it will be as you know, you need to sign in wet ink and as an original. And then I'm pretty sure there's a psychological thing where at that moment of grasping a pen and putting it to that piece of paper. And I just you know, I beg of the listeners, you're not signing your death sentence. You've been responsible is the right thing to do. But this is something we need to try to become. Yeah, listen, I must be honest, me and so many other people feel exactly like that. It's kind of that. It's kind of that feeling like, okay, I am now like acknowledging my mortality. And I think it is it's that mind mindset shift that we need to do that. It's not that what we're doing is we're being responsible and we're looking after our loved ones. Now talking about writing and signing and everything, the icons changed as well. I mean, I was I was I was quite fond of the quill and now it's gone. Yeah, so, you know, the quill represents the drafting of the will. And now you'll see it's three horizontal lines and and these signify steps in terms of what comes taking the next steps in terms of what comes next. And so that is the strong message, not just in terms of a campaign.

We wanted to signify we have preserved it though, if you look very carefully, we're, of course, a board of executives and trust company. And so we've actually preserved the quill at Martha Hest in our stamp that signifies that we are a board of executives and trust companies. So all is not lost. But in terms of moving forward and working towards what comes next, we thought that this would signify things much better. Wonderful. Well, I must agree with you. It certainly is a very, very striking change. We're going to continue our chat with Alex Semenides. He is the CEO of Capital Legacy. When we come back, I want to dive into about new products and all sorts of things like that. This is what's involved. It is proudly brought to you by Capital Legacy, South Africa's number one Wills and Estates specialist. We're talking Wills Week, Wills Month, back with Alex in just a bit. And we're back. What's involved, probably, would you buy Capital Legacy? You can leave a legacy. It is Wills Week and they've turned it into Wills Month. But in terms of products, I believe you're also going to be launching new products. We touched on one last month. But just in case somebody missed out on that one, what is this new offering all about? Because when we talked about it afterwards, I said, and I thought, you know what? It's so obvious. Why? Why did we not think about this?

So talk to me about this, Alex. Sure. So let's put it this way. When we do Wills and, unfortunately, people pass away. And when they pass away, they create these trusts for their children. And we are the financial custodians of the money and we dare to care for the children financially. And what we always lack is enough money, enough money to pay for both the education and enough money to pay for the care. And if you've come to Love & Know us, we don't just sit on our laurels. Because we weren't getting enough funding, we decided to do something about it. And we decided to create a product that can seamlessly be done when you're doing your will that provides for both the education and care if you should pass away. Our view is that you take a life cover if you've got a bond on a house. You take a life cover if you've got an estate duty problem that you need to settle. When you have children, you also have a liability. You have a liability for their education and their care needs. And for some reason, it just gets brushed over. And so what we've done is we've created this quick turnkey, very well priced product where you could just simply add it onto your will. And your children's education and care needs can be guaranteed to be taken care of.

The money is not going to get mixed with other things. And you can have that peace of mind that should tragedy struck, they're taken care of. Okay, so it's essentially a policy that goes handing love. It's called education. And it's handing love with the children's trust that you create as well. Absolutely. That's exactly it. And that's what makes it first of its kind. There are similar type insurance products out there, but none that manage themselves through a trust, through a trust vehicle that you appoint your own trustees to look after. But it's a very long time. I mean, we have children that are one, two years old, that we look after and these trust will run until they're 23, 24. You need the right vehicle and the children trust the right vehicle, we've now just slotted in the product to make it all nice and seamless. That's amazing. I mean, there's there's so much happening with you guys. I mean, you know, launches and changing of corporate ID and everything. But initially, we were going to talk about National World's Week. So it's kicked off today runs until Friday. So talk to me about this this whole concept. So for us, like I said, World's Week was created to remove that barrier, there'd be no charge for doing your will with us, there's never a charge to do your will. It's free all year around. Simple, complex, you don't have to come to us, we'll go to you. And so we converted it into to Will's month. And every year, we like to focus on a particular element of the will and the challenges that we face. And this particular year, it goes on asking people, you know, have you done a will if not come come to your will, but also what we're saying is another two things. The first is, if you've done your will, please read it, please sign it. And the second one is, if you have done your will, because we've, you know, we've done wills for hundreds of 500,000 people, if you have done your will, some time has passed, do you need to update it? You know, it's not is it lots when you draw it, we've discussed this before, David, you need, you know, things happen, things change.

