Approved IAR CE Courses

The appeal of a Roth-style retirement account is the potential for tax-free growth for life. However, the reality is that creating a Roth account has a 'cost' - the upfront tax liability of contributing to (or converting into) the account, which is avoided with a traditional pre-tax IRA or 401(k). As a result, optimal Roth strategies do not merely involve contributing to or converting into Roths, but managing the timing and leveraging the available tax law to maximize the strategy. Join Chief Financial Planning Nerd Michael Kitces at the September Kitces Monthly Webinar, where he'll share techniques to maximize Roth contributions, including 'Backdoor Roth' IRAs and 'Mega Backdoor Roth' 401(k) strategies, leveraging the Roth recharacterization rules to optimally fill lower tax brackets, and being able to ensure that an investment in a Roth has a positive return before being required to commit to it!

Does thinking about tax notices remind anyone else of the Jaws theme song? As with the iconic movie, it is just a matter of time before your clients receive a dreaded IRS letter. These 'love letters' from the IRS often send clients into a panic, unsure of how to respond and worried over receiving notices that often suggest they have done something wrong or owe money (and truly, who could blame them!). In several instances, these matters are rather simple, albeit time-consuming, to address, but often clients find themselves without counsel for what to do if they receive these letters. In this webinar, Steven Jarvis, CPA, explains how financial advisors can assist clients who have received letters from the IRS without crossing boundaries into tax representation or the provision of tax advice. Throughout the session, Steven walks advisors through common IRS notices, such as letters of discrepancy and differences of estimated tax payments, and provides examples of actions advisors can take to assist clients in moving toward a response.

In this continuing education session, learners will review 2 Nerd's Eye View blog articles: Ethical Considerations When Advising Couples During The Good Times And The Bad and How Can RIAs Effectively Manage Compliance Risk and Client Dignity When Addressing Diminished Capacity and Financial Exploitation?In the first article, Shelitha Smodic, CFP', explores the ethical complexities financial advisors face when working with couples, particularly during marital conflict or divorce. It emphasizes the importance of fiduciary duty, informed consent, documentation, and clearly defined engagement terms to protect both clients and the advisor-client relationship.In the second article, Richard Chen, founder of Brightstar Law Group, explains how advisors can ethically and compliantly respond to clients experiencing diminished cognitive capacity or financial exploitation. It outlines the legal, regulatory, and practical challenges involved, and provides a framework for prevention, intervention, and post-intervention care that respects client autonomy while safeguarding their financial wellbeing.

In this continuing education session, learners will review 2 Nerd Eye View blog articles: Quantifying (More Accurately) The Real Impact Of A Financial Advisor's Costs On Their Clients' Nest Eggs and Enhancing Client Conversations About Charitable Giving: Sample Questions, Scripts, and Tools for Better Engagement. In the first article, Derek Tharp, PhD, CFP, CLU, RICP, evaluates criticisms of advisory fees and their impacts on clients by personal finance author Ramit Sethi. Derek highlights the mathematical and practical concerns of Ramit Sethi's methodology for assessing the cost of financial advisors and the value they provide. He then explains the value that advisors can bring to clients. In the second article, Kathleen Rehl, PhD, CFP, CEFT Emeritus, explains the benefits of incorporating charitable planning into a financial planning practice, providing a practical guide that addresses concerns about engaging in charitable giving conversations with sample scripts and ideas for how to create client value in this area.

The.integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into advisory firms' operations introduces a host of legal and compliance considerations that cannot be overlooked. In this session, legal and compliance expert Chris Stanley, will examine the critical regulatory areas impacted by AI adoption, including Regulation S-P (privacy and data sharing), SEC Rule 204-2 (recordkeeping obligations), disclosure requirements under Form ADV and Form CRS, and the need for human oversight to ensure regulatory compliance. Advisors will gain practical insights to navigate these evolving requirements, implement best practices, and ensure their use of AI tools aligns with client expectations and regulatory mandates.

In this continuing education session, learners will review 2 Nerd’s Eye View blog articles: Alternative Investment Due Diligence For RIAs: A Framework For Compliantly Evaluating Private Funds and 10 Charts To Help Advisors Guide Top Client Concerns In 2026.

In the first article, Ben Henry Moreland, Senior Financial Planning Nerd at Kitces.com, outlines how fiduciary duty and the duty of care require advisors to develop thorough due diligence processes when evaluating alternative investments – especially private funds. The article breaks down why complex or opaque investment structures demand deeper analysis, how to tailor diligence to client and manager factors (including risk, liquidity, strategy, operations, and costs), and how advisors can document and justify their assessments to ensure that recommendations are in the client’s best interest.

In the second article, James Liu presents ten key charts and insights from Clearnomics that frame the major economic and market themes shaping financial planning for 2026. These visuals help advisors contextualize topics such as artificial intelligence’s impact on markets, valuation levels, geopolitical risks (including tariffs), Federal Reserve policy, currency dynamics, and the role of diversification in managing client portfolios. The article emphasizes how advisors can use data driven talking points to better educate and guide clients through an increasingly complex investment landscape.

Investment portfolios should be rebalanced. This is a commonly understood concept of investment management. Advisors less commonly have a chance to take a step back and consider what rebalancing is, how often it should be done, or if this practice is actually benefiting the client. In this webinar, Michael E. Kitces, MSFS, MTAX, CFP, CLU, ChFC, RHU, REBC, CASL dives into these questions and sheds light on the practice of portfolio rebalancing, the rationales of rebalancing, and the practicalities of executing these portfolio maintenance activities. Kitces then explains the concept of tolerance band rebalancing to create a system for rebalancing, considering the complexity of multi-asset-class portfolios and the specific needs of different types of clients, such as savers and retirees, and asset types.

In this session, advisors will receive an update on charitable giving trends and then delve into the considerations for what assets to donate, who can receive charitable donations, how to donate, and when to donate to maximize charitable deductions. The nuisances of Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs), Donor Advised Funds (DAFs), charitable trusts, and private foundations are discussed. The session concludes with suggestions of topics to discuss with clients on family philanthropy.

An increasing volume of research is making clear what financial planners have long known - thatclients do not always act in a purely rational manner. But it's one thing to recognize that clientssometimes make irrational decisions, and another to really understand what drives those decisionsand how to help clients avoid the most damaging mistakes. In this session, advisors will learn what the behavioral finance research has shown about our not-always-rational decision-making process,and how to consider making adjustments to the delivery of their financial planning services to helpclients achieve more desirable outcomes through better communications and enhanced trust.

In this continuing education session, learners will review two Nerd's Eye View articles: Avoid Getting Caught Up In Big Market Delusions: The Case Study Of Electric Vehicles and Helping Hesitant Clients Boost Their Retirement Spending. In the first article, Larry Swedroe and Ben Henry-Moreland explain the concept of the 'big market delusion' and how advisors can help clients avoid the consequences of this investment bias. In the second article, Adam Van Deusen explains why some clients may be hesitant to spend in retirement and how advisors can help these clients move past their discomfort by framing conversations about retirement income differently and implementing behavioral-based tactics to help clients prepare for their retirement spending.