CII IF6 study plan
CII IF6 · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Life and pensions products and their features
Map the full product landscape: protection (term, whole-of-life, endowment, income protection, critical illness) and their payout triggers
Distinguish savings/investment wrappers (unit-linked bonds, with-profits, ISAs vs pensions) by tax treatment and risk profile
Explain annuity purchase options (level, escalating, investment-linked, impaired) and drawdown alternatives from first principles
Build a personal glossary of 40 product terms with one-line definitions
Your checkpoint
A one-page product comparison matrix covering at least 10 product types with payout trigger, tax wrapper, and typical customer segment columns
Life and pensions products and their features
Compare defined benefit and defined contribution workplace pensions on risk allocation and retirement outcomes
Explain state pension interaction, auto-enrolment thresholds, and qualifying earnings for DC schemes
Analyse how charges (allocation rates, fund management charges, policy fees) erode long-term returns using a worked example
Identify product features that create suitability risk, such as early surrender penalties and reviewable premiums
Your checkpoint
A worked numerical example showing charges and surrender penalties reducing a 20-year endowment or bond payout, with a written conclusion
Legal, regulatory and tax frameworks for life and pensions business
Outline the regulatory architecture: FCA, PRA, TPR and the role of each in life and pensions business
Apply the Consumer Duty outcomes to a product design and a servicing scenario
Explain disclosure requirements at point of sale, including key features documents and charges disclosure
Map the complaints and redress route from internal complaint to Financial Ombudsman Service
Your checkpoint
A regulatory map (one page) linking each regulator and rulebook area to the activities it governs in life and pensions
Legal, regulatory and tax frameworks for life and pensions business
Calculate tax relief on pension contributions across basic, higher and additional rate scenarios, including annual allowance and carry-forward
Explain the lifetime allowance replacement framework and how lump sums and drawdown are taxed
Distinguish taxation of life policy gains, chargeable events, and top-slicing relief
Apply inheritance tax treatment to pensions and whole-of-life policies in estate planning
Your checkpoint
A tax calculation sheet with five scenarios (annual allowance breach, carry-forward, chargeable gain, IHT on policy, drawdown income) showing the correct tax outcome for each
Customer needs, suitability and advice processes in life and pensions
Structure a fact-find covering financial objectives, attitude to risk, capacity for loss and vulnerability indicators
Evaluate risk-profiling tools and explain their limitations when matching a customer to a product
Apply the suitability report structure: objectives, recommendation, reasons, costs, disadvantages and risks
Identify vulnerability and consumer-support needs and adjust the advice process accordingly
Your checkpoint
A full mock suitability report for a fictional customer, including fact-find summary, recommendation, and explicit disadvantages and risks
Customer needs, suitability and advice processes in life and pensions & Policy administration, claims and servicing in life and pensions
Diagnose when advice versus guidance versus execution-only is appropriate and the record-keeping each requires
Explain disclosure of commission and fee arrangements and how adviser charging affects the recommendation
Describe underwriting stages from application to acceptance, including medical evidence and non-disclosure consequences
Outline policy administration events: assignment, variation, surrender, and trust creation
Your checkpoint
A decision tree that routes five customer scenarios to advice, guidance, or execution-only, with the documentation required for each
Policy administration, claims and servicing in life and pensions
Sequence the claims process for death, critical illness, income protection and terminal illness claims, including time limits and evidence
Explain claims handling duties: notification, proof of claim, disclosure of material facts, and disputed claims
Apply trust and nomination rules to payout decisions and identify who receives the benefit
Describe servicing standards for premium collection, fund switches, and policy loans or partial encashment
Your checkpoint
A claims process flowchart covering four claim types, with the evidence required and the payout decision point for each
Life and pensions products and their features & Legal, regulatory and tax frameworks for life and pensions business & Customer needs, suitability and advice processes in life and pensions & Policy administration, claims and servicing in life and pensions
Consolidate weak areas identified in earlier deliverables into a prioritised revision list
Complete a timed mock exam under exam conditions and mark it against the syllabus domains
Re-derive the five most error-prone calculations without notes
Summarise each domain in ten bullet points from memory, then check against notes
Your checkpoint
A timed mock exam score with a written error analysis listing every mistake, its domain, and the corrective action
Milestones
Week 2: Can explain any product type's payout trigger, tax wrapper and typical customer in under 60 seconds without notes
Week 4: Scores at least 70% on a self-made 30-question tax and regulation quiz, with all calculation errors corrected in writing
Week 6: Produces a complete suitability report and correctly routes all five advice-type scenarios with no reference to notes
Week 8: Achieves a mock exam pass mark with a written error analysis covering all four domains