Posted by The Team at Brand Financial Training on December 8, 2020 in Newsletter
8 December 2020
This is the last newsletter of 2020, and I think most of us will agree that we’ll be quite happy to see the back of this year. Whilst 2021 will still have its struggles, there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel.
Christmas Opening Hours
A quick note on our ‘opening hours’ over Christmas and New Year.
Our website is open 24/7 365 days a year, so if you are keen to get going with your revision during the Christmas break, you can purchase and download our resources with one hand, while holding a glass of mulled wine in the other.
All our resources can be purchased and downloaded/accessed immediately, regardless of when you order.
Whilst you can purchase and download whenever you like, the Brand Financial Training Team will be off from 5 pm on Friday 18th December and will return on Monday 4th January. During that time, we will not be able to reply to any emails or phone calls. However, rest assured that any messages left will be responded to when we return.
Normally at Christmas, each member of the team is given a hamper to thank them for being amazing. This year, we made a donation to the Trussell Trust instead, supporting the Food Banks that are helping to provide food for so many in the UK right now. It’s incredibly sad that food banks are needed in this country.
Have a fantastic Christmas and New Year! We all deserve it!
Best Wishes,
The Team at Brand Financial Training
Featured Article
What are authorised and unauthorised payments?
In R04 and FA2, you may need to be able to distinguish between payments that are permitted by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), i.e. authorised payments, and those that are not, i.e. unauthorised payments. You should also be aware of the consequences of unauthorised payments for both the member and the pension scheme.
Authorised payments
Authorised payments are those that HMRC states in their regulations can be made without the imposition of tax penalties.
They can be divided into member payments and employer payments:
Unauthorised payments
An unauthorised payment is simply any member or employer payment that is not authorised by HMRC under their regulations. For example, paying out a tax-free pension commencement lump sum (PCLS) in excess of the 25% limit.
In order to discourage them, unauthorised payments are subject to a range of penalties.
Ever pull an all-nighter while studying for an exam? Bet you have! In this article, we’ll show you why going short on sleep does you no favours whatsoever.
Planning, problem-solving, learning, concentration, working memory, and alertness all suffer when you miss out on sleep. IQ scores also fall. This article shows us how crucial sleep is to our brain function and why sacrificing sleep in favour of a cram session is not a good idea.
Sean Drummond from the University of California, San Diego, points out that staying awake for 21 hours reduces your level of ability to a similar level to when you’re drunk!
While many of us may not stay awake for 21 hours in one stretch, how many of us have had two or three late nights and early mornings on the trot? Because that has the same effect!
Conversely, people sleeping an extra hour or two perform much better than they normally do in tasks needing sustained attention, such as taking an exam.
And of course, being able to concentrate harder means that your overall mental performance is better. If you’re able to boost your power of attention, everything else improves too.
Available for AF1, AF4, AF5, CF1, J02, J05, J10, R01, R02, R04, R05, R06
..."Your study notes were invaluable… I would advise everybody who is due to sit these to use the study notes and the mock exams as these will give you a terrific insight into how the exams work. Good luck."...
Brian Lynn, Partner, Brian Lynn Financial Services
Passing your CII exam can seem like a struggle, especially when the study text arrives on your doorstep with a heavy thud. Our study notes immediately focus your mind and help you sort the wheat from the chaff so that you can spend time revising what needs to be revised and get focused on what is needed.
They put the exam syllabus into a sensible order and you can download them instantly in PDF format.
Why not try before you buy? Download one of our free tasters:
..."The Brand training material certainly helps you to focus on the key information required and get straight to the salient facts. Having to read all of RO4 and JO5 was daunting but by using the notes as a guide it helped me to condense a lot of this information quickly."...
Mandy Saunders, Verifier
New Resources for AF7
We’ll soon be offering brand new resources to support you as you revise for the AF7 Pension Transfers exam. We already offer 3 full sets of mock papers, and our experts are working hard on two additional resources: Revision Notes and Core Knowledge.
Revision Notes
A streamlined version of the learning outcomes and exam syllabus designed for use when you are further along with your studies. They will be a more focussed take on the CII’s exam syllabus and learning outcomes with self-test questions.
Core Knowledge
Key to your core revision of the syllabus, this resource will cover the ‘staple’ questions which make up the majority of the AF7 exam as well as a focus on understanding key calculations from across the syllabus*. You’ll find questions, answers, detailed explanations and cross-references to the relevant CII study text.
*Whilst you are unlikely to be asked to perform calculations in the exam, you do need to understand the calculation methods.
Keep an eye on your inbox for further information in the coming weeks.
Did You Miss These Posts on Our Blog?
Articles and Help for All Your Exams
You’ll find that there’s something for everyone when you check out our blog:
specific topics and how-to articles;
reviews of recent CII exam papers;
our Friday Five – a weekly quiz to give you a fun break from reading the study text;
study techniques that help you to retain your revision and keep your brain working for you, when you need it
Here are the blog posts you might have missed since our last newsletter:
There’s such a variety of information on offer to help you as you tackle your CII exams, that you won’t want to miss a single post. We’ve made it easy for you; just click the button below and enter your email details. Be ‘in the know’ with CII-exam-related tips and info – straight to your inbox!
Quote of the Month
..." If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it. "...
Olin Miller
Friday 5 Focus on...
"5 Questions in 5 Minutes Every Friday"
Each week, we ask questions relating to one of these topics: Investments, Taxation, Pensions, Protection, or Regulation. The challenge is for you to answer them in 5 minutes.
Where do I find the Friday Five?
We post each week’s Friday Five to our blog first thing every Friday. You can either visit our blog every Friday at https://brandft.co.uk/blog/ or you can simply go there now, and click on the subscribe button in the top right-hand corner of the blog and sign up to receive notifications of our Friday Five posts.
Note that we don’t email the Friday Five out to everybody every Friday, so we recommend you sign up to our blog at https://brandft.co.uk/blog/ so that you receive an email notification when it is posted. It will only take you a minute to sign up.
A bit of Friday Fun, but with the added benefit of testing your exam knowledge!
Here’s a reminder that the CII update their study texts throughout the examinable year to either incorporate new legislations, correct errors or clarify information. Many candidates aren’t aware of this, which can result in candidates studying out-of-date information.
To find out if you have the most up-to-date information, visit the CII website, navigate to your chosen exam and click on ‘learning solutions update’ in the ‘Unit updates’ section in the sidebar.
Note that we keep our resources up-to-date with any updates from the CII.
