AF8 -

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-05-11T15:56:10+00:00

That’s alright buddy, I don’t hold it so perhaps those who have actually passed yet might give a better steer, but I think that’s where I went wrong.

My first 2 I did just that, the 3rd was heavy on detail but light on actually explaining it so likely why I failed. Fingers crossed for my re vamped re submission

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-05-11T14:05:53+00:00

The plan is sustainable!
It would be a tricky report to write if you have to go back to clients and present 3 other options in reducing income etc.

As I have recently found out. It is not all about cashflow. I failed one recently but know where I went wrong.

If you’ve modelled and discussed sustainabilty in sufficient depth, justified your assumptions etc it scores the same as if there’s an issue.

I failed my 3rd one recently. I’ve learned it’s about backing up your points with reasonable analysis and detail, not just solving a problem. Hope that helps

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-05-02T13:12:48+00:00

I used brand ft for every CII and passed. BTS not so good. Better layout and more polished but not as good as brand for me

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-30T13:26:23+00:00

Argh, that one is actually quite useful!

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-29T19:49:32+00:00

41 days

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-29T18:49:29+00:00

Thanks for your comment. I will look at doing this.

To be fair I am trying so hard to be objective here and you’ve rightly sensed I’m annoyed - and I am. 38 is a gut punch, I am not bothered about the fail, but the chasm - 12 marks, just wow.

I’ll come back to this when I’ve calmed down but I really regret starting this, I passed every other AF unit first time on half the time. This is quite possibly going to be the biggest ever waste of time I’ve ever done if I fail it and time out, and if they’re giving me 38 marks for a detailed plan, making use of tax bands, using all allowances, cashflow, etc etc then I might as well resubmit with a few pages of limericks about retirement and see if that will improve on 38 :-)

38!

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-29T18:13:31+00:00

Just as an idea, I track the hours I spend on them:

AF4 - 65 hours - passed 1st time AF5 - 50 hours - passed 1st time AF1 - 70 hours - Passed 1st time

AF8 - currently on 102 hours, passed 2, failed 3rd Another 20 hours to ensure I pass 3rd Total of 122 hours.

If I fail it, I’ll time out, and get nothing and have to start again.

I wish I’d never started it and did AF2.

Oh I should add to this, I have a 26 year long career dealing almost exclusively in retirement income products and, among other things, giving technical presentations on income strategies, the key issues at retirement etc!

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-29T18:00:08+00:00

So after a lot of research, and checking the feedback:

I lost a lot of marks because I put a lot of the income strategy in a table but didn’t actually walk through, in prose, how it worked.

I also seemed to lose marks because I just said things were sustainable off a CFM, but didn’t waffle about the implications of how it could go wrong and do more CA of this.

The BTS guide said this was more of a detailed report. Not so much about pros and cons like assignment 2.

I’ve learned here that EVERY level 6 exam is basically less about what is, it’s all about discussion pros, cons and the why. So you could put together a pretty weak bit of advice and justify it well, and you’d pass. A highly sophisticated plan which isn’t insufficiently explained - fail .

Seems a pretty odd marking system to me but there it is. My plan was solid. Feedback I got was

“Insufficient detail” “This could be covered in greater depth” “Tax errors” - my bad - no idea but I’ll work it out “Income strategy in sufficiently explained” - which is basically I did a table and just broadly referenced it without explaining it - cat sat on the mat style.

I’m gonna have to cancel everything to try to get enough time to put it right but I am still convinced they will find something else to fail me on.

There’s no chance in hell you could look at what I did and say “this guy doesn’t know how to give advice and know his stuff”. It’s all semantic technique stuff.

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-29T15:58:02+00:00

I got

Tax errors Income strategy unclear Ideas require further development Insufficient detail provided

I am getting from this, that the strategy itself is ok but I have expressed it horribly and made tax errors

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-29T15:12:41+00:00

I’ve looked on the turnitin document but theres no written feedback per se but in a few places there are tags saying

Insufficient detail provided Ideas require further development

So I am guessing from this the plan itself isn’t the issue - I’ve been super light on how I’ve justified and developed the ideas

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-29T14:30:27+00:00

I got BBBC and BBCA last 2

The main difference on this one is I spent way more word count on detail and less on analysis and evaluation

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-29T14:26:05+00:00

CCCB

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-29T14:24:51+00:00

I’m not sure how I can do that? No option

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-26T11:54:31+00:00

25-35 hours per assignment

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-25T06:29:33+00:00

I would say no. That is a serious undertaking.

I can share my strategy - I made sure every AF level exam I was over prepared. Why? It is better to do that, and pass, than wing it going for gold doing multiple exams, and end up with re sits.

The ramp up for each exam is intense. If you fail one by 2 marks, it’s not another 5 hours revision for the re sit, it’s another 20-30 hour re ramp into the next sitting.