The last thing we want is for you to have an out of date, well, this, this needs to keep up to date with you in your life. And so that's a big push to all South Africans during this during this month, to not just get a will, but to if you have done the draft, get a sign. And if you have done all of that, review it to make sure it keeps up to date with you. I think that's such a vital, vital point that you make there, Alex, is this idea of reviewing your will, because it's something that, and I mean, we've had, we have touched on this, you just don't think about that things change. So you guys are now saying, all right, if you've done your will, whether it's with us or not with us, we'd love it to be with us. But if you would like to review the will, we can go to you as well at Capital Legacy. That's exactly it. I mean, you can even send your will to us prior and we can have a good squeeze at it and we can come even more prepared. And yeah, simply give us your name and number and we'll come out to you or dial into one of these virtual top meetings and, and walk you through our review. Now, surely this was, I mean, there must be a comparison. If we look at how many life policies there are in place in South Africa, and we look at that versus the number of, of, of wills, is there a correlation or is it not nearly as good as it should be?

So I mean, this is initially what started the idea of Capital Legacy. I was involved in the life insurance industry and watched thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of life policies being done every month. And every time people were doing it, they were doing a beneficiary nomination. And then I go and look at the will stats and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of wills are being done. And both deal with this issue of being a death, you know. And so, and so there was, there was initially this huge gap between the amount of life policies being done versus the amount of wills being done. I mean, I'm almost like to say, if I may go out on a limb here to say, you know, the regulator should compel people when they do no life insurance change to updates or do their will, you know, you would, we would see a different, different behavior. But alas, you know, we have, we have actually seen an improvement, you know, we now do several thousand wills a month. And so that gap is, is starting to close. And on the awareness side, something also a bit positive, if I may share with you and the listeners, David, is when we began Capital Legacy 10 years ago, there are about one or two thousand searches a month in South Africa for doing your will. That number has now risen to 8000 a month. 8000 people a month are searching to look about doing their will. And to give you context about 12 or 14,000 searches are happening a month for life insurance. So, you know, we certainly think we've played a part in raising the issue of wills and it's starting to come through in the stats.

Which is brilliant because, you know, in the time that I've known you guys and what you do, and as I've said before, I mean, our wills are now all with you guys purely because of the service, etc, etc, that we did. And I mean, we moved our wills over and got it done. Unbeknownst to me that we were actually going to end up speaking to you guys as well. So I think it's certainly penetrating into the market. Alex, we can take a quick break when we come back. I want to talk about the biggest reasons for South Africans not having a will in place. So we'll do that when we come back. This is what's involved. It's proudly brought to you by Capital Legacy South Africa's number one wills and estate specialists. My special guest is the CEO Alex Semionides back in just a bit.

And we're back with my guest Alex Semionides. It is what's involved proudly brought to you by Capital Legacy. It says number one wills and estate specialists, Alex being the CEO. So I said just before the break, Alex, you know, we've talked about statistics and what's happening, how many people don't have their will in place. Procrastination, is that a large part of why things go pear shaped? Because it just it's, I'm very guilty of this. I would procrastinate about procrastination if I could. I don't think you'd be a human if you didn't procrastinate. But it is certainly one of the biggest reasons for people not getting their will done. We even did a survey, it was last wills month, I think, where we actually asked what I'd have in June. The number one reason the out and out winner was procrastination. But there's a little more to it. Because like I said earlier, David, people do do wills, they do have the wills drafted, they just don't sign it. And so we've been unpacking this at Capital Legacy for the last year and comes down to something as simple as people don't have access to a printer, because the will is going to be signed original. So you know, what are we doing about that? So we actually are now invested in this fleet of vehicles that will come out to you with two people in it, because you need two people to witness the will and maybe you don't have anyone on hand to to witness the will with the will printed already. So very much like one of these online shopping deliveries or take a lot of top things, we're not having to build to try remove that as as one of the reasons and, and also people want a place to come in and sign. So and so we're building will sign incentives throughout the end of this year, so that people can actually come at their own time. And it'll be after hours as well, you can come off to work and come on on a Saturday, and, and actually come in and actually sign your will, because maybe it's just going to be that much that much easier for you. And I think something that we haven't said before, and I picked this up actually in a in a chat I was doing to a room full of people as part of our Woolsman campaign. And their sentiment was well, you know, the will is only for someone who's really, really wealthy. And why should I bother? And nothing could be further from the truth. You know, even if you you feel like you don't have anything, there is still a need to do a will because it just may be that you have some kind of benefit from your company that you may have overlooked and, and the will would secure that benefit for your children, for example. And if there's no cost to it, except for maybe a little bit of your time, there really is no reason to it, to not do it. I can imagine though, you know, if you if you don't have a will, or if it hasn't been signed, that's that's you've now died in test states, I think is the correct term, which is 100% correct. I'll talk to you something. You've taught me a lot, Alex, trust me, you've taught me a lot. Most of it, most of it scared me initially, but I, I certainly feel much better and much more confident with the learnings. So you die in test it and then brings in all sorts of other problems, etc, etc. So a will is essentially more than about just going, okay, well, when I die, you know, I want to leave the goldfish to onto flow, etc, etc. I mean, and you mentioned children, it must be, you know, it's vitally important to think about your children. And, you know, looking after things, you might have to appoint a guardian, I don't know, do they still do guardians? We still do guardians, we still do guardians, a will is a fantastic place to put that wish down. It does help, we're not going to get into the technicalities, but it does help in terms of if you've lost both biological parents, and that will can be used by your social worker to get guardian nomination of the people that you have actually nominated, which is which is vitally important. And something that's obvious, it allows you to appoint your executor, not have some random lawyer you've never met before or never meet, because you've passed away, you get to choose your executor or executors, you get to, to actually dictate things when you when you've passed away. And I think that's hugely important to people who want to be responsible and want to truly leave a legacy. It is and you know what it also, and take this again from me, it saves a lot of drama, and a lot of heartache, because when somebody passes away, you suddenly have family members that you never knew you had. And they're all arriving for for a piece of the pie. And it's like, well, you know, grand promised me I could have her to dress jewelry or grand promised me the wedding ring or the I mean, I've seen a whole gamut of things where people are coming in and saying no, but they promised this, they promised that. And it gets difficult when you're sitting there, everybody's now in a very fragile state of mind, it can get ugly. And yet if it was taken care of with a will, we would avoid a lot of that. Am I correct?

