DipFA® Training

Diploma for Financial Advisers (DipFA®)

Obtaining this qualification along with undertaking the appropriate CPD will make you RDR compliant and assure you of a future in the financial services sector. Our course is now so robust we would recommend that you do not take CeFA and utilise this as your route to financial advisor instead.

After many changes to the structure of this qualification we have a complete and well researched and delivered qualification.

By selecting New leaf as your training provider you will immediately qualify for a £100.00 discount on the IFS School of Finance academic fee for DipFA®.

There are now 2 sections to the DipFA® qualification:

The first part to complete is:

FSRE - Financial Services Regulation and ethics

The IFS School of Finance will send you out a large manual - the syllabus is extremely comprehensive.

It covers all subjects from regulation through to legal principles through to products and services. There is a large section attributed to risk. The new section added most recently is ethics and this alone is attributed 20% of the total marks.

FSRE has been de-linked from the full DipFA qualification and as such can be studied and taken at anytime during your annual registration.

We recommend that you pre-read the book then attend our 5 day course.

This course is superb for experienced and brand new to the industry advisors. We will lecture you on the entire syllabus. This training will remind you of all the key principles relating to our business and also help you remember and understand the fundamentals of pensions, investments, long term care, taxation, business issues/tax, personal taxation etc. Therefore speed read the book before you come. Take notes on our course and sit your FSRE exam in a Pearsons prometric test centre close to home. We suggest that you take no longer than 3 months over this entire process.

The second part to complete is called:

AFA Advanced Financial Advice

This consists of course work and an examination.

The course work

By month 6 you will be expected to produce a concise and professional piece of course work which is normally in the form of a report. You will need to write around 1500-3000 words. The subjects vary from month to month. In fact your course work scenario will be issued to you on the day you register with the IFS School of Finance. In essence you have 6 months to prepare for it. Our 3 day intensive course will focus on the key areas of the course work and enable you prepare your coursework and understand the key academic and practical implications. More importantly you will leave our course having written most of your course work. You will simply need to tidy it up at home. Whilst no ethical training company can tell you what to write in order to pass - we will teach and coach you through the process in line with the IFS School of Finance code of ethics for trainers.

New Leaf have a 99% success rate with all students who have gone through their coursework with us.

The Examination

By month 9 you will be expected to be in a position to sit a 3 hour examination. This can be written or you can now choose a computer if you feel more comfortable with this.

The examination is based upon a pre-issued fact find. You are expected to write an appropriate suitability letter or reasons for recommendation letter in line with your particular and unique fact find. The fact find is unique to your month of entry and as such is unique to that entry group.

The fact find is issued to you 6 weeks prior to your final examination date. We will again prepare you for this exam by way of a further 3 day intensive course. You will be ready for the exam as we will explore and train you on all key areas that are evidently central to the fact find. Whilst you can go along way to preparing your final exam report you will need to be mindful that some subtle changes will be made in the final exam and the fact find information will vary enough for the advise/recommendation to change in a small way. We will even prepare for this eventuality.

Again we have trained many 100's of students and still have achieved a 99% pass rate.

Outcomes

The bottom line is - we will help you understand the material to enable you to pass. The course and attendance with New Leaf demands 5 classroom days for FSRE. 3 classroom days for coursework prep. 3 classroom days for exam prep. This is 11 days over 9 months to obtain a level 4 qualification that will change your life and help you to follow the career of your dreams or if you are in the industry or have been for several years will enable you to stay in the industry.

Give my team a call or e-mail and we will discuss the process and get you registered.
By training with us - you will achieve a £100.00 discount on your IFS registration.

To train with us you will need to become a Level 4 annual member. This will give you 12 months access to our training.

Words from Mark Hobbs Managing Director

I can speak from strength - I went through our training and passed the full DipFA recently. I am not an IFA I am the principal of New Leaf. If I can do it any one can do it! John Band my Head of Training is an inspirational trainer and without his support I would have seriously struggled. His knowledge and confidence helped me through. I believe this is the case for many who have gone before me.

CeFA first for in-experienced advisors?

We believe that you should go straight into DipFA - with our structured training and mentoring you will not need to go through CeFA first. Contact the office to go through these issues with our experienced and caring team.

Costs

The New Leaf training fee for DipFA is £995.00 + VAT. Please note that we will train you until you pass for this fee.

Call and ask for Tina or Sarah on 01702 431130 or submit a contact form

Corporate Testimonial - Intrinsic

IFS Diploma Update - fantastic pass rates for Intrinsic

We now have over 400 advisers enrolled in the 9 month IFS Diploma programme. As most of you are aware, qualification consists of two sections: a multi-choice FSRE exam, and the 6 month AFA which is split into two elements - coursework assignment and written exam.

We have just received the results for the April group who went through our Diploma Workshop programme for the first element of the Advanced Financial Advice. Pass rate for this group was 92%, which is an outstanding result, well above the industry average, and demonstrates both your commitment to achieving Diploma and the strength of the training we provide in conjunction with New Leaf.

Testimonial - Chris Stapleton

Hi Jenny,

Just a quick note to advise you (if you didn't know already) that out of the five In Partnership people on the course so far four have passed FSRE. That is Mark Holliland, Derek Murphy, Andy Brook and myself (today!!).