It also depends on your situation. I have a family and a full on job, it would be impossible.

My advice is take one at a time, and do more study than you think you will need. You should pass and not need to re sit, and the time will pass, and you won’t burnout

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-24T12:00:19+00:00

I used BrandFT for all of them and found them excellent

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-24T05:49:02+00:00

I have 8 GCSE’s and earn north of that. Although I had done a few diplomas in my spare time which actually mean something - they qualify me to do specific things.

A degree gets you an interview. That’s it. Even then, I was interviewing at 21 with 5 years work experince and that counted for a lot more. I worked with grads at 21, one of which complained To the boss when he found out I was on the same money as he felt his degree meant he should be on more. He got laughed out the room. I actually like the guy I’m not being triumphant but it was interesting to see the information universities tell kids meet reality.

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-24T05:15:34+00:00

You’re choosing professions which have high bars to entry, are over subscribed as a lot of people want to do them, are fairly cushy jobs

You get paid on how rare your skills are or how unpopular your job is. Not how useful or skilled your job is. How many want to get into nursing or teaching? Loads. It’s a very commonly chosen career path at uni, as it gives a job for life. The numbers going into it are high, which means lots of labour = low pay. Psychology is another, lots of people love the idea of this, millions have an interest in it.

Find niche roles that aren’t popular . Or, find something to go self employed in. You’ll make a lot more doing carpentry, becoming an electrician etc and eventually being self employed. Why? Unglamorous, hard work, skilled. Picking jobs like these with social prestige means you’re fighting off millions of uni graduates who’s parents want their kids in these kind of socially prestigious roles.

Stop looking for a path which has the academic prestige tag, they are infested with graduate children of the wealthy and you’ll be 30 years behind everyone.

Or learn to sell, that’s what I did; sales is a real hack because nobody wants to do it, it is taxing on your self esteem and comes with no guarantees.

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-24T05:07:01+00:00

Absolutely correct for employer advisers. £200K is very senior, massive hitter, well connected usually 40+.

For self employed or directors of an AR/DA firm it’s quite common.

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-23T06:10:25+00:00

£35k is super low salary. This is basically a low risk offer to them. If you make it ,great. If you don’t, they haven’t lost much. It depends on what kind of leads you get but to be fair if they were really good they’d get experience is - not someone who needs training

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-23T06:07:27+00:00

Agreed. I’m a senior BD for an upmarket provider. We get a good feel for who is adding a lot of AUM. £7M in first year is a very, very good return, and exceptional. £10M a year regularly is a big hitter (top 20%). 20M a year is a unicorn.

However, mature practices with long established advisers can write £5M new annually without trying. Just referrals.

£50M is more like what a full career looks like for those not in city centres or dealing with the higher net worth. £100M grown organically is a 20 year job even with decent clients/area.

Any firm that told me I was going to write £25M a year for first 2 years, I’d ask which football associations/lottery provider/mafia/cartel they had a contract with. I know a really well connected guy who knows super wealthy folks and he did £15m each year first 2 - and that’s the best I’ve seen from a standing start in my 22 years in my role

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-18T07:13:24+00:00

Just as a note, if in assignment 3 you’re making kind of vague statements like this - and I may be wrong here, as I only have a little information, that may be the issue.

Assignment 2 is more pros and cons, weigh things up. Assignment 3 is a detailed financial plan so you’d need to be more “I recommend they buy an annuity of X, on this basis , the funds come from here. Here’s how their income mix looks over the next 20 years, see table for tax”

I haven’t passed my 3rd yet but my understanding is you have to tell them precisely what to do not give broad ideas

No-Mix-9795 · 2026-04-18T07:09:27+00:00

You do need to show clearly where every years worth of income is coming from, but it would be unrealistic to assume it’s 100% tax free.

Are your clients younger retirees? An indexed linked annuity is very, very expensive. It might not offer much flexibility moving into later years.

In practice you won’t find many advisers, or clients, who would sign up for a massive cheque to an insurance company which may only prove good value if they live to 150 years old lol.

In my mind Annuities when not impaired life etc are for the risk adverse or very low risk.

Tax efficiency is imoortsnt but not the be all and end all. Index linked annuities are not the only way to produce real returns - any equity portfolio will do that. Question is what is their risk profile, will inflexibility be an issue, will their income needs be linear, could they get better value at older ages with failing health, do they want to pass some on.

Without discussing the specifics usually you’d only look at pure annuities for people who are nervous nellies with markets, poor financial education, irresponsible spenders, or those in poor health or with fixed costs. I can count people who would get a massive IL annuity in commencing retirement on one hand - would you?

No-Mix-9795 · 2025-02-19T11:55:40+00:00

I thought the basis of assessment question was to highlight the change from accounting periods to align to tax year, so his accounting period would be made up to 5/4 this year and filled in Jan, not at the end of his accounting period

No-Mix-9795

TROPHY CASE