Approved IAR CE Courses

This course equips advisors with the knowledge, tools, and frameworks needed to navigate the intricate ethical dilemmas that arise in the profession. Designed to promote ethical excellence, this course explores the principles of fiduciary duty, advanced reasoning techniques, and the nuances of maintaining trust in client relationships. Participants will be presented with real-world scenarios, case studies, and emerging challenges, such as navigating gray areas in regulatory guidance, managing conflicts of interest, and balancing personalized financial planning with fiduciary responsibilities. The course also emphasizes the importance of ethical leadership, organizational culture, and continuous professional growth, providing actionable strategies for fostering a client-first approach and addressing unconscious bias.

Advanced Lifetime Income Strategies is a 6.0-credit text-only self-study Products and Practice course for investment adviser representatives and other financial-services professionals. The course examines advanced retirement-income and annuity planning, including longevity and sequence-of-returns risk, fixed, variable, indexed and registered index-linked annuities, deferred and immediate income strategies, federal taxation, Roth and required-minimum-distribution planning, qualified longevity annuity contracts, long-term-care and hybrid products, Medicaid considerations, high-net-worth and multigenerational planning, and integrated lifetime-income strategies. Participants evaluate product features, guarantees, liquidity, costs, taxation, market and insurer risks, disclosure and best-interest considerations, client objectives, available alternatives, and the integration of annuity strategies with investment assets, Social Security, healthcare needs, tax planning, liquidity requirements and estate or beneficiary objectives.

In this continuing education session, learners will review 3 Nerd's Eye View blog articles: 'How Much Does Having The 'Right' Capital Market Assumptions Matter In Retirement Planning?', 'How RIAs Can Craft An Effective Operating Agreement That Aligns Owners' Interests And Mitigates Risks', 'Why Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) Aren't Always Worth The 'Triple Tax Savings' Advantage'. In the first article, Justin Fitzpatrick, Ph.D., CFP, CFA, evaluates the impact of accurate and precise Capital Market Assumptions (CMAs) on the ability to advise clients on how much they can withdraw in retirement and other factors that could impact the ideal level of retirement spending a client engages in. In the second article, Richard Chen explains the importance of thoughtfully crafting RIA operating agreements with both current and future business need in mind. In the third article, Ben Dobler explains the personal and financial circumstances that may make High Deductible Health Plans (HDHP) and their associated Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) less beneficial to a client than other health care insurance options.

This advanced course delves into strategic tax and financial planning opportunities using reverse mortgages. Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of how payments are applied in the "waterfall" order for Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) and explore the benefits of making payments on the line of credit, including increased credit availability and potential tax deductions for interest paid. Through case studies, advisors will observe how leveraging home equity can positively impact both client lifestyle and overall wealth.

The appeal of a Roth-style retirement account is the potential for tax-free growth for life. However, the reality is that creating a Roth account has a 'cost' - the upfront tax liability of contributing to (or converting into) the account, which is avoided with a traditional pre-tax IRA or 401(k). As a result, optimal Roth strategies do not merely involve contributing to or converting into Roths, but managing the timing and leveraging the available tax law to maximize the strategy. Join Chief Financial Planning Nerd Michael Kitces at the September Kitces Monthly Webinar, where he'll share techniques to maximize Roth contributions, including 'Backdoor Roth' IRAs and 'Mega Backdoor Roth' 401(k) strategies, leveraging the Roth recharacterization rules to optimally fill lower tax brackets, and being able to ensure that an investment in a Roth has a positive return before being required to commit to it!

A core concept of tax planning is to pay taxes at the lowest rates. But what will your clients’ tax rates be when they need to access their retirement funds? That unknown is a major risk for many retirees, but it is a risk that a Roth IRA conversion can help to reduce and/or eliminate. In this session attendees will gain an understanding of critical Roth conversion rules, as well as some of the advanced conversion strategies that practitioners can use to help clients transition as much money as possible from tax-deferred accounts to tax-free accounts at the lowest cost.

This comprehensive course explores sophisticated approaches to transferring wealth efficiently while minimizing tax burdens. Key topics include lifetime gifting strategies, such as annual exclusion gifts, leveraging the lifetime gift tax exemption, and employing family limited partnerships (FLPs) and family LLCs. Attendees will gain insights into charitable giving techniques, including donor-advised funds, charitable remainder trusts (CRTs), and charitable lead trusts (CLTs). Advanced tools like GRATs (Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts), IDGTs (Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts), and SLATs (Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts) will also be covered. Additionally, participants will learn how to optimize wealth transfer through life insurance strategies using Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs) to ensure the death benefit remains outside the taxable estate. This program is essential for professionals aiming to provide clients with cutting-edge estate planning solutions.

This course will cover the four-step financial planning process and will touch upon the concept of advice engagement, highlighting strategies for fostering more meaningful conversations and delivering advice in a more effective manner. Through a blend of theoretical frameworks, practical insights, and interactive exercises, this course is designed to help you navigate the complexities of financial planning with confidence, integrity, and a client-centric focus.

This course comprehensively examines social media ethics and compliance for state-registered investment adviser representatives. The course begins by exploring the transformation of client communication in the digital age and the strategic value of social media in modern advisory practices. Following the introduction, the course examines the regulatory framework governing social media use, including the Marketing Rule's application to state-registered advisers and the pivotal Netflix case study illustrating Regulation Fair Disclosure requirements. The course then delves into compliance obligations, covering recordkeeping requirements, Write Once, Read Many (WORM) protocols, and managing third-party content. Practical implementation strategies include platform selection, content development, and risk management procedures. The course examines data privacy and security requirements, particularly Regulation S-P. Special attention is given to the emerging role of financial influencers ("finfluencers") and the regulatory challenges they present. Detailed case studies demonstrate successful implementation strategies and enforcement actions.

Does thinking about tax notices remind anyone else of the Jaws theme song? As with the iconic movie, it is just a matter of time before your clients receive a dreaded IRS letter. These 'love letters' from the IRS often send clients into a panic, unsure of how to respond and worried over receiving notices that often suggest they have done something wrong or owe money (and truly, who could blame them!). In several instances, these matters are rather simple, albeit time-consuming, to address, but often clients find themselves without counsel for what to do if they receive these letters. In this webinar, Steven Jarvis, CPA, explains how financial advisors can assist clients who have received letters from the IRS without crossing boundaries into tax representation or the provision of tax advice. Throughout the session, Steven walks advisors through common IRS notices, such as letters of discrepancy and differences of estimated tax payments, and provides examples of actions advisors can take to assist clients in moving toward a response.