CISI Chartered Wealth Manager study guide
CISI Chartered Wealth Manager · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Chartered Wealth Manager (CWM) designation is associated with the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI), a professional body that describes itself as serving over 54,000 members worldwide and offers routes to Chartered status alongside a Statement of Professional Standing (SPS) and the CFP™ designation. Candidates typically pursue Chartered status to signal a career-level commitment to financial planning and wealth advice, and CISI positions the qualification ladder as a way to advance a career, with a Qualifications Navigator, learning materials and exam booking available through its site. The CISI Chartered Wealth Manager study guide has 4 sections and about 1,743 words.
01Wealth management and financial planning
This domain tests holistic advice rather than product selection: how a client's goals, balance sheet and behaviour become a funded, reviewable plan, and how suitability is evidenced. Questions target the planning process, goal quantification, attitude to risk versus capacity for loss, cash-flow modelling, protection and pension integration, and the behavioural biases that derail plans.
410 words, about 2 min02Investment management and asset allocation
This domain tests portfolio construction and appraisal: strategic versus tactical allocation, diversification arithmetic, risk-adjusted performance measurement, and the wrapper and tax context in which the portfolio sits. Expect quantitative items - you should be able to compute a portfolio return, a standard deviation and a Sharpe ratio from supplied figures.
422 words, about 2 min03Taxation and estate planning
This domain tests computational accuracy in UK income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax, and the planning that follows: wills, nil rate bands, lifetime gifts, trusts and the interaction of CGT with IHT. Figures below are for 2024/25 - always state the tax year you are applying.
428 words, about 2 min04Regulation, ethics and professional standards
This domain tests the architecture of UK conduct regulation and the professional judgement built on it: FSMA and the FCA Handbook, client classification, the Consumer Duty, financial crime controls, complaints and redress, and the ethical principles of CISI membership. Ethics items are scenario-based - they reward reasoning and documentation, not statute recitation.
483 words, about 2 min