OUR STORY

Serala is an ancient Sepedi word meaning a stone wall or protective barrier around a settlement. It is the highest point in the Wolkberg range of mountains in North Eastern Limpopo, the cliffs of which form a rampart, guarding a high altitude valley of immense beauty.

When you are on a mountain, you don’t just ‘pay attention’ to your hold or grip.

Attention wavers. It wanes.

If attention can be attracted, it can be distracted too.

Attention can be divided.

When you are on a mountain, what is in your hand, deserves your everything.

So when others may claim that they pay close attention to detail, we don’t. We scrutinise. We inspect, study, investigate, research, and explore every avenue of our business, because, like mountain climbing, we know what is at stake. It is why we have taken the unique approach of ensuring that we have two wealth managers on every one of our accounts. Not only are they accountable to each other, but they’re able to give support where needed. It is their different strengths and teamwork that ensures that you, our client, will summit.

And when you realise the extent of our support, knowing that someone is always familiar with your account, with your financial goals, you’ll be able to take on greater challenges and ‘climb’ even higher.

From retirement to estate planning, we can set a course for you.

Serala.

Your financial summit.

An Affinity Capital Group partner

DOWNLOAD OUR BROCHURE

OUR OFFERINGS

Retirement Planning

Including the management of pre- and post-retirement savings

Retirement Annuity

Estate and Tax Planning

Including testamentary (drafting of Wills) and inter-vivos trust planning (both local and offshore)

TFSA

Investment Planning

The management of local and offshore discretionary investments

Investment Account

Risk Management

The analysis and optimisation of life assurance portfolios; and the analysis and structuring of business assurance solutions for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs)

INSIGHTS

Articles

Investor series articles

Education series articles

Currency Track

Market Overview

2024

2025

MEET OUR TEAM

WEALTH MANAGERS

Somerset Morkel, CFP®

Director & Wealth Manager

Somerset attended Wits University and obtained a BSc degree in 1978 and a H.Dip Education in 1979. After a short stint as a Maths teacher, he joined the financial services industry in 1982 and shortly thereafter set up an independent financial planning business, SWM Financial Services cc. He shortly discovered that his passion was holistic planning for private individuals, which included estate planning, retirement planning and general financial planning. In 1986 he studied for and passed the exams required to qualify as a Fellow of the Institute of Life and Pension Advisers. This institute amalgamated with the Financial Planning Institute and Somerset was awarded the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) mark in 1996.

In 2004, Somerset sold his business and operated outside the financial services arena until April 2009, when he joined Alexander Forbes FPC as a wealth manager. Three and a half years later, in October 2012, he incorporated an independent financial planning company which became Serala Wealth Managers (Pty) Ltd. This new step has given him the ability to realise his dream – guiding a team that specialises in holistic financial planning for private individuals and assisting them to attain their goals and ambitions.

He is married to Lynn and has two daughters, Donna and Penny. His passions are rock-climbing and mountaineering, folk guitar, holistic financial planning and life in general.