I believe that this marks the end of a chapter in my life (and learning experience), as I've now completed the CII AF1 Personal Tax and Trust Planning exam. This is a qualification that I started more than 18 months ago, and it's taken longer than expected to complete. Here's what happened along the way, and why I'm happy to have achieved this qualification. My motivation for getting the qualification was simple: to help me with financial planning for clients. Some of them have complex tax circumstances, or have inheritance tax concerns, and I wanted to be able to provide advice on these subjects. That meant I needed a good understanding of personal tax and trust planning. I will admit that my background knowledge of both subjects was fairly poor prior to starting this part-time course. The course material was comprehensive, but covered everything in great detail (as you would expect). That meant progress was slow at times, but it was an enjoyable experience overall. The problem with studying for this qualification is that there's so much other stuff going on in your life at the same time. CII(The Chartered Insurance Institute) is the world's leading body for insurance and financial services professionals. With over 120,000 members across the globe, they help people build great careers, drive standards and growth in the profession. CII qualifications are designed to support you throughout your career. They are relevant to a wide range of roles across the profession and can be studied at a time and place to suit you.