Newsletter for July 2017

Yet another month flies by and I find myself writing this month’s newsletter when it feels like I only wrote June’s newsletter a few days ago! It’s definitely true that time goes by more quickly as you grow older. I wonder if that ties in with the belief that as you get older you get wiser?! I know some of our more experienced (nicely put I thought) exam candidates would disagree!

The team here at Brand Financial Training have started the Summer’s work on updating all our CII financial services exam resources for the new examinable tax year 2017/18 that begins on 1 September. Do remember that until then, tax year 2016/17 will be examined.

We will email you at various points during mid to late August, to let you know when resources have been updated and made available. As always, if you purchased a resource for examinable tax year 16/17, you will be entitled to the 17/18 version at no charge. We’ll email you about that during August. In the meantime, if you are unsure about when you are going to sit and pass your exam, you can purchase resources now knowing you will be able to get the 17/18 versions later in the Summer.

Enjoy the sun in July!

Best Wishes,

Catriona and the Team
Brand Financial Training

It’s time to focus our attention on the CII AF3 Pension Planning module, as we scrutinise the April 2017 exam paper – of interest to those planning to sit AF3.

If you haven’t seen it yet, here is the link.

As an initial summary, this paper seemed a fair one; anyone sitting this exam knows it is a challenging exam with one of the lowest pass rates of the CII exams. It’s hard for good reason though; anyone who works as a pension transfer specialist, must hold this exam, so it needs to be of a high enough standard to carry out this type of work.

Question 1

This question varied covering LTA, transitional protection, death benefits, use of class 3 NICs to increase State pension, FAD, cash-flow forecast and stress testing.

Question 2

Question 2 covered the expected question on GMP re-valuation, the PPF, factors to consider when transferring from a DB scheme into a SIPP as well as the process and regulatory guidelines for transferring.

Question 3

Question 3 kicked off with calculations: one on threshold income and one on annual allowance, continuing with factors to take into account when recommending a personal pension contribution and investment strategy.

Distractions are all around us, and the experts say that hours of time are lost in businesses as employees struggle to cope with a multitude of tasks and demands on our attention. But intentionally allowing your mind to wander at strategic times allows your unconscious mind to work its magic. Read on to learn some ways to help your brain to focus naturally.

Do you want to be in a better mood, have more motivation, boost creativity, solve problems, make fewer mistakes and learn faster?

Our brains are designed to concentrate only for short periods of time, and so trying too hard can result in your finding it impossible to focus at all!

So instead, you need to remind yourself to relax, because that’ll help you access the part of your brain that allows you optimum focus for maximum time. That’s the ideal learning zone that I help clients access, whether learning effective study skills or engaged in personal therapy. Relaxed focus is the key.

That’s all very well, but what should you do if you really do find it difficult to concentrate sufficiently to get things done?

If you think you really do have a daydreaming problem, here are some ways to help your brain to focus naturally – the way that it is designed to do.

Sleep!

Never underestimate its importance. Several studies have shown that tiredness impairs our performance as much as being drunk.

And if you are a student, investing your precious time revising, you need regular, good quality and sufficient sleep for the stuff you’re learning to be consolidated in your long-term memory. You might be surprised to learn that research suggests you’re better off having a nap before an exam than attempting a last-minute cram.

Available for R01 and R02

...“The R01 videos, study notes, workbook and practice papers were so helpful and made revision a lot more approachable. It really helped me to pass when I failed before! I look forward to using your other materials for the other exams!...

Sarah, DC Pensions Associate Consultant, London

Covering the exam learning outcomes, our modular e-learning packages provide you with 24/7 online access to videos, a workbook including handouts and self-test questions for each module, and PDFs of the slides used in the videos.

Our customers often tell us that face-to-face training just doesn’t work for them in terms of time, cost and the fact that you can’t attend the same live face-to-face event again and again! E-Learning is a great alternative.

• No travel required, saving you valuable time
• No accommodation required, saving you money.
• You can watch the videos as many times as you need – it is not “once only” where vital information can be missed
• You receive further support via the workbook with handouts and self-test questions
• As the R01 and R02 exams are broken down into modules, you don’t experience overwhelm (and exhaustion!) as you often do during day-long face-to-face training

Why not try before you buy? Download one of our free tasters:

R01

R02

Are you aware 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 make this easier for you, we have collated the most recent CII study text updates.

6 May – 4 June 2017 : R04

8 April – 5 May 2017 : IF5

4 March – 7 April 2017 : AF3, AF4, CF1, CF6, ER1, FA2, IF1, IF2, IF3, IF5, J10, J11, J12, LP2, R01, R02, R06, R07

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;
• information on recent updates to the CII study texts.

Here are the blog posts you might have missed since our last newsletter:

Friday Five – 7 July

The CII J02 exam is all about the detail

Welcome News for CII AF8 Candidates Who Dread Exams

Friday Five – 30 June

A Scrutiny of the Last CII AF2 Exam Paper

What is a deed of variation?

Friday Five – 23 June

The April 2017 CII J11 Exam was a Fair Paper

Our Review of the April 2017 CII AF1 Exam – The Key is in the Preparation

Friday Five – 16 June

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!

..." You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals."...

"5 Questions in 5 Minutes Every Friday"

This is a bit of Friday Fun where we provide you with 5 questions (and answers) relevant to a mix of CII exams. The challenge is for you to answer the questions 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!