Financial Planning Skills Certification Grade 1 study plan
Financial Planning Skills Certification Grade 1 · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Risk management and insurance planning
Map the risk-management planning process end to end: identify, measure, treat, monitor, and state where each step appears in a client file.
Compare term, whole life, universal life, and endowment contracts on premium structure, cash value, and beneficiary treatment, and write a one-page comparison table from memory.
Compute a client's human-life-value and needs-analysis coverage gap using income replacement, debt, education, and final expenses, showing each assumption.
Explain insurable interest, disclosure duties, and the consequences of non-disclosure in the ethics context of recommending cover.
Your checkpoint
A one-page coverage-gap worksheet for a sample household with all assumptions labelled and a written recommendation of cover type and amount.
Risk management and insurance planning & Cash flow management and household budgeting
Distinguish indemnity, valued, and benefit-of-limit claim settlements and apply each to health, disability, and property cases.
Calculate net worth and a 12-month cash-flow statement from a set of raw client receipts and bank records.
Build a household budget that funds insurance premiums, an emergency reserve of three to six months of essential spending, and debt service.
Identify at least five budgeting warning signs (savings rate below target, premium-to-income above comfort, revolving debt growth) and prescribe a corrective action for each.
Your checkpoint
A 12-month household cash-flow statement plus budget with a savings rate and an emergency-fund target calculated and justified.
Investment planning and asset allocation
Classify asset classes by risk, return, liquidity, and correlation, and match each to an investor risk profile.
Compute expected portfolio return and standard deviation for a two- and three-asset mix, and explain the diversification effect numerically.
Apply modern portfolio theory and the efficient frontier to justify an allocation rather than a product list.
Calculate risk-adjusted performance using Sharpe and Treynor ratios and interpret the difference for a client.
Your checkpoint
A written investment policy statement for a sample client containing target allocation, rebalancing bands, and a benchmark for each asset class.
Investment planning and asset allocation & Retirement planning and pension arrangements
Evaluate mutual funds, ETFs, bonds, and equities on cost, liquidity, and tax treatment, and defend a selection for a given client.
Compute the retirement funding gap using present value of desired income, expected inflation, and post-retirement return assumptions.
Compare defined-benefit, defined-contribution, and personal pension arrangements on risk bearing, portability, and payout options.
Estimate required monthly savings to close the gap and test sensitivity to a one-percentage-point change in return and in inflation.
Your checkpoint
A retirement funding-gap calculation with a savings schedule and a sensitivity table showing the effect of return and inflation shifts.
Retirement planning and pension arrangements & Tax planning
Sequence retirement drawdown across taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-exempt accounts and justify the ordering.
Compute after-tax retirement income under progressive brackets and identify the marginal rate that applies to each additional withdrawal.
Apply tax-advantaged retirement vehicles and contribution limits to a client case, including the effect of early withdrawal penalties.
Explain how pension income, annuities, and lump sums are taxed and quantify the difference for a sample retiree.
Your checkpoint
A drawdown and tax worksheet comparing two withdrawal strategies for a sample retiree with after-tax income shown for each year.
Tax planning & Estate planning and wealth transfer
Compute capital gains and dividend tax for a sample portfolio and compare holding periods and loss-offset rules.
Apply gift, inheritance, and estate tax thresholds to a sample estate and calculate the liability before and after a planning step.
Compare wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations on control, probate, and cost, and select the right tool for a stated family situation.
Identify at least four common estate-planning failures (outdated beneficiaries, no guardianship clause, titling mismatch, missing liquidity) and propose a fix for each.
Your checkpoint
An estate transfer memo for a sample family showing estimated tax liability, chosen instruments, and a list of documents to be updated.
Financial planning fundamentals and professional ethics & Client data gathering and financial goal setting & Integrated financial plan construction and case analysis
Apply the financial planning process and the professional standards of conduct to three short ethical dilemmas and state the correct action and reason.
Design a client data-gathering checklist covering quantitative and qualitative data, risk tolerance, and goal prioritisation.
Convert vague client wishes into SMART financial goals with amounts, dates, and priority ranking.
Assemble an integrated plan that reconciles insurance, investment, retirement, tax, and estate recommendations and flags conflicts between them.
Your checkpoint
A complete integrated financial plan for one case client covering all eight domains with a conflict log and prioritised action list.
Integrated financial plan construction and case analysis & Financial planning fundamentals and professional ethics
Rehearse case analysis under time pressure: read a case, identify the binding constraint, and outline recommendations within 15 minutes.
Review every calculation error from weeks 1 to 7 and rework each until correct without notes.
Recite the ethical standards and disclosure obligations from memory and apply them to two new scenarios.
Build a one-page formula and rate sheet covering coverage gap, retirement gap, after-tax return, and estate liability.
Your checkpoint
Two timed full case analyses scored against a self-made rubric, plus a one-page formula sheet and an error log with all items resolved.
Milestones
Week 2: Can produce a correct cash-flow statement, net worth statement, and coverage-gap figure from raw client data without referring to notes.
Week 4: Can compute a retirement funding gap and a portfolio expected return and standard deviation, and explain each assumption in plain language.
Week 6: Can calculate after-tax retirement income, capital gains tax, and estate liability for a sample case with no more than one arithmetic slip.
Week 8: Complete two timed integrated case analyses scoring at least 70% on the self-made rubric, with every item on the error log resolved.