You're 100% correct. I mean, we even had Margarini promised me the seven million round property. But it wasn't in the world. So having the will sorted that situation out. Okay, all right. So we're going to get into some listener questions, because I think that's where a lot of people find the benefit is by being able to send in some of these questions. And I guess sometimes maybe it's because, you know, you feel if you if you send it in, you know, you're not feeling as silly as you may, but there's no such thing as a silly question. So getting practical, I am now sitting at the beginning of World's Week, and I'm listening to this interview. And I don't have a will in place. How do I go about getting one? And you mentioned it's not just for the wealthy. So I mean, we've got people that listen, you know, right across the board from youngsters, if you've just finished studying, write the way up to people in their in their 60s and 70s. And they may not have will. So let's talk about that a little bit. Well, to put it down, it's I need three things from you. I need you to give us your name and phone number. And I need an hour of your time. In that hour, one of our consultants, we've got more than 180 200 consultants now around the country, who will either join you on a on a teams or a zoom type type call or even come meet you at your nearest coffee shop or your home, and take you through your wishes and construct the world there and then for you. So it's that easier. We literally just need you to visit us at capital legacy.to today, provide us your name and phone number, and just give us an hour of your time. And an hour goes by so quickly. And we'll get everything for you. It does. And also, again, from long experience, yes, you might be able to get templates or whatever the case may be, nothing beats having somebody who knows about this stuff to help you draft your will because there's little bits and pieces along the way that you forget.

And if you forget that you promised on T flow, the antique teaspoon collection, it's not going to be pleasant. So get it done. Okay, capital legacy dot c o dot today is where you go. You operate all around the country. And you can either do it in person or as you say, online in some way, shape or form. Alex, before we say goodbye to you, as always listener question, so I tell you what, when we come back, and we chat some more to Alex, we're going to wrap up about or with rather some of our listener questions. This is what's involved. It is probably brought to you by capital legacy, South Africa's number one wills and estates specialist. Of course, we are talking National World's Week, but with capital legacy, it's rules day every single day. More from Alex when we come back. And we're back with my guest CEO of capital legacy. This is what's involved. And it is probably brought to you by the very people capital legacies that Africa's number one wills and estates specialist. Alex Simonides has been chatting with us. Listener questions. Are you ready? I'm ready. You never know what you're going to get. No, no, you don't. Okay, the first the first one from Richard is in in job because does a will expire. Oh, okay. So so Richard, no, your will is not like the cotton of milk that you have, it doesn't expire. But you can replace it, you can replace it. So we'll only be not valid when you've done a new will. And you've correctly signed it. And you've said in that new will that this replaces any previous will you may have done, which is also very important when you when you're drafting a will so you will won't expire, it'll only become invalid and replaced when you do a new will. Okay, so this then goes into our next question was, if I had a will, what does it say? Let me just quickly, if my will was originally sort of drafted and held up by a bank, for example, and I've subsequently decided to change the will and had another one drafted, the bank can't suddenly produce that will one will doesn't weigh more, because it's older.

