Approved IAR CE Courses

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.

Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) under IRC Section 1202 offers significant tax advantages to founders, investors, and advisors who understand how to navigate its requirements. Enhanced by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), these benefits can translate into meaningful tax savings, but only if specific qualifications are met. In this session, expert Lisa Fetherngill will explore the requirements to qualify for QSBS treatment, highlight potential pitfalls and nuances, and review both tax and non-tax advantages of QSBS status. Attendees will also discover advanced planning opportunities, including strategies to combine QSBS treatment with gifting and other techniques to maximize benefits for clients.

Concentrated stock positions can expose clients to significant portfolio risk while creating complex tax and liquidity issues. However, addressing these concerns can be challenging when tax implications, behavioral biases, and emotional attachments can make clients reluctant to diversify. In this webinar, John Nersesian, CFP, CIMA, CPWA, examines the risks associated with concentrated equity holdings and strategies such as staged sales, hedging, variable prepaid forwards, exchange funds, tax-loss harvesting, and charitable planning that can address different client objectives. In the webinar, John also explores specialized planning opportunities involving equity compensation and employer stock, including 83(b) elections and Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA). Throughout the presentation, John emphasizes selecting and combining strategies based on each client's objectives rather than treating diversification as a one-size-fits-all solution, ensuring that clients can both address their concentrated stock positions and feel supported by their advisor in determining the best way to do that.

Financial advisors often work with clients who are nearing or in retirement, and healthcare is one of the most pressing concerns for people as they approach retirement age and beyond. But although it's important to make sure the numbers all add up and that clients have the resources to pay for healthcare costs throughout their retirement, what's even more important (but often forgotten) is that they - and the people who might become responsible for caring for them - are aligned on their healthcare goals, so they can maintain their desired quality of life even when health issues arise.Join Carolyn McClanahan, founder of Life Planning Partners, at the October Kitces Monthly Webinar, where she will discuss the real-life challenges faced by planners and their clients around meeting healthcare needs in retirement, including pre-planning before a medical event occurs to ensure the client's goals are communicated with and supported by family and health care providers, deciding who will provide care (be it family members, friends, or professional help) and how they will be paid, and learning what government assistance programs may be available to help with the cost of care.

Transitioning from making and saving money to spending one’s life savings is a vulnerable period for clients that often centers on a major underlying goal: ensuring the assets last through the remainder of their lives. Researchers and practitioners have found several techniques to meet this goal, but they all have tradeoffs. In this webinar, Amy Arnott of Morningstar reviews the evolution of retirement income planning and examines how flexible withdrawal strategies can improve retirement outcomes compared to the traditional 4% rule. She explains the strengths and weaknesses of fixed real withdrawal approaches, emphasizing that retirees’ spending patterns typically change over time and that market conditions materially affect sustainable withdrawal rates.
Throughout the presentation, eight flexible spending methods are compared, including guardrails, RMD-based withdrawals, constant percentage spending, and endowment approaches, highlighting the trade-offs between higher lifetime spending, cash flow stability, and leaving a legacy. Arnott also discusses the importance of incorporating Social Security timing, non-portfolio income, inflation risk, and spending shocks into retirement planning decisions.

The rapidly expanding ETF marketplace gives financial advisors more ways than ever to customize client portfolios, but the proliferation of strategies also makes it increasingly difficult to determine which products provide meaningful client value and which introduce unnecessary cost, complexity, or risk. In this webinar, Dave Nadig examines how the ETF landscape is evolving and offers a framework for evaluating whether higher-cost, more specialized ETFs deliver benefits that justify their use in client portfolios. Dave explores developments including active ETFs, return-stacking and leveraged strategies, options-income and buffered ETFs, direct indexing and other tax-management strategies, Section 351 contributions, thematic funds, and ETFs incorporating private assets. He also examines emerging concerns involving speculative investment products, sports betting and prediction markets, declining regulatory enforcement, and reduced market transparency that may increase the due-diligence responsibilities placed on financial advisors.

In this continuing education session, learners will review 2 Nerd’s Eye View blog articles: Box Spreads Explained: A (Lower-Interest) Borrowing Alternative To Margin Loans And SBLOCs and Reducing Retirement Income Volatility With The Modified RMD Safe Withdrawal Method.

In the first article, Ben Henry-Moreland explains how box spreads function as a synthetic lending strategy that can provide lower borrowing costs than traditional margin loans and SBLOCs by leveraging options pricing tied to near risk-free rates. It also evaluates their tax treatment, risks (notably margin calls), and appropriate use cases within the broader hierarchy of debt options.

In the second article, Michael Woloch, CFP®, illustrates how a modified Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) approach can be used as a flexible and practical safe withdrawal strategy in retirement. It highlights how using a rolling three-year average of portfolio values can reduce income volatility while maintaining adaptability to market conditions and client goals.