Approved IAR CE Courses

This course teaches investment adviser representatives, CCOs, and advisory firm principals how to identify and manage the legal and compliance risks that arise when non-attorney investment adviser representatives discuss estate planning, coordinate with estate planning professionals, review beneficiary and titling issues, or recommend digital estate planning platforms. The course emphasizes fiduciary duty, conflicts of interest, disclosure, supervision, client communications, due diligence, cybersecurity/privacy, recordkeeping, and unauthorized practice of law boundaries.

Estate planning is deeply personal work, often requiring professionals to guide clients through conversations involving death, incapacity, grief, family dynamics, and significant life transitions. Yet most professional training focuses on technical competency rather than the human skills needed to navigate these moments effectively.
In this seminar, estate planning attorney, business owner, and trained end-of-life doula Rachel Schromen explores how grief- and trauma-informed client counseling can strengthen the advisor-client relationship, improve communication and decision-making, and create a more meaningful client experience. Drawing from her experience integrating these principles into a successful estate planning practice, Rachel provides practical strategies professionals can use to approach difficult conversations with greater confidence, compassion, and effectiveness - without stepping outside the boundaries of their professional role.

This self-study course provides clear, practical explanations of how ETFs and mutual funds work and how to use them responsibly in advisory practice. Across six sections and eighteen lessons, youll examine fund structures and trading mechanics (intraday pricing, NAV execution, spreads, premiums/discounts, liquidity), total cost of ownership (expense ratios, trading frictions, cash drag, platform fees), and tax considerations (capital-gains distributions, in-kind processes in concept, dividend types, asset location). Youll compare passive, factor-tilted, and active approaches and learn when each has a practical role.The course connects concepts to day-to-day implementation: building core-satellite portfolios, setting rebalancing routines, placing holdings across account types, selecting appropriate share classes, managing conflicts (e.g., 12b-1 and revenue sharing), and documenting decisions in a client-ready, defensible manner. Checklists, brief case examples, and model language help you translate analysis into suitability notes, trade rationales, and monitoring plans aligned with NASAA IAR CE expectations for Products and Practices. Educational content only; not individualized investment advice.

This two-hour ethics program, led by RIA lawyer Richard Chen, examines the ethical, regulatory, and supervisory risks arising from the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in advisory practice. Investment adviser representatives will explore how commonly used AI applications—such as large language models, AI meeting notetakers, and content-generation tools—can create heightened risks related to client confidentiality, accuracy of advice, marketing compliance, and recordkeeping.
Through practical examples and realistic case studies, participants will evaluate how improper AI use may lead to violations of fiduciary duty, Regulation S-P obligations, advertising standards, and books-and-records requirements. The course emphasizes the ethical responsibility of advisors to understand, supervise, and critically evaluate AI-generated outputs, reinforcing that human judgment and professional oversight remain essential when integrating AI into client-facing activities.

Ethical Behavior for Financial Professionals examines the nature and scope of ethics, as the foundation of integrity and honesty, and its relationship to compliance. It reviews the requirements of Regulation Best Interest and the Investment Adviser Marketing Rule.
Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:
• Understand the nature of ethics and identify those parties to whom the practitioner owes an ethical duty;
• Recognize the requirements of Regulation Best Interest and the Investment Adviser Marketing Rule;
• Identify and change any sales tools that may mislead customers;
• Replace the use of misleading terms with those offering clarity and customer understanding;
• Describe the need for increased professionalism and its consequences;
• Discuss the sources of duty practitioners owe insurers;
• Understand the common ethical issues that arise between financial services practitioners and customers; and
• Differentiate his or her practice on the basis of its high ethical level.

Ethical Behavior for Financial Professionals examines the nature and scope of ethics, as the foundation of integrity and honesty, and its relationship to compliance. It reviews the requirements of Regulation Best Interest and the Investment Adviser Marketing Rule.