Just Jeremy to take his later in the month.

We are all pretty pleased. Could you pass on our thanks to John for his course last week it was excellent. Derek, Andy and myself said without it there wouldn't be a chance of us passing. Also thanks to all at New Leaf for your support.

Look forward to coming back in March.

Regards

Chris

In Partnership

Testimonial - Clare Murdin

Hi John,

Just a quick note to say thank you very much indeed for your brilliant training in respect of the Diploma - a clean sweep for Barfields. My score was 101/150.

Thanks again and take care,

Clare x

Testimonial - Paul Burrows

Hi John

Just wanted to let you know I scored 108/150 in the exam.

Thanks for all your help im not sure I could have passed without it.

Everyone at Barfield passed.

thanks

Paul Burrows

Testimonial - Tracy Thomas

Hi John/Mark

Thanks for getting me through my DipFa which i passed yesterday. I am very pleased and could not have done it with out John's help.

Thanks again

Tracy Thomas

Corporate Testimonial - Broadlands Partnership

Hi John & Mark

I write to advise you that we are very happy to let you know that of the 11 Advisers who sat the recent examinations, I can report a 100% pass rate.

To say that we are pleased is an understatement.

Whilst I acknowledge the hard work undertaken by all the Advisers who took the exams, I must say that the help and advice given by John Band during the courses run at our office was invaluable.

I really think that the courses that John ran were crucial to the overall positive result.

After looking at the options available for Advisers to achieve Level 4 qualifications, I can say that I can fully endorse the Dipfa route.

Regards

Janette John

Compliance Officer & Partner

Corporate Testimonial - Northern Bank

Hi John

Sorry to have missed you 2 weeks ago due to being on annual leave. It was great to return this morning to learn that everyone has passed the Course Work Assignment.

Very many thanks for all your hard work with our people ensuring that they have been expertly prepared for both elements of the AFA part of Diploma - your support has been invaluable.

Best wishes for the future and hopefully we will see you again at the Northern some time in the future.

Keep busy with RDR.

Regards

Wallace

Northern Bank Ltd, Regulatory Risk

Testimonial - Rob Winter

Dear Tina

I wanted to email you as I have just completed part 2 of DIP FA, last week. I have used Newleaf on 3 occasions, for CeFA 2 years ago and for FSRE and AFA. I am so pleased with the way the course was set out and run and can't compliment John Band enough. The way John explains things and nothing is too much trouble. Please feel free to use me as a testimonial and I look forward to seeing you for Part 3 in July.

Regards

Rob Winter CeFA CertCII
Independent Financial Adviser
Sigma Asset Management Ltd

Testimonial - Peter Rooney

Hello John/Mark

Just checked my final result for Diploma.

I have passed and now have reached Level 4, I would like to thank you very much for all your help, as your training was the best I have received in the industry.

I have 20 years in this industry and John, as a trainer, is first class and the best I have encountered. I would have no hesitation in recommending New Leaf to fellow IFA's trying to reach Diploma Level.

Any information you have on the CPD requirements for the future would be greatly appreciated.

I will see you at some time in the new year when I attend one of the Newleaf courses.

All the best,

Peter
Positive Solutions (Financial Services) Ltd

Testimonial - Ian Bond

Hi John

Got our exam results today. I got 58% and Tony got 52%.

Both really pleased we passed.

Many thanks for all your help the course really helped and not only that we actually enjoyed it as well.

We just need to do the CPD now. What is the best way to do that?

Many thanks

Ian Bond
I D Bond Independent Financial Services Ltd

Testimonial - Peter Rooney

Hello John/Mark

Just checked my final result for Diploma.

I have passed and now have reached Level 4, I would like to thank you very much for all your help, as your training was the best I have received in the industry.

I have 20 years in this industry and John, as a trainer, is first class and the best I have encountered. I would have no hesitation in recommending New Leaf to fellow IFA's trying to reach Diploma Level.

Any information you have on the CPD requirements for the future would be greatly appreciated.

I will see you at some time in the new year when I attend one of the Newleaf courses.

All the best,

Peter
Positive Solutions (Financial Services) Ltd

Testimonial - Stanley R Rogers

Dear John

I thought you might be interested in the Student feed back sheet, from my DipFA exam.

By way of a testemonional I would like to thank you personally and all at New Leaf for the wonderful assistance your course gave me, in preparation for the exam.

For me to achieve the DipFA qualification, at the age of 62, should encourage advisors in my age group not to let age be a barrier and to continue with their professional development.

I hope to see you all again, on any future courses.

Stanley R Rogers CeMAP, DipFA
Stanley R Rogers Financial Services

Testimonial - Angela Melanophy

Hi Mark

I would just like to say how much the recent course with John has helped me with my assignment.

Before attending I was totally flummoxed, however by the end of the first day John very kindly showed me the way!

The course was excellent and John is one of the best trainers I have come across in my many years within the industry.

He is a credit to your organisation.

I look forward to the next course in September.

Kind regards

Angela Melanophy
20 Park Road, Sittingbourne, Kent ME10 1DR
Tel: 01795 438694