NZX Adviser study plan

Map the regulatory architecture: identify the role of the FMA, NZX as market operator, the Financial Markets Conduct Act framework, and the licensing regime that governs advisers.

Distinguish the conduct obligations that attach to a financial advice provider from those that attach to an individual adviser, and explain who is accountable for each.

Locate and read the primary source documents (legislation, NZX rules, code of conduct) rather than summaries, and note where they diverge from secondhand descriptions.

Build a personal glossary of at least 25 regulatory terms with a one-line plain-English definition for each.

Draft a short written explanation of what 'good conduct' means in practice for a firm, using concrete examples rather than slogans.

Explain disclosure duties end to end: what must be disclosed, when, in what form, and to whom, including conflicts of interest and remuneration.

Analyse at least three ethical dilemmas drawn from real adviser scenarios and justify a course of action using an explicit decision framework.

Describe the complaints and dispute resolution pathway available to retail clients and the adviser's obligations at each step.

Identify record-keeping, client-money and supervision requirements and explain why each exists.

Write a short case note on how a breach would be detected, reported and remediated inside a firm.

Run a full fact-find and needs analysis for a hypothetical client, capturing goals, horizon, liquidity needs, risk tolerance and constraints.

Translate the fact-find into a documented suitability rationale that a reviewer could audit without asking you questions.

Write client-facing disclosure in plain language and check it against a readability and completeness checklist.

Explain vulnerability, capacity and fair-treatment considerations and how they change the onboarding process.

Identify the point at which advice crosses from information into a personalised recommendation and state the obligations that attach.

Describe how the NZX cash market operates: order types, trading phases, price-time priority, settlement cycle and the role of the clearing and settlement infrastructure.

Explain market manipulation and insider conduct prohibitions and recognise the behaviours that breach them.

Read a company announcement and an annual report and extract the facts that matter for a client recommendation.

Calculate and interpret core equity metrics including dividend yield, price-earnings ratio and total return.

Match a client's objectives to an appropriate equity strategy and justify the choice in writing.

Explain bond mechanics: pricing, yield to maturity, duration, credit spread and the inverse relationship between prices and yields, with worked numbers.

Compare the risk and return profile of government, corporate and inflation-linked debt and describe when each suits a client.

Distinguish managed funds, ETFs and direct holdings on structure, cost, liquidity, tracking and tax treatment.

Build a diversified portfolio for a stated client profile and justify asset allocation, vehicle choice and rebalancing policy.

Calculate the total cost of ownership for two competing products and show the impact over a ten-year horizon.

Explain how forwards, futures, options and swaps work, including the obligations and risks each creates for the holder.

Calculate payoff and profit at expiry for simple option and futures positions and interpret the results for a client.

Describe how derivatives are used to hedge versus speculate and identify the disclosure and suitability obligations that apply.

Explain leverage, margin and counterparty risk and how each can amplify losses beyond the amount invested.

Critique a hedging proposal and state the conditions under which it would be inappropriate for a retail client.

Explain the New Zealand tax treatment of dividends, interest, managed fund distributions and capital gains for an individual investor.

Describe the main retirement savings vehicles, contribution rules and withdrawal treatment, and how they interact with other investments.

Calculate after-tax returns for two investment options and show how tax changes the ranking.

Identify the tax and retirement questions that fall outside an adviser's competence and describe the referral pathway.

Explain how tax treatment influences product and account-type selection in a client recommendation.

Synthesise all domains into a single integrated client scenario covering onboarding, advice, disclosure, conduct and review.

Complete timed practice under exam conditions and diagnose weak domains from the results rather than from feel.

Rehearse concise verbal explanations of the highest-risk topics as if advising a client or answering a regulator.

Review every earlier deliverable and correct errors, filling gaps identified in the practice diagnostics.

Write a personal exam-day plan covering timing, question triage and what to do when a question is unfamiliar.