Qfa

Shooter_galway

Does anyone have any experience of the pensions qfa exam I'm sitting life assurance in sept and wondering am I taking on too much if I do pensions too?

Sheela

Hi

QFA Pensions is definitely harder than the Life exam, but I wouldn't let that stop you from doing it.

Do the sample questions at the end of the book, as they are very similar to what comes up in the exam.

Best of luck.

fire_man

I did both of them a couple years ago at the one time,passed both,Its do able if you are willing to put in a couple of hours each evening.

speedygirl

Folks does anyone have any sample questions for Life Assurance that they could mail me. Sitting the exam in September and want to have as many questions as possible. thanks]

tara84

Hi Guys, Just wondering if anyone could help me here. I am currently doing my QFA exams and will hopefully be finished next year, I want to go travelling and am looking into moving to Canada next year. Are the QFA transferable over there? Is it easy enough to get a job in Canada in some area of the financial industry with the QFA's??
Any help would be appreciated

Sheela

Hi

'The Professional' magazine the LIA produces had an article about 18 months ago with a lady who moved to Austrialia and the qualification was transferable, but I'd double check with the LIA.

Posy

Like Sheela said, I'd double check with LIA or IOB, whoever you're doing the exams with. The website http://www.qfaboard.ie/ usually has some information on it about exemptions- I know I downloaded a PDF there before which listed the equivalent qualifications and exemptions in other countries, but their website is currently down so I don't know exactly where it was.

I'm thinking of doing 2 exams in my next sitting. Is there any major overlaps with Pensions and Life Assurance, does anyone know? Or would Investment and Life Assurance be an easier combination?

fire_man

I sat both pensions and Life assurance together and passed,Maybe do Investments on its own. alot of study in it.

Gracex

Does anyone know if it's possible to get a grant for this course. All the jobs I apply for are looking for QFA and on researching the course each module is around 300 each. I'm getting social welfare at the moment so I would imagine I would qualify for a grant if one did exist for this course.

Sheela

I wouldn't think that you can get a grant - have you checked if its on the Springboard website?

R_V_P 24

No, sure they wont even look at it, its not on the list and because it is not full time it does not qualify you for back to education, you also are not entitled to days when you are sitting exams which I learned the hard way. it is doable though if you can save a little every week or have a credit card, ive just finished it there....

gtansey44

Hi guys,

Looking for some advice please, I am currently off work with a serious knee injury, have had the surgery, and have been told to expect a lay off between 2-4 months. Recovery aside I don't want to waste the time and had been toying with the idea of doing the qfa's but my work schedule was always erratic and unpredictable.

Given that I have the time off is it advisable to do 2 exams at once...? I have been out of the academic loop since I completed an arts degree 3 years ago. Are the exams comparable to university grade exams?

A friend who has sat then individually said to do loans and regs together but these are both on the same day. Life assurance and pensions as a possible combination? Or there is a 2 week gap between exams if I do Life assurance first then either loans or regs?

Apologies for the long winded query.

And thank you in advance for taking the time to respond.

R_V_P 24

gtansey44 wrote: »

Hi guys,

Looking for some advice please, I am currently off work with a serious knee injury, have had the surgery, and have been told to expect a lay off between 2-4 months. Recovery aside I don't want to waste the time and had been toying with the idea of doing the qfa's but my work schedule was always erratic and unpredictable.

Given that I have the time off is it advisable to do 2 exams at once...? I have been out of the academic loop since I completed an arts degree 3 years ago. Are the exams comparable to university grade exams?

A friend who has sat then individually said to do loans and regs together but these are both on the same day. Life assurance and pensions as a possible combination? Or there is a 2 week gap between exams if I do Life assurance first then either loans or regs?

Apologies for the long winded query.

And thank you in advance for taking the time to respond.

Hi there,

Well 2 at a time is very manageable, I did life and loans followed by pensions and investments and regs and FP on it's own, in comparison to university they are very manageable, Maybe pensions and FP are a bit tricky but overall very manageable, I just finished today actually with my FP result, try and get your employer to pay fit them because it is rather expensive at 300 a pop, anyways I'd advise you to start life and loans as some overlaps and as you said it's on different weeks. Good luck P.S I found the LIA very nice to deal with I'm not sure about the IOB but the LIA are a very nice organisation and have helped me a lot.

gtansey44

R_V_P 24 wrote: »

Hi there,

Well 2 at a time is very manageable, I did life and loans followed by pensions and investments and regs and FP on it's own, in comparison to university they are very manageable, Maybe pensions and FP are a bit tricky but overall very manageable, I just finished today actually with my FP result, try and get your employer to pay fit them because it is rather expensive at 300 a pop, anyways I'd advise you to start life and loans as some overlaps and as you said it's on different weeks. Good luck P.S I found the LIA very nice to deal with I'm not sure about the IOB but the LIA are a very nice organisation and have helped me a lot.

Thank you RVP for the swift reply,

Getting my employer to pay for the QFA's is not an option unfortunately, as I am currently in a non relevant retail position, however paying the 600 at a time is feasible and I think overall worth it. Ultimately my aim is to obtain a job with more scope and potential. My main concern I guess was that being out of the academic system I would possibly be taking on too much with two.

A friend I spoke to briefly on the matter sat one exam at a time whilst working in the banking sector and claimed that reading the coursework two weeks before the exam and then studying weighted chapters intensively a week before was sufficient coupled with the test papers.

From your experience is this accurate? I apologise for picking your brain but I really do appreciate your help.

Thanks, Gavin

ANXIOUS

It's would be manageable to do three. Some chapters could have 20% of the questions. The pass mark is 40%. I'd start with regulation and loans or investments. Those 3 lead to APA qualifaction.

Posy

gtansey44 wrote: »

A friend who has sat then individually said to do loans and regs together but these are both on the same day. Life assurance and pensions as a possible combination? Or there is a 2 week gap between exams if I do Life assurance first then either loans or regs?

Doing Loans and Regs together is the norm in a lot of cases.
I know a couple of people who will be doing them on the same date in January.

Whatever you decide, definitely try and do Regulations, because combined with one other subject this gets you the "Professional Certificate in Financial Advice" which gives you an APA (Accredited Product Adviser) designation.
So Loans and Regulations means you'd be an 'APA (Loans)' or Life Assurance and Regulations would give you an 'APA (Life Assurance)' and so on.

Shooter_galway

I sat both loans and regulations in one sitting definitely doable as long as you manage your study if on the same day. There's a nice bit of crossover bit don't underestimate how hard they are I was outta college 5 years doing them and it was hard to study, have the qfa now and was definitely worth it

billcullen1

hi guys, would anyone have sample exam papers for the QFA thanks