Posted by The Team at Brand Financial Training on November 8, 2022 in Newsletter
8 November 2022
This month, we are excited to announce the successful launch of brand-new materials for R04 and R05 exams, including our outstandingly popular E-Mocks, and brand-new Video Tutorials! This month’s Brand Bitesize focuses on Time Weighted Rate of Return, and we would also like to offer congratulations to all of you who recently passed R06.
Best Wishes,
The Team at Brand Financial Training
Featured Article
How Brand Began
Here, we have an interview with Brand Financial Training’s Founder and Director, Catriona Standingford. Catriona is going to tell us more about why she started Brand Financial Training, and what is in store in future.
Question: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background before you started Brand Financial Training?
Answer: To go back many years (to the olden days, as my kids would say), I was an IT Consultant. I went to University and studied for a degree in IT and then was a Consultant for a few years. I got to travel around the world, it was awesome. But it got to the point where I felt like I’d had enough, and I decided to retrain as a financial adviser because I had always been interested in finance. I later went to work for a bank as a Financial Planning Manager which was a very eye-opening experience! At that point, I saw a gap in the market for help with financial services exams like I had been sitting myself and decided that I would try and fill it. So my experience is a mixture of IT and financial services, which has ended up where I am today, 14 years later, at Brand Financial Training!
Question: What was it that made you think that starting a business like this would be so helpful and supportive to the wider industry when it comes to financial qualifications?
Answer: When I changed career from IT to financial services, I was working amongst people taking exams at different levels, and at that time there was only one company who provided some support, although not a lot. This was a godsend at the time, but I thought so much more could be done. I knew from conversations with colleagues that it wasn’t just me. We had to study for what was the equivalent of R01 at the time and I remember thinking, “surely there’s got to be a way to make this a bit more interesting!”. So I knew it wasn’t just me that needed more support, and wasn’t just the people I worked with, so I extrapolated that and imagined how many people elsewhere in the UK might need that kind of support. So I jumped, and it was great timing because there was huge demand for exam support and now after 14 years we’re extremely well-known and highly regarded.
For those who are studying for any of the CII’s R02, J10, J12 or AF4 exams, this might be a useful reminder for you! We look at the Time Weighted Rate of Return calculation in this ‘Bitesize’ video.
The TWRR eliminates distortions caused by new money being added into an investment throughout a time period, by breaking the return of capital into sub-periods between the addition or withdrawal of capital. If you are studying towards R02, you’ll need to be aware of the theory involved in this, whereas for AF4, you’ll be expected to be able to do the calculation. This video summarises the calculation with an example to help cement understanding and appeal to those who prefer to learn visually. For more examples to test your understanding, take a look at our calculation workbooks.
We are very excited that our brand-new E-mocks for exams R04 and R05 are now available! These include brand-new mock questions, available on our online testing software, which is designed to replicate the exam experience, and seriously test your knowledge before you sit your exam.
As well as that, our brand-new video tutorials now available! Our video tutorials are for those who prefer to lean visually and focus on the trickiest parts of the R04 and R05 syllabus to help you in your revision for your exam.
Click below to learn more about these new resources and take advantage of our limited time launch offer. Get 15% off the E-Mocks and Full Video Tutorial Package for R04 and R05 until the close of business, this Friday 11 November.
..."Your MP3 audio masterclasses were of great quality. I felt they reminded me of some things I had not thought about for some time and prompted some wider study. The content was accurate, relevant and up to date for the exam and the length of each class was very good. The approach was not patronising like so many learning MP3s. I would definitely recommend..."
Richard Baxter, Senior Financial Adviser, Gower Financial Services, Guernsey
Available for AF1, AF4, J02, R01, R02, R03, R04 and R05
Every individual has his/her own learning style. Learning by listening provides an alternative to reading and re-reading the study text, and can help with absorbing and understanding materials. Our MP3 audio masterclasses come in digestible chunks allowing you to listen at home, in the car, at the gym or wherever else you may be.
For a list of each masterclass in your chosen exam, go to:
Following the launch of our E-Mocks and Video Tutorials for R01, R02, R04, and R05 this year, R03 is coming very soon! As soon as these new materials launch, we will let you know. These will be available as soon as this week.
2023 CII Exam Dates
2023 CII exam dates are now out! Full details are available on the CII website.
Updates to CII Study Texts
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.
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
..." The big challenge is to become all that you have the possibility of becoming. You cannot believe what it does to the human spirit to maximize your human potential and stretch yourself to the limit. "...
Jim Rohn
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!
