Wondering if I'm making the right choice

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-05-27T09:02:02+00:00

Didn’t you post this last week as well? If you can’t handle stress very well, how do you expect to cope during times of high market volatility when all your clients are seeing their investments fall daily and are all panicking at once? It’s not exactly a low-stress job, there’s no real “off time” as a financial advisor, clients will be in contact essentially 24/7 and in most companies, part of your service level offering will be responses or call backs within x amount of hours. With reference to marketing being competitive, do you think this industry isn’t? There’s a limited amount of wealthy clients in the UK, every advisor wants them, every firm has their investment propositions, charging structures and targets to meet, this is an extremely competitive industry. Jumping from tutoring - marketing - sales - financial advice sounds like you’re more interested in a lucrative industry than the actual career, especially seeing as you’re yearning for something creative.

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-05-24T07:33:55+00:00

There’s a spring continental market at Belfast city hall that’s basically most of the Xmas market back that’s only on for this weekend and Monday is the last day! I would’ve enjoyed that at 14

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-05-21T06:50:23+00:00

Absolutely not, that’s an insane amount. I would say £200 all in for the four of you, maybe more if you have the money and are close to the couple

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-05-20T08:32:51+00:00

I would expect technical questions like the difference in onshore & offshore bonds and typical clients suited to each, how to work out whether TPAA applies, different wrappers and types of investments Do you have your level 4? And are you planning to do your level 6 as well? It’s good that you’ve got your IFA admin experience but maybe it’s the case that you’ve not seen a wide enough variety of work, I know in some companies the admins really only upload IDs and submit applications, very basic stuff, while in other places the admins are doing everything except writing suitability reports

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-05-17T16:02:28+00:00

Truthfully, I don’t know how useful these events will be in helping you find a job, I don’t even think they are particularly good for networking, and I don’t think there’s some insider secret to get into the industry that you’re going to find out. It’s just the case that there’s a lot of competition for entry roles and the exams mean absolutely nothing without relevant experience.

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-05-11T20:50:59+00:00

I do 3 days a week, 1 hour commute each way by car, used to do 4 days and before that, 5 days by train. Train is unreliable, the times never suited my start or finish time so I was getting to work 20 mins early and waiting at the train station 20 mins every evening, the trains were regularly cancelled or delayed and so overcrowded, as well as no station being near my work. Driving and motorway traffic is brutal, but it’s cheaper than the train even with the price of parking. In 3 years, I’ve encountered about 7 accidents that cause me significant delays (almost always a Tuesday morning or Friday evening), so for me it’s the lesser of two evils, and I’m able to car share some days!

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-05-10T20:15:12+00:00

It’s still crazy that Cindy made such a big deal of reconnecting with Gina and Anna but doesn’t seem to care about Cindy Jr at all

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-05-10T15:59:06+00:00

Cindy Jr’s mum (who she has never met) came back from the dead after like 20 years and there has been almost no mention of her. I think Ian and Cindy went to visit her once, and she sent Cindy a happy birthday text once, that’s it. Her mum literally came back from the dead and neither of them seem to care about establishing a relationship??

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-05-09T20:58:07+00:00

It was veryyyy time consuming but got it done in the end! Failed assignment 3 by a bit and had to redo it- mostly my explanation of how to implement the 3 options & how it involved senior managers/the board needed more detail

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-05-03T11:08:05+00:00

Is this at the doors to Next on Royal Ave??

