My new challenge
As I kind of hinted at in last month's blog post, I have decided to take the Financial Planner 3級 test in January.
The main reason is that I would like to learn more about personal finance in Japan, and it would be useful for this site if I had some formal qualifications.
The FP tests are not as scary as I first thought. There are three levels, level 3 which I will take in January, level 2, and the top level 1.
Level 3 consists of a theoretical exam (2 hours) followed by a practical exam (1 hour). Luckily both are multiple choice, so I won't have to embarrass myself trying to write kanji by hand.
Level 2 is similar, except that you have to write for the practical exam (although it seems to be mainly writing numbers, which I can handle).
Level 1 consists of a theoretical exam and an interview test. The pass rate is under 10% for this one. Might hold off on taking it for a while :)
So what's on the test? Budgeting, retirement, educational expenses, pensions, real estate, investing, taxes, insurance, disability, and inheritance.
Right up our alley! The level 3 test costs 6,000 yen (3,000 yen for each of the two sections, which can be taken individually -good news if I fail one).
I took a past paper to see where I am at before studying, and got the following results:
Academic paper = 27/60 (pass mark is 36)
Practical paper = 10/20 (pass mark is 12)
So not too bad. Either I know more than I expected or it's a pretty easy test (or I lucked out with the multiple choices).
There were quite a few kanji I didn't know and a fair amount of content (inheritance law, land utilization law, and how to calculate various things) but I am feeling pretty good about January.
Next step is to look up all the words I didn't know and read one of those study guides.
I'll post again with updates once I have a chance to study a bit.
Anyone have experience with Financial Planners in Japan?
This post first ran on RetireJapan in September 2016
