Approved IAR CE Courses

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.

New planning strategies often create confusion for both advisors and clients, especially when complex rules, unfamiliar terminology, and political branding create barriers to clear communication and objective analysis. With the introduction of Section 530A “Trump Accounts,” advisors must navigate new contribution structures, tax treatments, and planning use cases while determining where these accounts fit relative to more established vehicles like 529 plans and custodial accounts. In this webinar, Ben Henry-Moreland breaks down the core mechanics of Trump Accounts, including contribution types, growth-period restrictions, distribution rules, and post-age-18 planning strategies such as Roth conversions. He also highlights key pitfalls, including gift tax concerns, kiddie tax implications, and state-level tax differences, while offering practical guidance on how to explain these accounts to clients. This webinar concludes with a framework advisors can utilize when evaluating whether Trump Accounts align with client goals, particularly in the context of retirement-focused gifting strategies for children.

In this continuing education session, learners will review 2 Nerd's Eye View articles: Business Buy-Sell Agreements In The Wake of Connelly V. IRS: Ensuring Clients' Business Succession Plans Don't Create Future Estate Tax Issues and Gifting Without The Headache: Tax-Efficient Strategies To Stay Under Gift Reporting Limits. In the first article, advisors will review the mechanics of buy-sell agreements, including the pros and cons of cross-purchase versus entity-purchase agreements, and then delve into the impacts of the Supreme Court's decisions in Connelly V. IRS. In the second article, David Haughton, JD, CPWA' provides an overview of gifting, including what gifts result in taxation or the necessity of gift tax reporting. Strategies to structure gifts to not use the lifetime gift and estate tax exemption or the annual exclusion are also discussed.

If you spend any time on the internet or watching the news, you will be bombarded with doom and gloom. In this webinar, Michael Finke makes the case for optimism. In his research, Michael has found that optimism helps people to invest more in the present with expectations of payoffs in the future in the realms of health, relationships, and personal finances, setting clients up with a higher chance of a happier retirement. Additionally, optimism can help clients be resilient when faced with inevitable setbacks in life and in their investments. However, overoptimism can negatively affect financial behaviors like risk tolerance. Finke uses this research to explain how advisors can work best with optimistic clients and encourage optimism in clients that tend to have a more pessimistic outlook.

The compliance regulations that RIAs are subject to can and do evolve over time, as markets and platforms change, and regulators update their own rules accordingly. In this session, compliance attorney Chris Stanley will address the latest changes in regulations for RIAs and their IARs, covering five critical topics: FinCEN Beneficial Ownership Reporting, FTC Non-Competes, SEC Marketing Rule Enforcement Actions, Custody Rule Triggers and Reporting, and the SEC's Reg S-P Rule Amendments, to help financial advisors ensure they stay compliant with the evolving regulatory landscape.

Financial advisors will inevitably work with clients facing turbulence related to their finances, whether it is a personal job loss or stress about a market downturn. In these situations, financial advisors might attempt to act as rationally as possible and encourage their clients to do the same. However, because the human brain is not wired to move between stress and rationality quickly, such an approach could backfire, and the client could feel as though their concerns are not being heard by their advisor.At this Kitces Monthly Webinar, join licensed clinical psychologist Barbara Kay as she discusses the neuroscience of anxiety, techniques advisors can use to communicate with a client facing stress, and potential pitfalls to avoid when working with clients during turbulent times.

This month we review October blog articles. This quiz includes the following articles: A Guide To Conducting And Documenting An Annual Compliance Review Under New SEC Amendment and Crafting An Annual Compliance Calendar For A (Solo) RIA: Staying On Top Of Compliance Tasks While Serving Clients.

In this session, advisors will gain a comprehensive understanding of the SEC Marketing Rule (Rule 206(4)-1) and how to apply it to create effective, compliant marketing strategies. Compliance experts Joseph Antonakakis and Jeffrey Lang with discuss the foundational aspects of the Marketing Rule, including its history, scope, and key changes from prior regulations. Additionally, advisors will learn how to navigate complex requirements surrounding testimonials, endorsements, third-party ratings, and rankings, while understanding the necessary disclosures, accuracy standards, and best practices for each. By the end of the session, advisors will be equipped with practical strategies for balancing compliance with creativity, enabling them to enhance their marketing efforts while adhering to regulatory expectations and upholding their ethical duty to prospects and clients.

Client review meetings are one of the most powerful and underleveraged opportunities in a financial advisor's practice to demonstrate ongoing value, deepen relationships, and advance long-term financial plans. Yet without a clear framework, it's easy to default to routine investment updates and miss the opportunity to showcase the true depth of planning expertise. This common gap can leave clients undervaluing their advisor's services, slow the momentum of important planning recommendations, and make review meetings feel more transactional than transformational. This course gives financial advisors a practical, step-by-step approach to planning and leading client review meetings with confidence and intention. Advisors will learn how to build planning-centered agendas that go well beyond portfolio performance, prepare for and present common planning topics in ways clients actually understand, and facilitate conversations that build trust and inspire action. Through real-world examples and application-based learning, participants will develop the skills to walk into every review meeting prepared, professional, and ready to conduct planning-centered conversations that move clients forward and create the foundation for successful long-term financial plans.