Brynn Diesel - Independent Financial Planning Partner at Adviceworx

03/06/2026

Santos Business Services 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Business owners, have a chat with them or let me help to put you in touch 👌🏻

Unexpected financial pressure rarely appears without warning.

In many cases, the warning signs were present but went unnoticed because financial information was not reviewed regularly.

Regular financial review allows business owners to:

👩🏻‍💻 monitor income and expense trends
👩🏻‍💻 identify unusual fluctuations early
👩🏻‍💻 confirm that financial records remain accurate
👩🏻‍💻 anticipate upcoming obligations such as tax payments

When businesses review their financial information consistently, they are better equipped to respond calmly to changes rather than reacting under pressure.

Many financial challenges can be avoided simply by maintaining awareness of the numbers that drive the business.

💁🏻‍♀️ Surprises often occur when financial information is ignored. Awareness helps business leaders stay in control.

📱: 083-500-1970
📧: [email protected]
🌐: www.santosbiz.co.za
📍: 1 Cavendish Road, Vincent, East London.

02/06/2026

Do financial decisions always revolve around money?

Well, not entirely. Obviously, most financial decisions have something to do with money. But when we think about financial decisions, we often think about things like making more money, saving more money, reducing costs or improving investment returns.

And yet some of the biggest financial decisions people make have very little to do with any of those things.

I've seen people take lower-paying jobs to reduce stress, move closer to family, choose flexibility over income, or step back from a demanding career to spend more time with their children.

On paper, some of those decisions may not make perfect financial sense. In fact, if you were looking purely at the numbers, they could even be viewed as the "wrong" decision.

But financial planning isn't about maximising every number on a spreadsheet.

It's about helping people align their money with what matters most to them, because at the end of the day, money is a tool. The purpose of that tool is to help you build the life you want.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. Have you ever made a decision that didn't make perfect financial sense on paper, but turned out to be absolutely the right decision for you?

29/05/2026

💭 Friday Thought

A lot of financial stress comes from feeling like we need to get every decision exactly right.

The perfect investment, the perfect strategy, the perfect time to start, the perfect balance between debt, saving and spending.

But financial progress is usually far less dramatic than that.

More often, it comes from making reasonably good decisions consistently over long periods of time and sticking to a plan that is realistic enough to maintain through all the ups and downs that life inevitably throws at us.

Because in financial planning, consistency tends to beat perfection far more often than people think.

Have a great weekend everyone 👌

28/05/2026

On paper, financial decisions can seem simple.

“Pay off all your debt first.” “Invest as aggressively as possible.” “Never finance anything.”

And mathematically, a lot of that logic makes perfect sense. But real life is rarely that neat.

Most people are trying to balance rising costs, families, careers, debt, emergencies and long-term goals all at the same time, while still trying to make progress financially.

Which is why financial planning is usually less about finding the “perfect” answer, and more about finding an approach that is realistic enough to actually stick to over time.

Because a mathematically perfect strategy that somebody cannot maintain probably isn’t the right strategy for them.

In the real world, progress and consistency usually matter far more than perfection.

26/05/2026

“Should I pay off debt first… or start investing?”

Mathematically, the answer is often fairly straightforward.

If your debt is costing you 18% or 20% in interest, while your investments may grow at 10% or 12% over time — if we’re lucky and the markets play along — then paying off the debt first usually makes the most sense on paper.

And when it comes to high-interest short-term debt like credit cards, store accounts and personal loans, it’s hard to argue against paying those down as quickly as possible.

But real financial planning is rarely as simple as a spreadsheet.

Because if most people wait until they are completely debt free before they start investing or planning for the future, many will simply start too late.

They lose valuable time.

And time is one of the most important parts of long-term investing.

So in practice, what often works best is balance.

Aggressively reduce expensive short-term debt while at the same time slowly building toward emergency savings, long-term investments, retirement and future goals.

Because good financial planning is usually less about doing one thing perfectly…

And more about consistently managing multiple priorities over time.

22/05/2026

💭 Friday Thought

Financial decisions are rarely made on numbers alone.

Trust, familiarity, comfort and past experiences all play a much bigger role than people sometimes think.

And in many ways, that’s understandable.

Money is personal.

Which is why good financial planning is about far more than just models, graphs, products and performance.

It’s about relationships, communication and helping people feel clear and confident about the decisions they’re making.

Have a great weekend everyone 👌

21/05/2026

While I was working as a tied adviser representing one of the larger product providers in South Africa, I was quite active online and managed to secure meetings with clients from all over the country.

