NZ CFS L5 Core study plan
NZ CFS L5 Core · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Regulatory and legislative framework for financial services
Map the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 framework from memory: the six financial product categories, the fair dealing provisions, and disclosure obligations for advisers, then check your map against the legislation text
Distinguish the licensing pathways (FAP licence, transitional licence, authorised body, nominated representative, adviser) and write a one-page table showing who can do what under each
Explain the role of the FMA, the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services, and the dispute resolution scheme membership requirement in your own words without notes
Identify which conduct obligations attach to Class 1 versus Class 2 financial advice products and list three practical examples of each
Your checkpoint
A one-page legislation map plus a 15-question self-test on licensing and disclosure, scored and errors logged with the correct rule cited
Regulatory and legislative framework for financial services & Professional and ethical conduct, including conflicts of interest
Apply the Code of Professional Conduct standards (client care, competence, integrity, confidentiality) to five short written scenarios and justify each judgement
Diagnose conflicts of interest in commission-based, soft-dollar and vertically integrated structures, and draft a disclosure statement for one realistic conflict
Sequence the advice process end to end (discovery, advice, disclosure, implementation, review) and annotate where each Code standard bites
Draft a personal conflicts register template covering ownership, remuneration and referral arrangements
Your checkpoint
A completed conflicts register for a hypothetical adviser business plus written disclosure wording for the three highest-risk conflicts
Client discovery, needs analysis and information gathering
Build a discovery checklist that captures goals, time horizon, dependants, existing cover, cash flow, assets and liabilities, and test it on two practice clients
Write open, non-leading questions that surface a client's real priorities rather than the product they think they want, and practise them aloud for 20 minutes
Identify the information gaps that would invalidate a recommendation and script how you would close them in a second meeting
Record discovery notes to a standard that a supervisor could follow the reasoning without asking you questions
Your checkpoint
Two completed discovery records for practice clients, each with a documented gap-closure plan and a supervisor-ready notes template
Risk profiling, product suitability and recommendations
Construct a risk profile using both capacity for loss (objective) and tolerance for risk (subjective), and explain where the two diverge using two contrasting client examples
Match three client profiles to suitable product solutions and write the suitability rationale for each in under 150 words
Identify the assumptions behind a projection (inflation, returns, fees, tax) and test how a 1% fee difference changes a 10-year outcome
Critique two deliberately unsuitable recommendations and name the specific failure in each
Your checkpoint
Three written suitability statements, each linking client objectives, risk profile and product choice, reviewed against a self-built suitability checklist
Financial markets, products and economic environment
Explain how interest rates, inflation and the OCR transmit to bond prices, term deposit rates and mortgage rates, and draw the chain from memory
Compare the risk and return characteristics of the main KiwiSaver fund types, direct shares, bonds and managed funds, and state who each suits
Describe the mechanics of the NZX, the role of the RBNZ, and how currency movements affect offshore investments
Interpret a fund update and an investment statement to extract fees, returns and risk indicators without help
Your checkpoint
A one-page market briefing written as if for a client, covering rate direction, currency and what it means for their portfolio, with sources cited
Client communication, disclosure and record keeping
Draft a full written advice document that meets disclosure requirements: scope, fees, conflicts, basis of advice and limitations
Deliver a five-minute verbal explanation of a recommendation to a practice listener and have them repeat it back to test comprehension
Apply record-keeping rules by filing a complete client file to the standard a compliance reviewer would expect, including who said what and when
Explain the difference between fact and opinion in advice documentation and rewrite three vague statements into defensible ones
Your checkpoint
One complete mock client file: discovery, advice document, disclosure, and file notes, checked against a requirements list
Ongoing client service, reviews and complaints handling
Design a review schedule that varies by client complexity and product type, and justify the intervals you choose
Demonstrate the complaints process end to end, including acknowledgement, investigation, internal dispute resolution and escalation to the dispute resolution scheme
Write a client review agenda that tests whether the original advice is still suitable rather than just reporting performance
Identify trigger events (job change, relationship change, inheritance) that should prompt an out-of-cycle review
Your checkpoint
A documented complaints-handling procedure with a worked example timeline, plus a review agenda template
Personal and professional development, supervision and competence
Assess your own competence gaps against the Code standards and write a 12-month development plan with specific actions
Explain the supervision and mentoring requirements for new advisers and how competence is evidenced and recorded
Complete two full timed mock exams across all eight domains and analyse every error by domain
Build a one-page revision sheet of the ten facts you keep getting wrong and drill them until recall is automatic
Your checkpoint
Two timed mock exam scores with a domain-by-domain error analysis and a final-week revision sheet
Milestones
Week 2: Score at least 80% on a self-written 20-question test covering licensing, disclosure and the Code standards, with every error corrected against the source rule
Week 4: Produce three suitability statements that pass your own checklist with no unresolved gaps, and explain capacity versus tolerance aloud without notes
Week 6: Complete a mock client file that a peer can follow from first contact to disclosure without asking clarifying questions
Week 8: Achieve at least 75% on both timed mock exams and show a written remediation note for every domain scoring below 70%