IFC Prep Course - Updated for 2024 Version

Explore the mutual fund sales representative role, licensing value, and ethical client service, emphasizing understanding clients, products, regulatory duties, and know your client (KYC) responsibilities.

Explore how investment capital flows within the Canadian marketplace, driven by individuals, businesses, and governments using securities, loans, and mutual funds, with instruments like T-bills and bonds shaping capital mobility.

Explore fundamental economic principles and growth measurement, covering microeconomics and macroeconomics, demand and supply, GDP, inflation, and productivity.

learn the five phases of the economic business cycle: expansion, peak, contraction, trough, and recovery, and how leading, coincident, and lagging indicators signal inflation, GDP, and unemployment shifts.

Explain how interest rates influence consumers, business investment, and savings, and outline determinants such as capital demand and supply, default risk, and inflation expectations.

Explore the nature of money and inflation, how CPI measures cost of living, and how monetary policy and monetary aggregates guide low inflation and long-term growth.

Explore how fiscal and monetary policies shape the economy, including expansionary and contractionary tools. Analyze international economics and the balance of payments for Canada.

Develop effective client communication skills and master a six-step planning process to prepare for IFC projects in the 2024 version.

Learn how taxation applies to four income types: employment, capital property, business, and capital gains and losses, covering interest income, dividends, and foreign sources, with deductions, credits, and tax planning.

Examine tax deferral and tax free savings options, including RRSPs, TFSA, RESP, spousal RRSPs, and PRPPs, with contribution rules, withdrawals, and government grants.

Explore common shares and other investment products, detailing equity securities, bond types, risks, dividends, and shareholder rights, with focus on capital appreciation and trading.

Explore measures of price volatility for equities and bonds within portfolios, including variance, standard deviation, and beta, and learn how duration assesses bond price sensitivity to interest rate changes.

Learn portfolio analysis and asset allocation to diversify across bonds, stocks, money market securities, and derivatives. Understand how diversification lowers risk, correlations affect returns, and strategic asset allocation guides performance.

Explore the four financial statements—statement of financial position, comprehensive income, changes in equity, and cash flow—and learn formats, contents, classifications, and use for assessing a company's performance under IFRS.

Learn to evaluate financial statements through ratio analysis, exploring liquidity, debt, operating performance, and value ratios, and apply effective comparisons and trend analysis to assess company performance.

Explore how mutual funds are organized, managed, and regulated across open end trusts, mutual fund corporations, and related roles, including fund managers, custodians, transfer agents, and net asset value.

Explore how mutual funds are structured, managed, and regulated, including simplified prospectus and fund facts, under the Securities Act and self-regulatory organizations.

Explore money market mutual funds as conservative short term investments. Learn their objectives, features, and risk profile, including government securities and high quality corporate paper.

Explore the mechanics of mortgage mutual funds, including insured residential mortgages, mortgage backed securities, and risk dynamics of default and interest rate sensitivity.

Explore bond funds and other fixed income funds, their objectives to earn income while preserving capital, interest rate risk, duration, and how fund managers adjust duration to navigate rate changes.

Explore how riskier mutual fund products, including balanced and specialty funds, and global funds blend fixed income and equities to pursue growth, income, and diversification under changing market conditions.

Evaluate mutual fund performance by measuring total return against benchmarks, assess risk with standard deviation and the Sharpe ratio, and interpret quartile rankings to compare portfolios.

Analyze how volatility shapes mutual fund returns across money market, bond, and equity funds, and how diversification reduces unique risk, while past performance guides but does not guarantee outcomes.

Learn steps to select a mutual fund by analyzing performance data, volatility, risk measures (standard deviation, Sharpe ratio, beta, alpha), fees, and prospectuses.

Explore mutual fund selection through the four p's—people, philosophy, process, and performance—assessing team experience, investment beliefs, methods, and track record.

Identify front-end and back-end loads, no-load funds, and key fees, including management fees, trailer fees, and mer, disclosed in Fund Facts.

Explore mutual fund accumulation plans with periodic investments and possible fees, and compare dollar cost averaging to investing without it, including the average cost per unit and termination fees.

Explore systematic withdrawal plans for mutual funds, including fixed dollar, ratio, fixed period, life, and annuity options, with considerations on capital depletion and life insurance mortality tables.

Explore the role, mandate, and scope of securities administrators and the mutual fund dealer regulation and investor protection framework, highlighting the MFDA, registration, disclosure, and compliance in Canada.

Grasp mutual fund dealer regulation, including registration requirements for dealing representatives, KYC and client suitability, and the process of registering with the securities administrator.

Maintain up-to-date KYC information and reassess client suitability for mutual fund accounts, documenting changes and following up as required.

Explains mutual fund dealer regulation, guiding how to open client accounts with KYC details, NAF forms, in-person onboarding, and compliant handling of joint, corporate, trusts, and intermediary accounts.

Apply ethical standards to what you have learned by prioritizing know-your-client, due diligence, and confidentiality. Uphold trust, integrity, and professional judgement in advising and executing client investments.