The short version: South African practices plan with a mix of tools: a practice system (Xplan, atWORK or Elite Wealth), Astute for product data, Excel and Word, and calculators for tax, cover and retirement. The established systems are strong at administration, projections and product data, and weak at the three things that consume a practice's week: getting a new client's paperwork in, writing the advice documents, and watching the book between meetings.
That is the gap Tallify was built for, and it is designed to be added to an existing stack rather than to replace it. Below are three free calculators, then the tools by job, then the software compared.
Free financial planning tools
Three calculators for the sums that come up in almost every first meeting. Each one works in your browser as you type: nothing you enter leaves this page or is kept. Amounts can be typed as 600 000, R600 000 or 600k.
Income tax and the retirement annuity deduction
SARS tables for the 2026/27 year of assessment (1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027). Contributions to a retirement annuity, pension or provident fund are deductible up to 27.5% of the greater of remuneration or taxable income, at most R430 000 a year; the rest carries forward to the next year.
Tax saved this year
- Deductible this year
- Carried forward to next year
- Tax without the contribution
- Tax with the contribution
- The same, a month
- Effective tax rate
Illustrative only, not advice; SARS 2026/27 tables, with no other deductions, capital gains or credits.
Life cover needed on death
The capital the family would need, less what is in place, on the same basis as the cover gap guide: the income the family relies on, paid monthly for the years until the youngest is independent and capitalised at a real return, plus the lump sums.
Shortfall
- Income for the family
- Debts
- Education
- Other lump sums
- Need
- Less cover and liquid assets in place
Illustrative only, not advice; assumptions in today's money, before estate duty and any tax on fund benefits.
Retirement capital needed
The capital that would pay the income you want at a chosen drawdown rate, against what your savings and contributions could grow to, all in today's money. A living annuity drawdown must be between 2.5% and 17.5% a year; the lower the rate, the longer the capital is likely to last.
Shortfall at retirement
- Capital needed
- Projected capital
- Income it would pay a month
- Monthly contribution needed
- Compared with now
Illustrative only, not advice; assumptions in today's money, before tax, with a steady return every year.
Tools by job
What a South African practice typically uses for each part of the work, and where Tallify fits. Most practices combine two or three of these; very few run one system for everything.
| Job | What practices use | Where Tallify fits |
|---|---|---|
| Onboarding and the fact find | A fact-find form in Word, PDF or Excel sent by email; the needs-analysis wizard and client portal in atWORK; Xplan's client portal with digital signatures; an e-signature service for the disclosure letter | The practice sends one onboarding link: the client signs the disclosure letter online, completes the fact find and sends ID and proof of address. The fact find is read by code. |
| Records and CRM | atWORK, Xplan or Elite Wealth; in small practices, Excel | Keeps its own client, policy and holdings registers so it can watch the book. It sits beside the CRM and does not replace it. |
| Product data | Astute's Consolidated Client Portfolio report; insurer and platform data imports in Xplan, atWORK and Elite Wealth | Reads an uploaded Astute CCP report and files the contracts on the register when the intake is committed. It does not call Astute itself. |
| Projections and calculations | The planning modules in Xplan, atWORK and Elite Wealth; Excel models; SARS's published tax tables; calculators like the three above | No cash-flow projections. The needs analysis in a draft sizes each need against the cover in force; the calculators on this page are a separate, free public tool. |
| Writing the Record of Advice and needs analysis | Word templates; template merges in Xplan and atWORK | Claude drafts the Record of Advice and needs analysis from the de-identified facts, in the practice's layout, for the adviser to review and file. Identity is removed on the practice's server by code first. |
| Watching the book | Reports run by hand from the CRM or a spreadsheet; often the client's own phone call | Fund movements checked every day and cover gaps every week, across the whole book. |
| Client messages | Bulk SMS and email in atWORK; the client portal in Xplan; Outlook and WhatsApp | Drafts replies, reminders and notices; every drafted client message waits for a person to approve it. |
Comparison of available software
The six options a South African practice is most likely to weigh, on the capabilities that take up an adviser's week. A tick means the capability is part of the product as its vendor describes it; a half circle means partly, or through a linked product. A dash means it is either not offered or not described in the vendor's public material, which is not the same thing: check with the vendor before you decide.
| Capability |  XpXplanIress |  aWatWORKpractice CRM | TallifyBlueBird Digital |  EWElite Wealthweb suite |  AAstute FSEdata exchange |  XWExcel and Wordtemplates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Client records, policies and holdingsClient register, households, policies, holdings, documents, tasks | ||||||
| Commission and fee administrationStatements, reconciliation, invoicing | ||||||
| Cash-flow and retirement projectionsScenario modelling, calculators | ||||||
| Live policy and investment data from insurers and platformsA feed; Tallify reads an uploaded Astute CCP report instead | ||||||
| Online fact find completed by the clientFrom a link the practice sends | ||||||
| E-signatureDisclosure letter, mandates, forms | ||||||
| ID and FICA documentsCollected from the client; verified | ||||||
| Record of Advice and needs analysis written as a draftAnalysis in prose, not a template merge | ||||||
| Daily watch on fund movements across the bookNotices drafted for the clients affected | ||||||
| Weekly cover gap review across the bookCover a client had and no longer has | ||||||
| Client messagingReplies, reminders, notices, greetings | ||||||
| Every drafted client message approved by a person firstAn approval queue, logged | ||||||
| Client data held in South AfricaWhere the records sit | ||||||
| AI drafting with identity removed before any modelDe-identified by code, fail closed | ||||||
| Pricing modelAs published or quoted | Quoted per user | Per adviser per month, published | Per adviser per month, published | Quoted, medium to large firms | Per request | The licence you already have |
Based on the vendors' public material as at October 2026 and offered in good faith. Product names and logos belong to their owners and are used only to identify the products. Tell us if a row is wrong and we will correct it.
