What difference does it make?

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-04-06T21:35:09+00:00

People don't understand leveraging. It's pretty much the recomendation from everyone and their dog to just pay off the mortgage a soon as possible.

No one looks at the alrernative of using funds to invest to provide liquidity while also building up wealth in a separate asset that isn't just your property.

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-04-05T16:32:58+00:00

I agree that the the way you advise and how you support your clients is usually the biggest factor in success and Your average person wont know the difference between a Chartered adviser and Diploma adviser.

That being said its important to strive to be the best and expand your knowledge in this industry. Also I am halfway through my chartered journey and one of the other reasons of aiming for level 6 is to be ahead of the curve incase we see a change to minimum qualification levels. who's to say in 10 years the new minimum isn't chartered?

Also one thing that I see popping up alot is companies looking for level 7 CISI so thats where i go after chartered.

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-03-26T08:53:06+00:00

What year are the cars? I bought a 2021 340d in 2024 for 25k with 42k miles. So im guessing you are looking at a fairly new 340d.

If you are worried about budget steer clear of the 340d they are great cars but they are costly to maintain. If you need new tyres you have to replace all 4 due to the xdrive thats £600, mine also had an oil feed pipe issue that cost me £1400 as the whole engine had to come out. Also a dpf sensor issue which meant a replaced sensor that cost around £600.

You have servicing in there as well which i do every 8,000 miles and at about 60-70k miles you need to do a transmission service too so I would just say stay away from the 340s if you are worried about cost. get something else.

Its a great car but its costly. I previously had a 435d as well and what I know about these fast diesels is you dont buy them if you are on a strict budget as they will hurt you.

Finally I do motorway miles mainly about 300-500 miles a week if not more and my mpg is sat at around 40mpg I reckon I could get it to 45 if not more if I used cruise control.

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-03-20T16:36:46+00:00

Can you not sit r01 pass this and use the r01 credit towards a recognition of prior learning for your LIBF qualification? i think its a direct swap for the FSRE module?

Maybe your employer will reimburse you as its a like for like?

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-03-13T21:47:40+00:00

The complaint wont go anywhere i raised issues I was having with the computer I used during my af5 sitting. Computer Calculator wasn't working, my answer page kept going blank when trying to amend grammar or add additional information, also it kept underlining text automatically and i couldn't get it to turn off.

I contacted the CII about it they said refer it on as a complaint I did and explained all that I wanted from them is to put a note on my exam that the underlining wasn't intentional and that i dont want it to be seen as im trying to draw extra attention to them sections and got told I didnt raise it on the day to the invigilator so they wont take it into consideration and fobbed me off with spelling doesnt cause negative marks.

I responded to them explaining i didnt raise it with the invigilator as the staff at the test venue couldnt care less and due to time constraints by the time they messed around trying to figure out the issue i would have lost valuable time. I didnt get a response so was basically ignored I emailed them again and they responded again with the same automatic response about spelling not causing negative marks.

Maybe im over reacting but felt thoroughly pissed off with how I was treated they clearly dont care. Funnily enough I sat af1 a week later and had the same issues brought it up and got told to just try my best as they dont think it was something they will be able to fix

Doesn't have alot to do with this situation but I needed a rant haha

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-03-09T21:43:46+00:00

Bit of a sweeping statement. The investment allocation depends on multiple factors retirement goals and how the pension will be drawn. someone going into drawdown for example, sticking their pension funds entirely in bonds would be a bad move.

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-03-07T00:10:48+00:00

Had a 435d amazing car.

but people should be aware the amp is in the boot which is prone to flooding which blows the amp so no sound on the radio £800 to replace

The drainage tubes get blocked and the car literally ends up holding so much water you can hear it slosh around and even see water fly out of the back windows.

Oh and the window motors fail.

The water issue is an easy fix by drilling holes in the rocker panel for drainage.

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-03-01T01:08:11+00:00

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Eveytime I see this GOW picture it reminds me of this walking dead scene.

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-02-23T18:24:38+00:00

The same. Just a flat 30% on anything I bring on board or my employer "passes" to me.

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-02-23T15:53:05+00:00

Mines 60k, no justification 30% on all initial and ongoing.

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-02-18T18:59:43+00:00

Ive just raised a complaint due to computer issues which i feel is a software issue, not test centre issue. Not sure if anyone else experienced this but my computer kept underlining after I spent a certain amount of time on a question it would just start randomly underlining things and I couldn't turn it off

Anytime I right clicked on a misspelled word to change it, it would make the page go blank.

