CISI Chartered Wealth Manager study plan

Map the full Domain 1 syllabus into a one-page concept tree covering client discovery, risk profiling, goal quantification and the financial plan cycle

Write a 400-word worked example showing how a client's capacity-for-loss and tolerance-for-loss can diverge, and state what the adviser should do when they conflict

Build a spreadsheet that converts a client's stated goals into required annual savings and required real return, testing three inflation and three return scenarios

Draft a 10-question checklist you would use in a first client meeting to surface liquidity needs, dependants and time horizons

Derive the expected return, variance and correlation inputs for a three-asset portfolio and compute the portfolio's expected return and standard deviation by hand, then verify in a spreadsheet

Explain in writing why the efficient frontier shifts when the risk-free rate changes, and identify the tangency portfolio for two different risk-free rates

Construct three model portfolios (cautious, balanced, growth) with target weights, rebalancing bands and a stated rationale for each asset class

Summarise the main criticisms of mean-variance optimisation and describe one practical alternative you would use with a real client

Build a tax calculation worksheet that takes gross income, allowances and reliefs and produces net income and effective tax rate for three illustrative client profiles

Compare the tax treatment of at least four savings and investment wrappers, listing contribution limits, tax on income and tax on gains for each

Draft a one-page note on how tax position feeds back into the financial plan, using one client whose wrapper choice changes their projected retirement pot

List the reporting and disclosure obligations that arise when a client's tax position changes mid-year and state who must be told what and when

Summarise the core conduct principles that apply to advisers and map each principle to one concrete behaviour you would evidence in a client file

Write a short case study of an adviser whose recommendation was suitable in outcome but poorly documented, and identify the specific failures

Produce a client-file documentation checklist that would satisfy a supervisor reviewing suitability, costs disclosure and ongoing service

Explain in writing how conflicts of interest arise in remuneration structures and describe two controls that mitigate them

Draft a full estate planning scenario for a fictional family covering wills, intestacy, lifetime gifts and the order in which assets pass

Calculate the tax consequences of three different gifting strategies and identify which is most efficient and why

Explain the role of trusts in estate planning, distinguishing at least three trust types by control, tax treatment and flexibility

Identify the estate planning points that must be revisited after a marriage, a divorce and a death in the family, and state what changes in each case

Design a rebalancing policy and back-test it on paper against a buy-and-hold alternative using the three model portfolios from week 2, reporting the difference in turnover and risk

Analyse how tax drag changes the optimal rebalancing frequency and state the trade-off in numbers

Write a note on asset location: which assets belong in which wrapper for a client with both taxable and tax-advantaged capacity, with a worked example

Critique your own model portfolios from week 2 in light of the tax analysis and revise at least one weight or wrapper allocation

Write a complete financial plan for a fictional client from discovery notes through to recommendation, covering all four domains at least once

Stress-test the plan against three adverse scenarios (market fall, early death, long-term care need) and state what changes in the advice

Draft the client-facing summary of the plan in plain language, no longer than two pages, with costs and risks disclosed

Self-assess the plan against the conduct principles from week 4 and record any gaps

Consolidate all four domains into a one-page summary sheet of formulas, limits, principles and definitions you keep getting wrong

Complete 60 mixed practice questions under timed conditions and log every error by domain and by cause (knowledge gap, misreading, calculation slip)

Re-teach your three weakest topics aloud or in writing without notes, then check against your summary sheet

Write a final-week revision schedule for the last five days before the exam, allocating time by error log rather than by syllabus size