The options, fairly
XpXplanIressThe most widely used integrated system among larger South African practices and networks: CRM, workflows, planning modules, portfolio tools, a client portal with digital signatures, and document generation from templates. Practices that run it well tend to have a dedicated administrator.
aWatWORKpractice CRMA South African practice CRM since 1998, with modules for life, wealth, health and short-term business: a needs-analysis wizard and planning calculators, Astute and platform data imports, FICA verification against Home Affairs, e-signature through a partner, a client portal, bulk SMS and email, and links to commission systems.
EWElite Wealthweb suiteA web-based suite for medium to large advisory firms: client and practice management, client portfolio reporting on automated daily data feeds, a financial planning suite, business intelligence and integrations with other systems. In use at several large South African institutions.
AAstute FSEdata exchangeNot planning software but the data layer: a single point of entry to insurers, platforms, the regulator and Home Affairs. With the client's consent the Consolidated Client Portfolio returns the policies and investments they actually hold. Priced per request. Its value is accuracy: clients disclose what they remember, Astute returns what exists.
XWExcel and WordtemplatesStill the real system of record in many small practices, and not to be dismissed: flexible, understood, and already paid for. The costs are consistency (every adviser's needs analysis is different), time (every Record of Advice is written from scratch), and monitoring (nothing looks at the book unless someone opens the file).
A practice system built on the onboarding of the client rather than on a CRM or a projection engine. The practice sends a personal link; the client signs the disclosure letter online, completes the fact find and sends ID and proof of address. Tallify reads the fact find and drafts the Record of Advice and needs analysis to the FAIS Code for the adviser to review and file, watches the book daily for fund movements and weekly for cover gaps, and holds every drafted client message for approval. Identity is removed on the practice's server by code before anything reaches Claude, the model that drafts.
Overseas planning platforms
The large United States and United Kingdom platforms are excellent at projections and client portals but are built for their own regulatory documents, price in foreign currency, and hold client data outside South Africa. They rarely fit a FAIS practice without heavy adaptation.
How to choose
- Start from the hours. Time how long a Record of Advice takes from meeting to signature, and how often you find out about a lapse or a fund fall from the client rather than before them. Those two numbers decide which category to fix first.
- Keep the system of record. Whatever holds your client data today has years of history in it. Prefer tools that sit beside it over tools that ask you to migrate.
- Ask where the data goes. For any AI feature, ask what leaves the practice and in what form. "De-identified" should mean names, identity numbers and contact details are removed before anything is sent, not after.
- Ask who signs. Software that sends advice or drafted messages to a client on its own is a compliance risk. The adviser should approve every drafted communication and sign every record; only routine messages such as a signing code should go without a person.
- Trial it on your own book. A demo on fictional data proves the software works; a trial on your clients proves it works for you.
Descriptions of other products are based on their public material as at October 2026 and are offered in good faith; check with the vendors for current features and pricing. The calculators use SARS's 2026/27 tables and the assumptions stated with each; they are illustrations, not advice.
Questions
Do I need to replace Xplan or my CRM to use Tallify?
No. Tallify is designed to sit beside the tools a practice already runs. It keeps its own registers so it can check the book for fund movements every day and for cover gaps every week, fills them through onboarding, capture in the console and an uploaded Astute CCP report, and never asks the practice to migrate.
What is the difference between Astute and financial planning software?
Astute is a data exchange: with the client's consent it returns the policies and investments a client holds at insurers and platforms. Planning software uses that data to analyse needs and produce advice. The two are complementary. In Tallify the adviser uploads the client's Astute CCP report on the intake, and Tallify adds the existing contracts to the fact find and files them on the register when the intake is committed.
Is cloud software a problem under POPIA?
Not in itself. POPIA requires appropriate safeguards and, for transfers outside South Africa, an adequate basis under section 72. A practice using overseas cloud tools should record that in its processing records. Tallify keeps identifiable client data on a server in South Africa, one the practice controls or one Tallify hosts for it, and removes identity there by code before anything reaches the AI model, which removes the question for the AI layer.
Are the calculators on this page financial advice?
No. They are free, illustrative tools that work in your browser: nothing you type is sent anywhere or stored. Each one states its assumptions, and the cover and retirement figures are in today's money. A suitable recommendation needs the client's full circumstances and a needs analysis by a FAIS representative. The calculators are a public tool on this website, not part of the Tallify product.
Which tax year do the calculators use?
The 2026/27 year of assessment, 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027, as published by SARS: the 2026/27 brackets, rebates of R17 820, R9 765 (65 and older) and R3 249 (75 and older), a medical scheme fees tax credit of R376 a month for each of the first two people and R254 for each further person, and a retirement fund deduction of 27.5% of the greater of remuneration or taxable income, capped at R430 000 a year (up from R350 000 before 1 March 2026).
Sources and further reading
- SARS, Rates of tax for individuals (2027 tax year: 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027)
- SARS, Medical tax credit rates
- SARS, Budget 2026 tax guide (retirement fund contributions: 27.5%, R430 000), via National Treasury
- Cover gap analysis: the needs arithmetic behind the life cover calculator
- Iress, Xplan product page
- atWORK, practice solutions
- atWORK on Capterra South Africa (published pricing)
- Elite Wealth Solutions
- Astute Financial Services Exchange
- How Tallify reads an uploaded Astute CCP report