CFP UK (CISI) study guide
CFP UK (CISI) · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The CISI Certified Financial Planner (CFP™) designation sits within the membership and qualifications framework of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, a UK professional body whose site also covers Chartered status, Statements of Professional Standing, CPD and events. The CFP™ is aimed at experienced financial planning practitioners who want a recognised, advanced credential and a route into the CISI's wider professional community, which the institute describes as over 54,000 members worldwide. The CFP UK (CISI) study guide has 4 sections and about 1,957 words.
01Financial Planning: the advice process, FCA standards and the tax arithmetic behind a recommendation
Financial Planning tests the advice process itself: how you gather and analyse client data, how FCA rules shape the recommendation, and the tax arithmetic that must be right before any product is discussed. Questions are scenario-based and reward precision with current thresholds.
486 words, about 2 min02Investment Planning: risk measurement, asset classes, wrappers and behavioural bias
Investment Planning tests how a client's objectives, attitude to risk and capacity for loss become a suitable portfolio, and whether you can justify the result in numbers. Expect risk measurement, asset-class behaviour, product structures, wrappers and behavioural bias.
502 words, about 3 min03Retirement Planning: allowances, benefit options and state pension mechanics
Retirement Planning covers accumulation and decumulation: how much can go in, how relief is given, when money can come out and how it is taxed. The exam expects current allowance figures and clean arithmetic on crystalisation and withdrawals.
486 words, about 2 min04Protection Planning: policy design, claim definitions, taxation and trust wording
Protection Planning covers the products that transfer mortality, morbidity and longevity risk, plus the tax and trust mechanics that decide whether the money arrives intact. Questions test policy design, claim definitions, how premiums and benefits are taxed, and business protection structures.
483 words, about 2 min