2027 Beijing Cohort
Beyond understanding products.
Understand the whole family.
Integrate finance, law, taxation, insurance, trusts and cross-border wealth planning to serve high-net-worth families over the long term.
For wealth management practitioners ready to move beyond individual products towards comprehensive family wealth planning.
Wealth planning for high-net-worth individuals requires more than knowledge: it requires the ability to put that knowledge into practice.
Alongside 20 days of structured learning, participants undertake case background writing and analysis, wealth planning presentations, and a professional paper as part of the learning and certification process.
Help families protect their wealth—
and pass it on.
Go beyond the foundational knowledge typically covered in internal financial institution training. Economists, lawyers, tax specialists and wealth management experts examine complex issues in law, taxation, trusts, cross-border wealth and family succession.
Build the big picture before exploring the underlying principles. Ten modules connect different professional disciplines into a coherent framework for high-net-worth wealth planning, rather than a collection of isolated facts.
Four instructors bring substantial professional expertise and long-standing experience in financial institution training across China, curriculum development, public speaking and frontline practice.
Learn not only what a solution is, but how to ask questions, analyse situations, design plans, explain them to clients and implement them. Classes draw on common family scenarios and real cases, with professional and compliance considerations throughout.
After completing the programme and its certification requirements, participants can develop an end-to-end capability from client background analysis to plan presentation, progressing towards professional wealth planning for Chinese high-net-worth individuals.
Many years ago, a senior practitioner in Beijing’s wealth planning industry invited Dr Gu Zhiping to teach a 20-day programme for his wealth planning team.
The invitation prompted Dr Gu to revisit an important question:
For practitioners who truly serve high-net-worth clients, knowledge of products and sales is simply not enough.
A professional supporting a wealthy family for ten or twenty years—or across two or three generations—must understand the family’s entire wealth structure. They need to know how wealth can be protected and passed on, while addressing complex issues involving law, tax, marriage, business operations, changes in identity or residency, and intergenerational succession.
The first structured programme gradually took shape in Beijing. At the time, it had a distinctive name: the “TOT Apprenticeship Class”.
The programme continued to evolve through teaching at financial institutions and wealth planning teams. Successive classes and real cases helped develop a group of professionals equipped to serve high-net-worth families.
The course later expanded from Beijing to Hong Kong, where financial institutions and wealth planning teams commissioned the complete 20-day training programme.
Because the course was delivered to whole teams, individual practitioners had limited opportunities to join unless their own organisation arranged it. This remained the case until late 2024.
In late 2024, at the invitation of Boku Talent Academy, Dr Gu opened the programme to individual participants in Hong Kong for the first time. The original TOT Apprenticeship Class was formally developed into the:
Wealth Planning Certification Programme for Chinese High-Net-Worth Individuals
This was more than a change of name. A structured course became a comprehensive certification learning pathway for wealth planners serving Chinese high-net-worth individuals.
Finance, law, taxation and frontline experience in one classroom.
Programme Lead
Dr Gu Zhiping is Dean and a founding partner of SUREST. He holds a doctorate in economics and a master’s degree in finance, and is an experienced instructor for the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and Certified Private Banker (CPB) programmes.
He has around 30 years of experience in international finance, private banking, family offices and legal advisory work, specialising in wealth succession, global asset allocation and family trust planning. Since 2008, he has taught at financial institutions in mainland China and Hong Kong, training more than 20,000 participants.
His teaching integrates finance, law and taxation, making complex high-net-worth wealth planning issues clear and accessible.
Trusts Instructor
Wang Xu is Co-Dean and Chief Expert Adviser at SUREST. His research and practice focus on legal risk management for family wealth, domestic and offshore trusts, and cross-border wealth planning.
He has extensive experience in financial institution training, legal advisory work and public teaching. His expertise includes domestic family trusts, offshore trusts, cross-border funds, corporate structures, foreign exchange administration and wealth succession.
Mainland Market Instructor
Tan Xiao’s professional work spans domestic family trusts, wealth management, taxation, offshore trusts, philanthropic planning, inbound and outbound funds, corporate structures and compliance remediation.
He has long focused on family wealth management, with practical experience serving high-net-worth clients, establishing family and insurance-benefit trusts, and handling substantial wealth planning cases.
Tax Law Instructor
Wang Meihui graduated in accounting from Renmin University of China. She has extensive experience in finance and taxation, including roles in the tax departments of professional accounting firms and tax management positions at companies, including listed businesses.
Her experience covers tax consulting, domestic and international structuring, and training for financial institutions. She specialises in domestic and cross-border tax compliance and planning, drawing on her knowledge of tax policies in China and overseas.
From understanding clients and protecting assets to cross-border structures and practical workflows. Select a module to explore its learning topics.
The course team may adapt modules and content to reflect delivery needs and improve learning outcomes.
In addition to 20 days of structured learning, participants undertake the following learning and certification activities.
Map family, business, asset and identity backgrounds to identify potential issues and planning priorities.
Integrate professional tools into an actionable plan and explain it in language clients can understand.
Consolidate structured learning through a professional paper and other learning and certification activities.
February to November 2027. A total of 20 days.
| Day | Month | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | February 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 2 | February 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 3 | March 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 4 | March 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 5 | April 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 6 | April 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 7 | May 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 8 | May 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 9 | June 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 10 | June 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 11 | July 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 12 | July 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 13 | August 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 14 | August 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 15 | September 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 16 | September 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 17 | October 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 18 | October 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 19 | November 2027 | Beijing |
| Day 20 | November 2027 | Beijing |
Wealth Planning Certification Programme for Chinese High-Net-Worth Individuals
High-net-worth families need more than someone familiar with financial products. They need a wealth planning professional who understands the connections between family, business and wealth, recognises legal and tax risks, and can bring different professional tools together.
Through 20 days of structured learning, case analysis and practical planning, this programme helps participants build the professional capabilities to serve high-net-worth families over the long term.
View the Cohort 6 schedule ↑