Approved IAR CE Courses

In this continuing education session, learners will review 3 Nerd's Eye View blog articles: Why Don't Prospects Commit? How 'Negative Close' Can Be A Powerful Way To Help Prospects Move Forward, Five 'Self-Persuasion' Questions To Connect With Prospects Who Say They're Interested' But Aren't Moving Forward, and Fix, Fine, Flourish: A Framework To Take Clients From (Just) 'Fine' Stagnancy To Being Engaged Again. In the first article, Sydney Squires explains why prospects may be struggling to commit and how advisors can utilize the negative close strategy to close more prospects. In the second article, Dr. Meghaan Lurtz explains why prospective clients may experience ambivalence about engaging with financial advisors and how advisors can utilize self-persuasion questions to help clients feel more confident in the decision to work with an advisor. In the final article, Meghaan explains why prospective clients may experience ambivalence about engaging with financial advisors and how advisors can utilize self-persuasion questions to help clients feel more confident in the decision to work with an advisor.

The workshop addresses why families often fracture after the senior generation's death, emphasizing that the issue lies beyond legal documents and centers on relational and leadership challenges. It explores emotional dynamics, communication, and governance to support family continuity.

In this continuing education session, we review 2 blog articles: Why Pre-Commitment Strategies Can Work And 3 Steps To Implement Them With (The Right) Prospects and Motivational Interviewing Techniques To Help Clients Talk Themselves Into Implementing Advice.

In Motivational Interviewing Techniques To Help Clients Implement Advice, Derek Hagen explains how financial advisors can use motivational interviewing techniques to help clients resolve ambivalence about change and strengthen their own motivation to implement financial planning recommendations.

In Why Pre-Commitment Strategies Can Work And 3 Steps To Implement Them With (The Right) Prospects, Meghaan Lurtz describes how advisors can use structured pre-commitment strategies—such as offering free or low-cost plans alongside effective prospect screening and value-focused conversations—to improve conversion rates while avoiding burnout from working with poorly qualified prospects.

In this continuing education session, learners will review two blog articles: Why Pre-Commitment Strategies Can Work And 3 Steps To Implement Them With (The Right) Prospects and Maximizing The Step-Up In Basis By Gifting Assets Between Spouses. In the first article, Dr. Meghaan Lurtz, FBS explains the psychology behind pre-commitment strategies along with the potential pitfalls of using the pre-commitment strategy of providing a free financial plan to prospects. In the second article, Jeff Levine, CPA/PFS, CFP', AIF, CWS', MSA explains how maximizing the step-up in basis at death can be a powerful planning tool and details how advisors can help spouses to proactively plan for the step-up rules during life to maximize their benefit.

In this continuing education session, learners will review 2 Nerd’s Eye View blog articles: Why Taxable Custodial Accounts Are Better Than OBBBA “Trump Accounts” For Kids’ Savings and Reducing ACA Health Insurance Premiums After The Expiration Of The ‘Enhanced’ Premium Tax Credit.
In the first article, Ben Henry- Moreland, CFP®, evaluates the implications of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) provision that created Trump Accounts – new retirementstyle accounts for children under age 18—and contrasts them with traditional taxable custodial accounts. The article explains Trump Account rules, contribution limits, tax treatments, and how issues like Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), Roth conversions, and the “kiddie tax” impact longterm savings outcomes. It emphasizes the relative flexibility and potential tax benefits of custodial accounts compared to Trump Accounts, and highlights planning considerations when advising families on savings vehicles for minor children.
In the second article, Ben Henry-Moreland also explores how the expiration of the enhanced Premium Tax Credit (PTC) at the end of 2025 affects health insurance premiums for clients purchasing coverage through Affordable Care Act Marketplace plans. It outlines how the PTC works and the impact of reverting to pre 2021 subsidy rules, including changes to income thresholds, household eligibility, and resulting premium increases. The article then provides practical planning strategies – such as managing modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) through retirement contributions, HSA/FSA contributions, timing of income, and other techniques – to help clients preserve PTC eligibility or minimize the financial burden of higher premiums in 2026 and beyond.