No, no, we have to use the last originally signed that it will. So if the new one has been misplaced, then the old one would come into being. And obviously, if the old one can't be found, and the new one is there, the new one will come into being so that we have to use the later valid signed signed will. I think did you mention that there was shared additional children? I can't remember what that's that's I'm actually going to move on to children one now. I was just trying to trying to get my head around. There's other ones because people people like to send questions to you guys, but then some of them feel better asking me the questions so that I can put them I can put them to you. Okay, yeah, here's another one. I had my will drafted many years ago, when I got divorced, leaving everything to my first child. I haven't updated my will. I've since gotten remarried and had another child. If I were to pass away, would everything only go to my first child? That's from Natasha. Okay, so so strictly speaking, yes. However, two things are at play that that Natasha needs to be aware of the first is, you know, how is she being remarried? If she's married in community or property, then half the fate isn't is going to go to a new new spouse. And the second thing is, the the later born child would have a valid what we call child claim against the state despite not being in the will. And what would actually happen is we would admit automatically admits the child maintenance claim. And so in effect, both children would would get but it's, it's just messy, to be honest, and, and she really should just update her will and goes through some consultations to look at that marital regime she may have. All right. Another one in from Lionel, he says, it's all good and well that I have a will but where do I store it? Because, you know, maybe I put it in a file in the back of my cupboard and I pass away and nobody knows about the will. What do you suggest in a situation like that? I mean, do you keep your will with you? Or do we ask capital legacy, please be nice and look after my will for me? That's actually it's a great practical question. So so actually, what I recommend is you have three original wills printed three or which original will sign I know we're going to scare all the listeners now that's three, but really, you just got to print it three times and sign it three times at that point. One goes to someone like your your your financial advisor. One comes to someone like us at capital legacy. And one can go to someone like your spouse or your your oldest for safekeeping or your brother or sister. So there's not in the world's best kept secret place like where your socks go. And so there's three places where you've aged yourself in case, I mean, we've had wills that have been lost because our house had burned down, for example. And so you've got the same world, three different places with three different custodians, and really it's bulletproof.

That makes sense. I'm just thinking now where's my will, but I think I'm sorted. I think you guys are looking check. We've got yours on foot. You must have mine somewhere there. It says I don't have a lot to leave, but anyway. Okay, Alex, we're running out of time before I go. Let me ask you one more question. And this is from William. And he goes, if I draft my will with capital legacy, are they then automatically the executors of my will? So no, the answer is an absolute no. We believe in two things that the will should be free and that you should have the freedom of gestation or the freedom to choose any executor or combination of executives. Of course, we do put ourselves forward to help administer your state, maybe with another executor that you want your point. And then therein lies the whole other previously shows that we've had, David, in terms of the actual cost and who's going to do that administration. So we find more often than not with a natural choice, but we certainly don't insist. Yeah. And amongst the many things I've learned is do not, unless they are qualified, don't pick your brother or your sister or an uncle or something because you don't realize the amount of work, okay, the sheer amount of work that goes into winding up just a normal average Joe public like me that will. And if it's bigger than that, and if there's other bits and pieces involved, it's going to take a long, long time. Rather go, as Alex said, with somebody and somebody that knows their stuff. Alex, it wraps it up for us.

I'm kind of sad. I want to sort of, you know, drag this out a little bit and have more conversations with you guys, but I know you're busy being world's weak and everything. So from my side, from what's involved and from the listeners as well. Thank you so much for taking the time out over these last couple of months and educating us on this vital aspect of wills and testaments and trusts. We really do appreciate it. It's been fantastic for the last four episodes. So yeah, thank you. Wonderful stuff wraps it up there for this edition of What's Involved. It was probably brought to you by Capital Legacy. Leave a legacy. My guest there was the CEO, Alex Samir Niedes. It is Wills Week. Capital Legacy are doing Wills Week every day. It's daily Wills. So give them a shout. All you got to do is visit Capital Legacy's website and you can sort everything out there. CapitalLegacy.co.za and look out for that lovely new branding. Until next time to each and every one of you, look after yourselves, take care and thank you for listening.