Approved IAR CE Courses

Introduction to the Six Steps of MedicareMany believe you just need to enroll in Medicare, pick your plans, and sign up for them, and you're good for life. However, there is much more to Medicare than that and it is the three overlooked steps that are most important.Step 1: Check Your TimingWhen to enroll in Medicare can be a big and permanent decision. Some will be enrolled automatically, others must enroll, and many can postpone Medicare. Making the wrong decision or missing the chance to enroll can be costly and hazardous to health and wellbeing. The Parts of MedicareJust about everyone has been taught that Medicare has four parts - A, B, C, and D. However, there are really three essential parts that combine to make two important paths.Step 2: Pick your Medicare PathMany do not want to face Medicare decisions and choose their Medicare coverage based on a friend or agent's recommendation, or a television commercial. And this easy way out can lead to problems in the future. Over 70% in a recent Nationwide survey wished they had a better understanding of Medicare basics before deciding what to do.

Selecting the right college and career pathway involves more than just academics and finances'it requires aligning a student's unique gifts, aptitudes, and purpose with the family's long-term financial strategy. Advisors play a critical role in helping families approach college planning as both an educational and financial investment.In Part 1, advisors will explore tools and coaching strategies that help students identify strengths and meaningful career paths, reducing costly transfers and misaligned major changes. In Part 2, advisors will learn how to evaluate a student's academic positioning, build strategic college lists, and manage the admissions process with a project-management mindset.By integrating personal purpose with academic competitiveness, advisors can provide families with a roadmap that contains both emotional and financial clarity'helping clients maximize admissions success while containing costs.

Good People. Bad Things. begins by refreshing financial advisors on the most common types of insurance fraud, and then walks the financial advisors through how Good People. do Bad Things. using insurance fraud cases and examples.Good People. Bad Things alerts financial advisors to the mind set patterns, which can provide observable behavioral signals (red flags) that external pressures may be impacting decision making in general, and ethical decision making in particular.Good People. Bad Things. next explores the connection between observable behaviors in an office - its culture - and ethics. Purposefully managing the culture in an office impacts the probability of ethical choices by anyone working in that office.Good People. Bad Things. concludes with an ethical framework exercise, illustrating how a financial advisor can leverage office culture to support ethical decision making.

Guide to Social Security Benefits is an educational tool to help advisors through the maze of programs, rules and regulations that affect many if not all their aging Baby Boomer clients, their spouses and dependents.

Guide to Social Security Benefits is an educational tool to help advisors through the maze of programs, rules and regulations that affect many if not all their aging Baby Boomer clients, their spouses and dependents.

This course examines topics that investment adviser representatives should know beforerecommending hedge funds. Concepts and terminology are presented for a broad range ofhedge fund'related topics. The course covers the development and original philosophy behindhedge funds, as well as how hedge funds have evolved beyond their original purpose of hedging. Who can invest in hedge funds is covered, as well as the fact that hedge funds are unsuitablefor many investors, especially small retail investors. The course delves into many of the strategiesemployed by modern hedge funds. The course discusses risks associated with hedge funds, therole of diversification, funds of hedge funds, and liquid alts.

This CE course equips investment adviser representatives (IARs) with a practical, fiduciary-firstframework for using hedging as a client-centered risk management tool. Moving beyond optionsmechanics alone, the course explains how hedging works as portfolio insurance, when it may (and may not) serve a client's best interest, and how to evaluate trade-offs such as explicit premiums, opportunity costs, and tax considerations. Learners will explore core distinctions'static vs. dynamic and active vs. passive hedging'then address common myths that derail implementation and expectations. The course emphasizes real-world advisory workflows: assessing client suitability (financial, psychological, and practical dimensions), integrating hedging into an IPS, communicating clearly using intuitive analogies and scenario testing, and establishing documentation, disclosure, supervision, and monitoring practices aligned with regulatory expectations.

The course will explain some basic terms and concepts related to hedging. This course will also review the fundamentals of hedging and which type of risk can be hedged. We'll also review the different investments that are commonly used as hedges including, options, futures, forwards, and inverse ETFs. The final section of this course will explain the basics of dynamic hedging and option risk measurements.

This course will address issues involved in helping clients navigate the variety of options available when investing for retirement. Several key distinctions between different types of retirement plansare discussed, such as the differences between employer-sponsored and individual plans; definedbenefit and defined contribution plans; qualified and non-qualified plans; and traditional and Rothaccounts. ERISA is covered, with an emphasis on ERISA requirements that may be of greatestconcern to clients. Sections are set aside to discuss special topics such as retirement plans forsmall businesses and Social Security. Suitability concerns of particular relevance to retirementplanning are covered, as are other issues related to addressing the needs of aging clients, suchas advance directives and recognizing scams that target retired clients.