In today's dynamic planning environment, many clients are concerned about how their withdrawal strategies will withstand market volatility. However, presenting clients with traditional Monte Carlo-based 'Probability of Success' (PoS) metrics can leave clients feeling anxious if the PoS declines, often leaving clients with a sense of ambiguity about what that metric means for their financial lives. This webinar explores a more effective and client-centric framework: risk-based guardrails paired with Historic Market Visualization (HiMaV).In this webinar, Dr. Derek Tharp unpacks the limitations of conventional PoS outputs and demonstrates how guardrails expressed in terms of dollars can improve retirement income strategies and communication. Attendees will learn how to structure guardrail thresholds based on portfolio movements, apply dynamic adjustments grounded in personalized Monte Carlo simulations, and overcome common behavioral pitfalls by visualizing long-term strategy outcomes using HiMaV. Through practical examples, including step-by-step implementation and a compelling client case study, this session provides a blueprint for integrating guardrails and HiMaV into financial planning practices.

The Women & Wealth Masterclass is 8 modules of real frameworks, honest conversation, and immediately applicable tools — taught by Cary Carbonaro, CFP®, MBA, one of the most recognized voices in women's financial planning. This course is designed to shift how planners approach client relationships, and it's built for every planner who wants to serve clients better starting now. Here's what's inside: Module 1: The Women & Wealth Opportunity — The full business case for why this is the most important skill you can develop right now, what the industry is still getting wrong, and why the advisors who figure this out now will still be winning in 30 years. Module 2: The History of Women and Money — The legal and cultural history that still shows up in your client meetings today, whether you realize it or not. Module 3: How Women Experience Money Differently — The psychology behind women's financial decision-making, including the confidence gap, emotional load, and what it actually takes to build trust. Module 4: Why Women Leave Their Advisors — A direct look at what advisors get wrong before, during, and after major client transitions — and exactly what to do differently. Module 5: The Different Types of Women Clients — From breadwinners to widows to business owners to women in transition — how to serve the full spectrum, with case examples and conversation starters for each. Module 6: How to Serve Women Holistically — Healthcare costs, caregiving, philanthropy, behavioral finance, and the values-driven conversations that women clients actually want to have. Module 7: Communication, Connection, and Conversion — The language, questions, and authentic connection strategies that grow your practice without a single hard sell. Module 8: Building a Practice Where Women Are Welcome — A full audit of your client experience, a redesigned discovery process, and a 30-day implementation plan to put it all into practice.

The advisory fee is the one place where an adviser’s interest and a client’s interest always point in opposite directions. Most clients never check the bill, and most could not check it if they tried. That makes the way a fee is set, explained, calculated, and collected a test of honesty that comes around every billing period.
This beginner-level course treats fees as an ethics subject. It assumes no prior training and explains each rule in plain language. It begins with the ways advisers are paid and the conflict each one creates, then covers what the SEC’s 2019 fiduciary interpretation, Form ADV, the custody rules, and the NASAA model rules require. It then turns to what goes wrong: the billing errors SEC and state examiners report most often, fees charged for service that is not delivered, fees on cash and unmanaged assets, wrap accounts that rarely trade, and compensation the client was not told about. Worked examples show the arithmetic of a missed breakpoint, an unrefunded prepaid fee, and a quarter-point difference in the rate.
The final module gives IARs five questions to ask in any fee situation and applies them to four case studies. The course reflects rules and guidance through October 2026, including the SEC’s June 2026 risk alert on economic conflicts of interest, the 2026 qualified client thresholds, and NASAA’s May 2026 model rule text. It is educational and product-neutral. A glossary and a rule reference table are included.

Strategic year-end planning is one key area where financial advisors can add significant incremental value. This session will review year-end planning opportunities in:

1.) Income tax planning: To manage income tax brackets, ensure proper withholding, evaluate state income/estate taxes, and reduce AMT liability.
2.) Reviewing investment portfolios: To recognize capital gains/losses, including strategies to avoid wash loss sales, portfolio rebalancing, and strategies to maximize equity compensation awards.
3.) Retirement planning: To fund retirement accounts and HSAs, review beneficiary designations, take RMDs, Roth conversions considerations, and review benefit elections for Social Security and Medicare.
4.) Wealth transfer and legacy planning: To make annual gifts, maximize the benefits of charitable giving, fund 529 plans, and elect qualified charitable distributions from IRAs.

The presenter will also look at key dates and strategies to be considered based on the client’s age through a year-end review.