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CSI Financial Planning II (FP II) Cheat Sheet

Review a compact Financial Planning II (FP II) cheat sheet for retirement, tax, insurance, family law, small business, estate, savings, debt, and integrated planning before Finance Prep practice.

Use this FP II cheat sheet as an advanced-planning checklist before mixed practice. The exam usually rewards the answer that integrates the client facts across retirement, tax, insurance, business, family-law, estate, and implementation tradeoffs.

Open FP II practice for the free 60-question diagnostic, topic pages, timed mocks, and the full Finance Prep route.

Exam snapshot

ItemFP II cue
ProviderCSI
ExamFinancial Planning II (FP II)
Format60 multiple-choice questions in 3 hours
Main practice behaviorintegrated recommendation judgment across advanced household, business-owner, legal, tax, retirement, and estate situations
Finance Prep statuslive practice available

Topic checklist

AreaWeightWhat to knowCommon trap
Financial Planning Practice10%scope, process discipline, recommendation quality, implementation, monitoringtreating an incomplete fact pattern as ready for implementation
Savings Planning and Debt Management10%liquidity, debt cost, cash-flow resilience, savings priority, household tradeoffsreducing interest cost while weakening flexibility
Investment and Tax Planning10%after-tax returns, account structure, tax timing, portfolio fit, investment constraintschoosing tax efficiency before checking suitability
Retirement Planning20%income design, pensions, withdrawals, sequencing, inflation, survivor needssolving the savings side while missing retirement-income risk
Insurance Planning10%risk exposure, coverage design, ownership, beneficiary, funding, policy fitrecommending coverage before identifying the insurable need
Financial Planning for Small Business15%owner-manager compensation, succession, shareholder issues, business cash flowtreating business assets as freely available personal assets
Family Law15%separation, support, property division, dependency, planning documentsignoring legal constraints because the question sounds financial
Estate Planning10%transfer, control, liquidity, beneficiaries, executor issues, tax and family effectsminimizing tax while creating weak control or liquidity outcomes

Must-know distinctions

  • Integrated recommendation versus single-domain answer: FP II often makes the narrow technical answer tempting but incomplete.
  • Tax efficiency versus client fit: a low-tax strategy can still be too illiquid, complex, or risky.
  • Retirement accumulation versus retirement income: saving more and drawing sustainably are different problems.
  • Pension survivor protection versus investment flexibility: the best answer depends on dependency and income certainty.
  • Business cash flow versus personal cash flow: owner-manager planning must respect the business boundary.
  • Family-law exposure versus estate intention: separation, support, ownership, and beneficiary facts can override ordinary planning preferences.
  • Insurance need versus funding structure: amount and purpose come before ownership and premium mechanics.
  • Estate liquidity versus estate control: cash for tax or expenses is not the same as controlling who receives what.

Common traps

  • Solving the most familiar topic instead of the controlling cross-domain constraint.
  • Recommending a tax strategy that weakens retirement income, liquidity, or family fairness.
  • Ignoring family-law facts until the final answer choice.
  • Treating small-business value, shareholder structure, or corporate cash as simple personal wealth.
  • Choosing an insurance product without documenting the risk, duration, ownership, and beneficiary purpose.
  • Missing when the correct next step is coordination with legal or tax advice rather than immediate implementation.
  • Overcorrecting one estate issue while creating another transfer, control, or liquidity problem.

Practice strategy

After each FP II set, classify misses by the planning domain and the tradeoff you missed. If your answer was technically true but too narrow, drill integrated mixed sets. If misses cluster around family law, business-owner planning, retirement income, or estate liquidity, use the focused topic pages before another timed diagnostic.

Revised on Friday, May 22, 2026