threesixty extends educational support to higher courses
threesixty, the fee-based IFA support provider, is extending the support it provides through its Financial Services Faculty to cover higher courses offered by both the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) and the Institute of Financial Services (IFS).
Until now, threesixty has provided support up to level three for the CII’s Certificate in Financial Planning and the IFS’ Certificate in Financial Advice. It will now provide support for level four courses from both awarding bodies.
While these courses are evolving and are likely to change significantly by 2010, threesixty believes it is clear that the decision to obtain a relevant qualification should not be deferred: The FSA has confirmed that any of the currently recognised level 4 qualifications, which include the CII diploma, the IFS diploma or the Institute of Financial Planning’s Certified Financial Planner, will be recognised in the post-RDR world, even though some continuing professional development may be required to provide any ‘gap’ filling.
The most recent enhancement to the services provided by threesixty’s Financial Services Faculty is the Buddy Study sessions. These are designed to make revision more productive and to raise motivation. They are informal, discussion-based sessions led by one of threesixty’s technical training team and students help each other in interactive sessions. Details of the sessions are available on threesixty’s website.
David Ingram, Partner at threesixty, commented: “The RDR proposals are clearly pushing for ever more professionalism and threesixty is moving to provide support for as wide and high a range of qualifications as possible. We also appreciate that revising for the advanced level IFA exams can be long lonely slogs, especially for those candidates who are working on areas that they do not fully understand or have trouble translating across to the worked examples within the exams. Therefore our new buddy sessions are designed to make revision more productive and to increase candidates’ motivation.”
The Faculty’s services also include:
• Sample exam questions that can be used as mock papers are available on threesixty’s website
• A dedicated email address has been set up for candidates to file questions. Responses are provided within three working days, usually by email but by telephone where necessary to provide extended explanations
• A “question spotter” service identifies those areas of the syllabus that arise most often and those where students have historically lost most marks. Initially this area of the service will concentrate on the CII diploma, as past papers are not yet available for the new IFS course
• A guide to exam technique is available, which is particularly useful for those advisers who have had a significant break since sitting their last exam, or who struggle with the written format of the exams
• threesixty lets candidates know of any exam support or workshops offered by product providers
In addition to these services, threesixty has negotiated for its clients a discount from the CII on the purchase of course text books, education assessments, key fact revision guides, CD rom/audio CDs and face to face training courses. The CII also waives for threesixty clients the £36 admission fee normally payable on becoming a member.
The IFP has also waived the £25 joining fee and reduced the membership rate for threesixty clients to undergo the Certified Financial Planner training and development.
The threesixty Financial Services Faculty was launched in 2006 and has supported a number of individuals through their CFP and CeFA studies.