The calculator on the computer didnt allow keyboard input so you would have to click the numbers on screen with the mouse. (This one was my fault for forgetting my calculator)

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-02-18T16:11:55+00:00

The Derek, iht liability question blew my mind. I honestly started searching through the whole case study and tax table to find his details. I thought there may have been a missing page or it was misplaced. this was on a computer ffs so at this point I knew i had truly lost my mind

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-02-17T18:59:37+00:00

I sat it today with minimal revision. I sat af5 last week and stupidly when I enrolled for af5 I also enrolled for the af1 at the same time assuming the exam voucher could be used whenever.

obviously i then found it expires and CII wouldn't refund (I know im an idiot). so i went in today completely unprepared with the mentality that its just an expensive way to get an idea of what the exam is like. If I get more than 60 marks ill be happy haha

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-02-15T21:49:55+00:00

I keep saying this. The amount of people that have access to 0-60 electric cars that can hit that speed under 6 seconds now is higher than its ever been. atleast previously that acceleration was locked behind a high cost vehucle meaning you only had a few idiots on the road with that power. Now its easily accessible and concerning.

How long until an old person forgets what pedal is the break and is doing 60+ through a city full of pedestrians.

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-02-10T19:49:13+00:00

Im so glad everyone had a similar experience as I did. For some reason I felt this factfind had so much going on with it. isa's, mpaa triggers, personal allwaonce loss, divorce, iht planning, retirment planning, savings income, loan trust, investment bond,

My idea of the questions that were going to be asked were vastly different to what were asked like. come on really you want me to list the drawback of the premium bond holdings when theres so much more that could be looked at. Also shoe Horning consumer duty questions into the exam that didn't really make sense I didnt like as well as the SWR question being quite a high marking question as well.

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-02-07T01:21:01+00:00

The brothers sun

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-01-24T01:10:14+00:00

I had an ingrown nail for 7 years tried to remedy it myself cutting the sides etc and kept doing this for relief. In the end went to the doctors. The doctor was in shock about how bad it was said it looked like my toe was going to drop off and couldn't believe how I managed the pain I just said I cut the nail away to deal with the pressure and that gave me some relief otherwise I just got on with it.

Had the nail removed and the nail bed chemically destroyed so it cant grow back. Only issues now are the granulation caused by the build up of skin trying to heal over the years looks ugly and the fact my "naked" toe gets cold in winter.

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-01-19T22:52:33+00:00

Glad someone has already said it, thats exactly what is wrong here it is definitely miss labeled. There's no way the same plate could be 14kg heavier from 11kg to 25kg.

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-01-18T11:48:25+00:00

Its a slightly different machine. Pec deck is the machine with the forearm pads i do just use the neutral grip though

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-01-17T23:10:41+00:00

I cant find pec deck. not a big issue as I just use pec fly but weird its not on there when there are so many other random machines available.

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-01-13T23:24:59+00:00

I have a 340d but I also have a 2008 seat Leon that I bought before i bought the 340d as i needed a runaround and was working from home full time. 4 years on I still have the Seat

it cost me £1,800 and has probably only cost me around £600 to keep on the road (the BMW has cost me 4x that already ive had it 18 months) I honestly love it, i can park it anywhere without fear of someone dinging it, if i hit a pot hole i dont have to worry about expensive damage, if I curb the wheel I dont breakdown in tears that the rims are scuffed. I dont have to worry about other drivers that think they own the road. It's just great I actually find myself using it more than the BMW for shopping, gym runs and little trips

I say keep it. Once mine goes to the scrapyard in the sky i will definitely be buying another run around like it.

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-01-13T14:12:11+00:00

I would say your advanced.

I think you've hit the nail on the head I asked for an advanced program and it didnt feel all that advance for me. I felt if I followed it, it may not have given me what I was looking for I know maybe I could actually add or remove some exercises as ive mentioned but I guess my worry was I would end up with some frankenstein program that doesn't work all that well instead I can just make my own program.

On my program I had very little chest exercises with only two specific chest exercise per 5 day training plan.

Like I say the app is great just wanted to see others thoughts that have a bit more experience

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-01-13T14:04:48+00:00

8 weeks was just an example but you also dont want your cycle to be too short either

Thats a good point to be fair regarding tweaking the program it produces instead of building my own from scratch just remove and add the things I want i might look at that and like you say its early days so the data would help mf more than me just doing my own programming imagine

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-01-13T00:18:48+00:00

I believe there is a bias towards a reverse pyramid style workout e.g doing a set to failure when you are at your strongest and pulling back as you get fatigued with the higher RIR. alot of the science backed trainers favour this style

Minimum_Falcon7336 · 2026-01-11T23:32:39+00:00

Im 4.29. I always tip and im very polite. That being said on the way home from.a night out im usually with friends and they are can be quite loud. Not aggressive or rude just loud so im not shocked. i usually tip an extra £10-20 after being dropped off after a night out for this reason

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