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What will you learn about?

  • Wealth management as a distinct practice in today’s financial services environment
  • Ethics, a framework for ethical decision-making, and consequences of non-compliance
  • Getting to know your clients when creating a comprehensive budget and savings plans
  • Calculating time value of money for various purposes 
  • Various forms of credit and steps advisors take to evaluate a client’s creditworthiness
  • Issues that arise from relationship breakdown
  • Personal risk management as part of a fully integrated wealth management plan
  • Taxation issues, tax planning, tax effective investments, and tax minimization strategies
  • Registered accounts that are set up as savings vehicles for retirement
  • Government programs and annuity-based products that provide pension income and other retirement benefits
  • Fintech
  • Estate planning under Canadian laws
  • Specific steps in the portfolio management process
  • Asset allocation strategies that best suit your clients’ goals and objectives
  • Debt and equity securities and managed products
  • Steps involved in monitoring and evaluating portfolio performance

What is the course syllabus?

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Chapter 1 - Wealth Management Today

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Wealth Management in Canada
  • Wealth Management Services in Canada
  • Key Trends Shaping the Future of Wealth Management
  • Regulatory Environment
  • Competencies of Successful Wealth Advisors
  • The Wealth Management Process
  • Building a Team of Specialists

Chapter 2 - Ethics and Wealth Management

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Ethics in the Financial Services Industry
  • Types of Ethical Dilemmas
  • Resolving Ethical Dilemmas
  • Code of Ethics
  • Trust, Agency, and Fiduciary Duty
  • What Can Happen when an Advisor Ignores Ethics

Chapter 3 - Getting to Know the Client

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Information Required by Regulation and Law
  • Going Beyond the Regulatory and Legal Minimum
  • The Client Discovery Process

Chapter 4 - Assessing the Client's Financial Situation

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Analyzing Personal Financial Statements and Savings Plan
  • Time Value of Money

Chapter 5 - Consumer Lending and Mortgages

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Credit Planning
  • Residential Mortgages
  • Key Financial Factors to Consider When Purchasing a Home
  • Methods of Reducing Interest Costs and Penalties
  • Related Mortgage Topics and Financial Planning Issues

Chapter 6 - Legal Aspects of Family Dynamics

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Family-Related Issues
  • Fundamental Aspects of Family Law
  • Domestic Contracts
  • Property Issues on Relationship Breakdown
  • Impact of Divorce on a Client’s Financial Plan

Chapter 7 - Personal Risk Management Process

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Strategic Wealth Preservation: The Big Picture
  • Risk in the Context of Strategic Wealth Management
  • Measuring Risk
  • Identifying Risk within a Client’s Net Worth
  • The Family Life Cycle
  • The Personal Risk Management Process

Chapter 8 - Understanding Tax Returns

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Financial Planning and Taxation
  • Personal Income Tax Returns
  • Taxation of Investment Income
  • Taxable and Non-Taxable Employee Benefits

Chapter 9 - Tax Reduction Strategies

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Techniques to Minimize Taxes
  • Tax-Free Savings Accounts
  •  Registered Plans Used for Non-Retirement Goals
  • Incorporation

Chapter 10 - Registered Retirement Savings Plans

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Preparing to Fund Retirement
  • An Overview of Registered Retirement Savings Plans
  • Registered Retirement Savings Plan Contribution Rules
  • Management of RRSP Accounts
  • What Clients Should Know About their Registered Retirement Savings Plans

Chapter 11 - Employer-Sponsored Pension Plans

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Employer-Sponsored Pension Plans
  • Funding Retirement

Chapter 12 - Government Pensions Programs

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Canada and Quebec Pension Plans
  • Old Age Security Program

Chapter 13 - Retirement Planning Process

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Planning for Financial Security in Retirement
  • Retirement Income Needs Analysis
  • Tax-Minimization Strategies
  • Questions to Consider When Advising Clients on Retirement Planning Process

Chapter 14 - Protecting Retirement Income

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Understanding Annuities
  • Types of Annuities
  • Segregated Funds
  • Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefit Contracts

Chapter 15 - Planning to Pass on the Estate

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Passing on the Estate
  • Other Factors to Consider when Making a Will
  • Probate Procedures to Validate a Will
  • Powers of Attorney and Living Wills (Advance Health Care Directives)
  • Considerations when Dealing with Vulnerable Clients

Chapter 16 - Estate Planning Strategies

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Trusts
  • Taxation
  • General Issues to Consider for Estate Planning

Chapter 17 – Investment Management Today

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Fintech
  • Robo-Advisory Services
  • Smart Beta ETFs
  • Responsible Investment

Chapter 18 - Investment Management

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Steps in the Portfolio Management Process
  • Individual Securities or Managed Products?
  • Portfolio Theory
  • International Investing

Chapter 19 - Asset Allocation

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • The Asset Allocation Process
  • Issues in Asset Allocation
  • Strategic Asset Allocation
  • Rebalancing
  • Tactical Asset Allocation

Chapter 20 - Equity Securities

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Characteristics of Equity Securities
  • Equity Markets
  • Introduction to Equity Analysis
  • Industry Analysis
  • Company Analysis and Equity Valuation
  • Technical Analysis
  • Equity Strategy

Chapter 21 - Debt Securities: Characteristics, Risks, Trading, and Yield Curves

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Characteristics of Debt Securities
  • Types of Debt Securities
  • Risks of Debt Securities
  • Debt Market Trading Mechanics
  • The Term Structure of Interest Rates

Chapter 22 - Debt Securities: Pricing, Volatility and Strategies

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Bond Market Pricing
  • Bond Price Volatility
  • Debt Security Strategies

Chapter 23 - Managed Products

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • The Role of Managed Products in Investment Management
  • Mutual Funds
  • Wrap Products
  • Exchange-Traded Funds
  • Hedge Funds
  • Fees, Portfolio Turnover, and Taxes
  • Overlay Management
  • Outcome-Based Investments

Chapter 24 - Portfolio Monitoring and Performance Evaluation

Topics covered in this chapter are:

  • Portfolio Monitoring
  • Portfolio Performance Evaluation

How will you learn?

CSI’s online learning system helps you meet your study goals. You’ll benefit from:

  • Textbook readings available in PDF, e-Book and printed format
  • Access the course materials through your computer, laptop, tablet, or phone. Or, download the e-Book for offline reading
  • Learning objectives that help you to keep the learning focused
  • Annual course updates to ensure that you learn the most current and most practical material
  • Reflective scenarios to help guide your studies through each chapter
  • Online activities to help assess your progress, including review questions for each chapter, section quizzes and integrated case studies
  • Online interactive discussion forums, including access to assistance from CSI’s academic support specialists

Course Completion, Wall Certificate and Digital Badge

Upon successfully completing this course, you will be able to download a Notice of Course Completion available through your student profile. This will remain on your profile as formal confirmation of course completion. Please note that the Notice of Course Completion will state that you have completed the Wealth Management Essentials (WME®) course. The transcript will not indicate that you completed the abbreviated version of the WME® (i.e. WME® for Financial Planners).

You can also accept a digital badge through your student profile after successful course completion. Digital badges are portable image files that allow you to share your credentials across the web. You can post them to your email signature, personal website, social media channels—even to electronic copies of your resume.

CSI will mail you a wall certificate within 4 – 6 weeks of course completion. Frames to display your certificate are available. Please ensure that your First and Last Name on your profile matches your First and Last Name on your Government Issued Photo identification – this will ensure you receive an accurate certificate.

CSI will be pleased to issue an Honours Certificate to all students who obtain a final course mark of 85% or higher.