Our Post-Exam Review of the September 2025 CII AF5 Exam
The CII has now released the exam guide for the September sitting of AF5 so we can see how we did in our pre-exam analysis.
This article is correct as at 25 November 2025.
If you haven’t already seen the exam guide for September, you can access it here.*
This time, the fact-find, released two weeks prior to the exam, concerned Dean and Chloe a married couple with two children who run their own engineering company.
The objectives, given on exam day, were as follows:
Immediate objectives
- Establish the suitability of using the pension funds to purchase the commercial property for the business.
- Assess the affordability of making regular savings for their children.
- Review their protection needs.
Longer-term objectives
- Improve the tax-efficiency of their financial arrangements.
- Release monies for home renovation in a tax-efficient manner.
- Improve their retirement funding.
| 1. | (a) Identify the additional information that you would require in order to advise Dean and Chloe on the suitability of their current financial arrangements to meet their immediate objectives. | This was a straightforward fact-finding question to start the exam. As always, our analysis provided a comprehensive list of the missing information within the fact find. We hope candidates were able to recall this information and use their own fact-finding experiences to make a great start to the exam. |
| (b) Identify the actions that you would take before you provide any recommendations to Dean and Chloe to ensure that you comply with Consumer Duty rules. | Consumer Duty has been tested regularly by the CII over the past two years. In this question, the focus was specifically on the steps required before providing any recommendations. This highlights the importance of reading the question carefully, as answers such as ‘undertaking reviews’ or ‘responding to changing client needs’ would not have been valid here, since they relate to later stages of the advice process. Our analysis had covered the key elements of the financial advice process and Consumer Duty requirements, which candidates could have combined effectively to answer this question. |
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| 2. | (a) Recommend and justify to Dean how he could use his pension fund to purchase the commercial property and the benefits of this course of action. | Given the value of Dean’s pension fund and the cost of the commercial property, it was a logical area for the examiner to explore, and we were not surprised to see a question on using his pension to fund the purchase. Our analysis had provided full details of the benefits and tax advantages of using a SIPP or SSAS for the commercial property acquisition. |
| (b) Identify the reasons why it may not be suitable for Dean to purchase a commercial property with his pension fund. | We had also clearly set out the disadvantages of this approach. Our analysis emphasised the importance of considering actions from all angles: although using the pension funds appeared to be an obvious solution, candidates should also be able to explain the circumstances in which it may not be suitable. You can never be certain which angle the examiner will choose to test, so balanced reasoning is an essential part of revision. | |
| 3. | (a) Recommend and justify why Dean and Chloe should use a combination of salary and dividends for their income from the company. | Based on past AF5 exam papers, when clients run their own company the structure of their remuneration is frequently tested. Our analysis provided a comprehensive list of the key issues to consider when determining the most tax-efficient mix of salary and dividends. We hope that candidates were able to adapt these points effectively to address a ‘recommend and justify’ style question. |
| (b) Explain in detail to Dean and Chloe the benefits for the company of making additional employer pension contributions. | We had provided full details of the tax benefits of company pension contributions, and we hope candidates were alive to the broader planning points, in particular, how increased employer contributions could help reduce the need for the loan to purchase the commercial property. | |
| 4. | (a) Explain to Dean and Chloe the benefits of setting up protection policies via their company instead of on a personal basis. | Based on previous AF5 exam trends, we had anticipated that the examiner would look to test knowledge on setting up protection arrangements through the business, as this has also been examined numerous times before. For this reason, we included this exact question along with full model answers in our analysis. |
| (b) Identify the reasons why Dean and Chloe should set up additional life cover policies as soon as possible. | We had covered the factors to consider when assessing protection needs. These model answers could have been adapted to address this question. | |
| 5. | Chloe is concerned about stock market volatility. Chloe and Dean have asked for your guidance on how they can better understand this aspect of investing. (a) Outline the financial issues that you would discuss with Dean and Chloe during periods of high stock market volatility. | The angle of this question focusing on Chloe’s concerns about stock market volatility, was difficult to predict. However, we hope candidates were able to draw on their existing knowledge of the financial advice process and of smoothed investment funds to make a strong attempt at it. |
| (b) Explain to Chloe why she may wish to consider the use of a cautious ‘smoothed’ investment fund within her pension plan. | ||
