• A Personal Message from Catriona
• Featured Article : How to Pass First Time Using Journals, Magazines and Websites
• What's Around the Corner? : New Mock Papers, Online Training Programs & Masterclasses
• Exam Update
• Quote of the Month

Welcome to the ALL NEW “Maximise Your Potential” newsletter from Brand Financial Training.  This is our monthly newsletter keeping you up-to-date with Certificate in Financial Planning exam news, study methods, training, tips and techniques. 

I am passionate about helping people to pass their CF exams first time, so I decided that a regular, monthly newsletter containing useful information would really help.  This is the first of our new newsletters and I hope you find it useful.   

Each issue will have articles on particular topics that will aid your knowledge and understanding of various exam subjects.   We will keep you up-to-date with what the CII are up to with your exams (there’s a very important message regarding that in this issue).  We will also keep you informed of the various products and services that we have developed for you to ensure you pass your CF exams first time.  

If you have any questions or comments, or any suggestions as to what can be included in this newsletter to help you maximise your potential and pass first time, please contact me directly at Catriona@BrandFT.co.uk  I would love to hear from you. 

If you wish to unsubscribe, simply scroll down to the end of this email and click on the link.

A great way to prepare for your exam, whether it be CF1, CF4 or any of the other CF exams, is to keep an eye on what’s being said in the financial press.  I’m not suggesting you should start reading the Financial Times (yikes!), I am simply suggesting that you read or subscribe to free emails that round-up all the financial news for you.

For example, the current state of the UK economy has produced thousands and thousands of reports with useful information regarding inflation, interest rates, the stockmarket, property and many other areas.  This is ALL useful information for you to read.  I can assure you that it will truly help you to understand your exam material. 

When I started out in financial services I was a regular reader of Money Marketing.  I certainly didn’t read every page, but I would scan the headlines and see if there was anything that caught my attention that related to the exams I was sitting.  I learnt SO MUCH this way.  There is nothing better than learning about a topic with a ‘real world’ example rather than just reading about the mechanics of the subject in the CF study text. 

I still read Money Marketing today and it’s my favourite of all the financial journals.  However others that I receive are Financial Adviser and New Model Adviser amongst others.  Most of them also have an email-based newsletter which you can sign-up for.  You can also find job adverts here too (don’t tell your boss I told you). 

However it doesn’t just have to be the financial journals that can help you through your exams.  I am a huge fan of ‘Moneywise’.  This is a monthly magazine that you can get from newsagents.  This isn’t aimed at people like you who work in the financial services sector, but is aimed at “the man on the street”.  So it’s written in a very straightforward and easy to understand manner.  It covers personal finance issues such as spending and saving as well as issues such as fighting inflation and how best to invest your cash.  This is a fantastic way to boost your learning for your exam. 

I am also a great fan of the web.  There are many finance websites but I personally like the ‘This is Money’ website and their fre-e weekly newsletter.  This keeps me on top of what is going on in the financial world, in an easy-to-read manner. 

So if you’re really not interested in reading the financial journals, you can still get a massive amount of help by reading magazines such as ‘Moneywise’ or signing up for free newsletters such as the one provided by ‘This is Money’. 

That’s my top tip for this month.  Give it a go! 

Here are some links to useful websites: 

Financial Journals

http://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/

http://www.ftadviser.com/

http://www.citywire.co.uk/adviser/magazines/new-model-adviser.aspx  

“Man on the Street” publications

http://www.moneywise.co.uk/  

Fre-e email newsletters

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/    

“Maximise Your Potential” is a free monthly newsletter for individuals studying for the Certificate in Financial Planning who want to discover the secrets to getting motivated and passing first time. Sign up now for your FREE copy at www.BrandFT.co.uk

You may remember that a couple of months ago we ran a survey to find out whether you wanted us to develop mock exam papers for CF5.  We had an amazing response, way beyond what we had anticipated!  And the answer was a huge ‘Yes’.  Our CF5 mock papers are being developed right now and will be available very shortly.  As usual, we will be offering a free ‘taster’ paper as well as 3 full sets of mock papers.  Watch this space!

Back in April we ran a fre-e telephone Masterclass for CF1.  We did this to find out how interested you were in learning in this way, and to find out how we could really help you to learn your subject material.  This Masterclass was a phenomenal success.  Here’s just two of the comments we had: 

"...the topics discussed came fromquestions asked by those who had signed up to join the call. Ifound this was very useful, as I was able to send in my ownquestion and could then listen to topics others had not understood.  Catriona’s explanations, though very detailed, only covered what we would actually need to know for the exam. The advantage to this was that we were not given information that would be ‘unnecessary’. If there was another Masterclass in the future, I would definitely want to be part of it and would highly recommend it to others..."

Vicky Watts, Administrator, Suffolk  

"I thought the CF1 Masterclass was brilliant and a really good idea!  I was lucky enough for it to fall a couple of days before my exam, I found it really useful and I passed first time!  Thank you Brand Financial Training for all your help."

Louise Whitehouse, Drinnan & Associates, Harrogate   

As a result, we are going to be launching full Masterclasses for CF exams very soon.  Again, watch this space! 

And finally (we’ve been busy!) we’ve got something fantastic coming for everyone who is studying to pass CF1.  I can’t give away too much information right now, but you will be the first to hear about it.  Keep an eye on your inbox for our special announcement coming in the next few weeks.  You won’t want to miss this!

The CII are examining tax year 2007/08 until 31 August 2008.

From 1 September 2008 you will be examined according to tax year 2008/09.  This contains some SIGNIFICANT changes.  Capital Gains Tax now has different rules and rates including changes to taper relief and indexation.  Income Tax also has different rules and rates.  These are just two of the major changes.  If you don’t know what those changes are and how to apply them, you are going to lose A LOT of marks in your exam.  Don’t get tripped up! 

Brand Financial Training will be updating our mock exam questions for the new tax year during the next few weeks.  We are currently providing mock exam questions relating to tax year 2007/08 which are valid until 31 August 2008.  During the run up to the tax year change, we will provide some overlap when you can choose between mock papers for tax year 2007/08 and mock papers for 2008/09 papers depending upon when you are sitting your exam.  From 1 September 2008, we will only provide mock papers relevant for the 2008/09 tax year.  Rest assured that we always provide up-to-date mock exam papers.

Do you have an old copy of the CII study text?  It is very important that you get your hands on the new study text to ensure you have the correct material for the 2008/09 tax year.  Contact the CII on 0208 989 8464 to order.  We also recommend that you use the CII’s update service – it costs a bit more, but it means that your study text is always up-to-date.  Visit http://www.cii.co.uk for further information.

W. Edwards Deming (1900 – 1993)

See you next time.

Catriona Brand

www.BrandFT.co.uk