Cii R02 and R03 Investing and taxation

freddamcworter

I'm interested in learning about investments and taxation in depth for my personal needs.

I have already studied bookkeeping and the beginnings of financial accounting, and now I am looking for how to study further.

I have found the courses R02 and R03 from the Chartered Insurance Institute. I understand they are designed as professional qualifications, but I would like to know if anyone knows whether they are suitable for someone with just a serious interest.

If they're not (and actually even if they are) does anyone know of any alternative, better value or more suitable courses?

My goal is to have a solid grounding in UK investments and personal taxation to allow me to make well informed decisions about my own financial planning.

Many thanks

badger09

Sorry, I can't comment on any of the courses you mention but this one has been done by a few regular posters on these fora and had positive feedback

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/managing-my-investments

chrisgg

Not sure how it compares in terms of cost (my instinct says it could be cheaper as just 1 exam rather than 2 - could be totally wrong), but an alternative could be the CISI's Investment Risk and Taxation module.

Malthusian

Overkill, in my opinion. The study texts cost £127 each for non CII members. If you just want to learn about personal investments and how taxation affects them, you could get a book like Smarter Investing off Amazon for less than £20, or read blogs like Monevator or this forum for free.

For tax you can also read the Budget round up on Money Marketing or another IFA trade paper (not a daily broadsheet). Some of it may go over your head as it will assume you know about the tax system already, but these articles tell IFAs what they should be looking at for their clients, and it will help you find out what you should be reading into for yourself.

The £127 charged by the CII prices in the money the reader expects to make when they've passed their exams and are able to charge people for financial advice. If you aren't planning to charge people for financial advice you're spending a large amount of money for nothing.