It was exciting because many of these were people I could genuinely relate to, and I knew that with the right planning and conversations, I could potentially help them move meaningfully toward their goals.

At that stage, I’d already refined the way I wanted to approach financial planning. I enjoyed helping people think clearly, structure properly and make better long-term decisions.

But there was an interesting pattern.

Quite a few people would really connect with the conversations… right up until they realised I was tied to one specific company and one suite of products.

I still remember one client saying:
“I’d love to work with you, but I’m not comfortable working with someone who can only offer one company’s products.”

And honestly, I understood it.

People don’t just carry opinions about products.
They carry opinions about brands.

At the same time, I genuinely believe there are many tied advisers out there doing excellent work for their clients, and I don’t think good financial planning is determined purely by whether someone is tied or independent.

But that experience was a big part of what eventually drew me toward working independently through Adviceworx.

Because at the end of the day, most major financial institutions are capable of facilitating solutions.

The real value, in my opinion, comes from the planning, the conversations and the relationship behind those solutions.

So I’d be interested to hear people’s thoughts on this:

When it comes to financial planning, does the company behind the solution matter to you?

19/05/2026

Nike vs Adidas.
Apple vs Android.
Ford vs Toyota.
Mac vs PC.

People often have strong feelings about brands, and financial services isn’t much different.

I’ve observed over the years that people carry very strong feelings toward certain financial brands. Sometimes positive, sometimes extremely negative.

What’s interesting though is what those feelings are based on. Usually there’s a story behind it.

A bad claim experience.
A parent who always used a certain bank.
A friend who "lost" money somewhere.
A financial adviser who represented a certain company.
Or sometimes simply familiarity and comfort.

Whenever we look for things — including financial advice — most of us are probably more brand conscious than we realise.

But when it comes to financial planning, is that brand the company?
Or the financial planner themselves?
Is it a combination of both?
Is it something you think about?

Ultimately, do you want someone who can:

- help you think clearly
- challenge your decisions
- keep you accountable
- and guide you through important life decisions

Because at the end of the day, most of the major financial institutions out there are capable of providing solutions.

The bigger difference often comes from the relationship, the conversations and the planning behind those solutions.

I’d be very interested to hear people’s thoughts on this.

Does brand matter to you when it comes to financial planning? And if so… why?

15/05/2026

💭 Friday Thought

One of the most underrated parts of financial planning isn’t necessarily intelligence, being financially savvy, or even being wealthy.

It’s consistency.

The people who usually make progress financially aren’t always:

- the smartest
- the most informed
- or the ones chasing every new strategy

More often than not, they’re simply the people who:

- understand their plan
- trust the process
- and stick with it long enough for it to work

In a world full of noise, opinions and constant comparison, that’s becoming rarer than people think.

I shared some thoughts around this earlier in the week for anyone interested in the full article:

"At What Point Does More Information Become Noise?" (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-point-does-more-information-become-noise-brynn-diesel-nuqtc?utm_medium=member_android&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Have a great weekend everyone 👌

I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot lately, mostly because I’m exactly the kind of person who will spend days researching something before making a decision. If I’m buying a phone, I’ll compare specifications, pricing, contracts, reviews, YouTube videos, online opinions, AI summaries.....

14/05/2026

Are you someone who constantly second-guesses financial decisions?

I think most of us do it to some extent.

You finally make a decision…
Then:

- a friend says something different
- a headline pops up online
- a “finfluencer” posts a hot take
- another adviser has another opinion
- suddenly you feel unsure all over again

The difficult thing about financial planning is that there are very few universally “perfect” answers.

Most of the time, there are simply different approaches with different trade-offs.

And that’s why I believe clarity matters more than certainty.

A good financial plan isn’t built around constantly chasing the next opinion or the next “best” idea.

It’s built around:

- understanding your goals
- understanding your priorities
- understanding what matters to you
- and committing to a direction long enough for it to actually work

Because more information — and sometimes even more opinions — don’t automatically lead to better decisions.

Sometimes they just create more noise.

I touched on this a bit more in an article I shared earlier this week for anyone interested in the full read:

"At What Point Does More Information Become Noise?" (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-point-does-more-information-become-noise-brynn-diesel-nuqtc?utm_medium=member_android&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_source=chatgpt.com)

I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot lately, mostly because I’m exactly the kind of person who will spend days researching something before making a decision. If I’m buying a phone, I’ll compare specifications, pricing, contracts, reviews, YouTube videos, online opinions, AI summaries.....