8th March 2011

Where do I begin? My journey to a Chartered Insurance practitioner

Angela Johnson ACII, Cert pfs writes:

I started off in the 80’s when, at the time I was an admin trainer in a life company, my dear boss decided it would be a good idea if the team raised its standards by completing our professional exams. At the time the only professional insurance exams available to us were the CII exams which were mainly geared towards those in the general insurance side, as most of the syllabus was pure insurance and risk focused. However as a special treat we were able to take the “life route” which had more specific exams for us including “Pensions & Related benefits” and “Life assurance Law and Taxation”    

Having duly bought the books with an incentive of being given about £50 a subject if you passed, off I went, doing “day release” (which was in reality a couple of hours a week per subject) with other “mature students”. I also was a bit over ambitious by choosing to do 4 exams in my 1^st  sitting!! Luckily I achieved 3 out of 4 passes with only one X (less than 10% within pass mark).

With 3 out of 9 exams passed in the first year it all seemed to be plain sailing, the next year another 3 exams including our old favourite Quantative Methods, luckily I managed to get these without too much difficulty – now for Pensions. Not having ever worked in a pensions team the first attempt was pretty alien especially as the class tutor assumed a basic level of understanding which I didn’t have. I also made the mistake of trying to do 2 exams on the same day, with Pensions being in the afternoon – needless to say I didn’t do too well that year, passing 2 out of 3 exams.

 So being halfway there, I thought “no stopping now” On to year 3, and studies included Life Assurance Law and Taxation – my first distinction pass! Year 4 only one more to go – Financial Aspects – fortunately we had the services of a friendly actuary who helped us with the calculations, patiently explaining the ins and outs of mortality, morbidity and life expectancy tables.  I passed the final exam and now I was a fully fledged ACII!! And a bonus of £150 from my company too.

Time to take a bit of a rest from exams which included a minor matter of a house move and job relocation to Kent.  Having settled into the new role we were all encouraged to continue with our qualifications so it seemed like a good idea to continue with the advanced papers towards the fellowship. This time post Financial Services Act it was onto Regulation and Marketing, so another 2 down, 2 more the next year. Having passed the 4 fellowship papers I put the dissertation on hold. As always the goal posts changed again and the new FPC 1, 2, & 3 papers were the next ones to study.

Multi choice was a novelty after the old 3 hour essay papers, and FPC1 seemed straightforward. Exempt from FPC2, so only FPC3 to do to put it all into practice. This one was more difficult and I surprised myself by passing it first go. Things were looking up! I could now be an adviser if I wanted to be. But my career took a different turn off into Technical Projects, Chargeable events etc. Studying for exams was no longer on the company’s agenda, so it all took a back seat for a few years until taking severance from the bank and having to urgently “up skill”. Time to revisit my favourite subject: pensions CF9, which I somehow managed to pass first time – things were beginning to look up.

On a serious note I do believe that having put in hard work to achieve professional qualifications this helped me in my career over the years. I was very surprised to be contacted by the CII before Christmas to be advised that I qualified for Chartered status – amazing! All I needed to do was to answer questions relating to the last 5 years of my career, and confirm that I had both been working in the industry and had maintained CPD to be eligible. They confirmed that they would put me forward for selection and then about 6 weeks later I received my letter and certificate – I am now a Chartered Insurance Practitioner.

It doesn’t stop there though as I am keen to build on my knowledge and maintain my existing knowledge. This is something that my current firm, Financial Relationships, actively encourages and I am now passing my knowledge on to my younger colleagues and helping them with their development.

Angela Johnson ACII, Cert pfs

Chartered Insurance Practitioner

Business Standards Manager

Financial Relationships LLP

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