Posted by The Team at Brand Financial Training on March 9, 2021 in Newsletter
9 March 2021
The sun has been shining, some or all of the children are back to school (depending on where you are in the UK) and lockdown is slowly easing – spring is definitely in the air! We hope you, like us, are starting to feel really positive about the year ahead.
We are at full steam developing lots of useful resources to help you through your CII exams including our new ‘How to Pass’ guides and our E-mocks so do keep an eye out for further details.
I’m sure many of you will have had time to read and digest the budget highlights (or lowlights depending on your point of view!). Most of the tax changes announced in the budget will be examined by the CII from the new examinable tax year (1st September 2021). Some budget changes may be examined earlier, and although you should receive email confirmation from the CII with the details, it is also worth keeping an eye on the learning updates section of the CII exam homepage to ensure you have the most up-to-date information.
We will also keep our resources up-to-date with any changes, our learning resources updates can be found on our website.
Best Wishes,
The Team at Brand Financial Training
Featured Article
Budget 2021 Highlights
Here, we share the highlights of the 2021 budget. There’s both good and bad news in this most recent budget.
Well, it was an interesting budget with Rishi Sunak being unable to pull very few new rabbits out of the hat as most of what he said had already been leaked in the press beforehand, although some of the rumours did end up being unfounded, such as the reform of CGT which had been subject to much speculation.
The budget started with grim news: that estimates on borrowing are the highest figures seen outside of wartime, that the economy shrank by 10% in 2020, and that we were now on a long road to recovery. Although there was some optimistic news that the OBR now forecasts that the economy is expected to grow by 4% in the coming year and by 7.3% in 2022 (although 3% down on what it should have been in five years’ time).
So what did the Chancellor announce that will start the long process of recovery?
Personal Allowance Increased
First, some good news: the personal allowance for income tax will go up to £12,570, and the higher rate threshold will increase to £37,700 – meaning that taxpayers won’t be subject to the higher rate of 40% until they have income of £50,270.
If you’ve failed an exam more than once, and you feel frustrated and want to give up, here are two ways you can become a better learner.
Written by Lysette Offley
I’m often asked how I can help people pass their financial services exams, and usually by people who have failed the same exam more than once, and who are feeling as though no matter how hard they work, none of it makes any difference.
We are all good learners. There’s plenty of evidence for that. So it’s not because we can’t learn that we run into trouble when it comes to taking exams.
But if you have a full-time job, a family, and dare I say it, a life (!) then the chances are, you are already up to your eyes with responsibility and commitment. Finding the time to study is already a tall order, before you throw into the mix that the way you go about it is probably not the most efficient method for how your brain prefers to process, store and retrieve information.
So, to answer the question, how to be a better learner, your results will go through the roof if you do two things.
Find out how your brain prefers to learn.
And
Make sure you are taking care of the 3 Keys to Learning.
…“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, for 6 months (extended from 3 months due to coronavirus exam postponement), to videos, a workbook including handouts and self-test questions for each module, and PDFs of the slides used in the videos.
E-Learning is a great alternative to face-to-face training:
No travel required
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!)
Why not try before you buy? Download one of our free tasters:
Looking for some extra hints and tips for passing the R03 exam? We will shortly be launching our R03 ‘How to Pass Guide’. This is a free guide available to all our customers. It includes tips on exam technique, help with understanding of the different styles of questions and examples of the most common calculations likely to come up in the exam.
Business Planning Exams, J03 and AF2, are being withdrawn
The last sittings will be May (AF2) and June (J03) with a resit opportunity for the second half of 2021.
It’ll be interesting to see if the business planning content will now be incorporated into other exams – we will, as always, keep you posted.
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
..." Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody. "...
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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!