| 6. | (a) State six benefits and six drawbacks for Dean if he retains the Investment Trust holding. | It seemed likely that the Investment Trust would be linked either to the house renovation project or the property purchase, so analysing the implications of withdrawing funds from the Investment Trust was an important part of revision. In our analysis, we dedicated two pages to examining the pros and cons of using it, as well as the associated tax implications. These model answers could have been used to answer the questions in full. |
| (b) Explain to Dean how he and Chloe could draw a tax-efficient lump sum of £40,000 from his Investment Trust to fund the house renovation. | ||
| 7. | (a) Explain to Dean and Chloe the importance of holding an adequate personal emergency fund and how they could identify a suitable amount to meet their needs. | Given Dean and Chloe’s reliance on income from the business, we felt that the importance of an emergency fund was greater than normal. We had therefore considered this subject in detail, both in the main section of the analysis and in the self-test questions. |
| (b) Explain to Dean and Chloe the financial factors that they should take into consideration when identifying the current affordability and suitability of making regular savings for Milly and Eli. | Our analysis provided model answers for this question. For all AF5 exams, we advise that candidates consider the factors (or issues) they should evaluate before taking action for each of the clients’ objectives. These types of questions are very common in AF5 and can often be fully prepared for in advance. NOTE: Whilst AF5 does not explicitly state the clients’ objectives (as it does in R06), they can usually be deduced quite easily from the notes sections within the fact-find. We advise candidates to highlight each objective when they first receive the fact find, as this provides a structured framework for considering each of the potential question areas. |
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| 8. | (a) Explain to Dean and Chloe the importance of rebalancing their pensions, savings and investment portfolios on a regular basis. | We hope candidates were able to draw on their own knowledge of rebalancing a portfolio, as well as the information in our analysis regarding reviewing investments, to help answer this question |
| (b) State the issues that you would discuss with Dean and Chloe at your next review meeting in respect of their pension arrangements. | The review questions for AF5 normally focus on one specific aspect of the clients’ finances. In this case, it was pensions. We hope candidates using our analysis were able to recall, and where necessary, adapt the points raised regarding review meetings to make them relevant to pensions. | |
Chartered Insurance Institute (2025). AF5 – Financial planning process: September 2025 Examination Guide. Retrieved from www.cii.co.uk.
A Post-Exam Review of the September 2025 #CII #AF5 Exam. Share on X
Summary
The fact-find for this exam was tricky! When clients run their own company, the revision workload increases, as candidates must consider not only the suitability of new products but also whether these should be set up personally or through the business. Candidates also need to take into account financial issues affecting both the clients and the company.
The paper itself included a mix of challenging technical questions, some unexpected items, and the usual straightforward AF5-style questions.
We felt that experienced candidates should have been able to handle the unexpected questions effectively, drawing on their knowledge of smoothed funds, portfolio rebalancing, and managing periods of high stock market volatility.
The more technical questions such as using pensions to fund property purchases, taking salary versus dividends from a company, setting up protection products, and making pension contributions through the company were well signposted in our analysis, and it was encouraging to see that well-prepared candidates performed strongly.
Overall, we felt that candidates who had thoroughly prepared using our analysis would have been well equipped to tackle this paper successfully.
Examiner’s Comments
The examiner’s report for this exam noted that overall candidate performance was strong. Well-prepared candidates scored highly, particularly on the standard AF5 questions around fact-finding, review processes, and Consumer Duty – areas that can be thoroughly studied in advance. Technical topics clearly highlighted in the fact-find, such as the use of investment trusts and using pension funds to purchase commercial property, also appeared to have been answered well.
However, marks were lost where answers lacked sufficient detail, especially in technical areas that were less obviously signposted, such as smoothed investment funds and managing stock market volatility. Some candidates also lost marks for not answering the question asked, for example, detailing the use of Chloe’s pension to fund the property purchase when the question only referred to Dean’s pension.
Our key takeaways from the examiner’s comments are to ensure candidates are fully prepared for the standard AF5 questions to secure quick-win marks, to read and re-read each question carefully so that answers address exactly what is being asked and to provide detailed answers proportionate to the marks available. Candidates should also be willing to attempt answers even when unsure – don’t worry about making an educated guess; you won’t lose marks if it’s wrong, as there is no negative marking.
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* The CII has updated their retention policy and now only provides the last two exam papers. Older papers referenced in this article may no longer be available on the CII website.