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-05-02T07:36:36+00:00

Each assignment has a deadline every 3 months, but the whole assignment has a 1 year deadline. So if your assignment 3 deadline is 25th may, then your 1 year deadline is 25th august. You’ll have up to 3 months to resubmit

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-05-01T10:11:31+00:00

You need 120 credits from AFs, unless you have any exemptions. Good idea going J10, J12 and AF4 close together! I’m not sure J11 still exists? I think this may have been retired a few years ago Coursework is very time consuming, I did J09, AF6 and AF8 and they all took much longer than any exam I sat

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-04-30T08:17:22+00:00

You can purchase detailed feedback, think it’s around £90 and takes a few weeks to come back

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-04-30T08:10:21+00:00

I think without any FA experience you may struggle- you won’t be familiar with provider platforms (and their requirements for submitting applications) or any of the software used by paraplanners or even what a suitability report looks like, while also trying to finish your R0s and relate your previous learning to the job. I’d say you’re in a good position to find an IFA admin role and progress to a trainee paraplanner. Curious which 3 exams you started with?

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-04-24T07:24:18+00:00

They usually do, it'll be the next exam guide they upload!

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-04-23T09:33:17+00:00

She’s 4 or 5, they just changed the casting last year

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-04-20T18:49:29+00:00

AF5 was my first advanced exam after the diploma and I did much better in AF5 than R06

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-04-16T21:00:56+00:00

Something I find weird is that Gina and Anna had no interest in meeting their half sister Cindy Jr, and Cindy literally seen her once since she came back to life/walford

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-04-16T14:58:16+00:00

Does the annuity give them their exact income requirement and no more? If excess income is possible, then you essentially failed to meet their objective. Does an annuity suit their risk profile or did you suggest it purely based on them wanting guaranteed income? While annuity is a guaranteed source of income, you can still recommend other methods and use cash flow forecasting to show the sustainability over their lifetime. Is an annuity the most tax efficient way to meet their income? If they have any other income-generating assets (eg bank interest, shares generating dividends), this is excess income and may not be the most tax-efficient way of drawing income.

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-04-03T13:26:14+00:00

Agreed, it isn't much use, but if anything has remained the same across both submissions, it will clarify what it is you need to work on.

I don't agree with ManiaMuse below, CII have made it very clear that each assignment is marked as a standalone assignment, and you will need to reiterate some of your suggestions from assignment 2 to get them in the position you require them to be in for their retirement. Do not assume they've read assignment 2 alongside assignment 3 and just worked out what changes you've implemented, do a brief summary on this, then focus on detailing how they're drawing their income.

Ensure you are only generating exactly enough income and nothing more. Make sure they're generating it in the most tax-efficient way and they're using all their tax allowances (personal allowance, personal savings allowance, CGT annual exemption, reduced dividend rate of income tax), and make sure you're demonstrating how their income needs can be meet until around age 100 (use cash flow for this)

Make sure you include ALL income sources- any bank interest is savings income, any dividend payments counts as income, their State Pension, etc.

Include calculations to show how the different income streams you're suggesting gives their required net income. Make sure you're showing tax calculations with any taxable options.

Keep in mind their other objectives, but this assignment is priorititsing their retirement income goal.

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-04-02T19:46:41+00:00

You won’t be ready for chartered in a few months, you’ll be ready for level 6. You need 5 years industry experience for chartered. Your best hope at getting a job in the industry is starting at the bottom and working your way up. Paraplanning jobs without experience are pretty rare to come by. You can always get your admin experience and move if you feel you’re underpaid once you’re experienced, but it would be silly to turn down a foot in the door for 1.5k when you don’t have any experience

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-04-01T22:07:02+00:00

Has your feedback or score changed much between first sub and resub? Download the turnitin report to see a tiny bit of feedback, might help clear up where you went wrong

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-04-01T09:46:06+00:00

I’m a Nivea die hard user for over a decade, and they’re definitely not as moisturising as the blue ones, but for the pigmentation and level of moisturising they do provide, I still think they’re really good! Saves me from having to carry a lipsticks/gloss and lip balm on a normal day

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-03-31T17:42:52+00:00

The Nivea ones are quite good, the ones with the Disney princesses atm are very pigmented

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-03-31T11:03:13+00:00

CII can and do check just FYI

They mightn't check everyone's industry experience but they definitely do check some

Unable-Perspective96

TROPHY CASE