Approved IAR CE Courses

This month, we review November blog articles. This quiz includes the following articles: Effective Implementation Of A Backdoor Roth Strategy: Detailed Nuances, IRS Form 8606 (And When It's Even Worth Doing); Anatomy Of An RIA Sale, Merger Or Acquisition: 5 Important Legal & Compliance Steps; and Advice Engagement Tools For A More Dynamic VIP (Visualization, Interaction, and Process) Planning Experience.

Within every financial advisor's practice, certain tasks have always been time-consuming, thereby constraining the efficiency of other essential duties. These include preparing for client meetings, constructing financial planning proposals, and addressing general client inquiries. As these tasks continue to grow rapidly, they become not only a drain on time but also a financial burden. While various technologies have aimed to streamline financial advising processes, from notetaking to managing client compliance, the demands of the profession have persisted. Despite improvements, advisors find themselves increasingly inundated with tasks such as email drafting and blog writing, detracting from their ability to focus on their most important task of all, meeting with clients. Now, with the advent of cutting-edge generative AI, particularly exemplified by ChatGPT, advisors can experience a significant acceleration in efficiency. This webinar aims to showcase practical examples of how ChatGPT can revolutionize advisors' practices, expanding their capabilities and enhancing the efficiencies that ultimately benefit their clients.

Estate planning is a core pillar of financial planning, and clients have made it clear they want more guidance from their advisors in this area. But with today's historically high estate tax exemption leaving fewer families with federal estate tax concerns, where can advisors add value? In this webinar, David Haughton explores how estate planning has evolved in 2026 due to changes in tax law, technology, digital assets, and client expectations. He discusses how advisors can play a more meaningful role in client estate planning by helping identify planning gaps, coordinating with estate planning attorneys, reviewing beneficiary designations and trust structures, and engaging the next generation of heirs. Haughton also highlights digital asset planning, emerging estate planning technologies, and the importance of understanding the boundaries between estate planning education and the unauthorized practice of law.

Jeff Levine, CPA/PFS, CFP' and Lead Financial Planning Nerd at Kitces.com , will be walking advisors through the range of.year-end tax-related opportunities and pitfalls for advisors and their clients, as well as key planning topics for advisors to consider as we move into 2026! While some tax planning considerations apply each year, from taking the correct RMD to ensuring proper tax withholdings, recent developments including those created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), have created unique decision points for 2026 and beyond....

In this continuing education session, learners will review 2 Nerd’s Eye View blog articles: How To Engage Next Generation Heirs During And After The Estate Planning Process, and Long-Term Care and Estate Planning for Childfree Clients. In the first article, David Haughton, VP of Estate Planning at Carson Group, examines how advicers can use existing planning milestones—such as education funding, charitable giving, smaller investment accounts, and future fiduciary roles—to build familiarity with heirs before a wealth transfer occurs. He explains why apparent familiarity with a client’s family is not the same as a direct advice and educational relationship, and shows how family conversations can be framed as preparation rather than just broad financial disclosure. In the second article, Dr. Jay Zigmont, PhD, MBA, CFP®, explains why traditional estate and long-term care assumptions can fail Childfree clients, particularly when no obvious family member is available to act as agent, executor, trustee, or caregiver. He examines decision paralysis challenges of Childfree clients, conflicts created when a future beneficiary also controls care spending, limitations of conventional HEMS language, and the need to prioritize lifetime care through carefully drafted trusts, professional fiduciaries, and coordinated long-term care planning. Together, the articles help advicers adapt estate planning conversations to the client’s actual family structure, responsibilities, and care goals.

Financial advisors know the importance of having estate planning documents in place to distribute family assets efficiently and effectively, reduce the risk of family conflict, and minimize the costs and delays of probate. However, when reviewing a client's estate plan, simply checking that estate planning documents are present while overlooking how the documents and other designations integrate can wreak havoc on how the plan will be executed in the future. In this webinar, David Haughton deep dives into the components of a cohesive estate plan beyond wills and trusts. Advisors will gain a deeper understanding of how titling, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and digital asset access can either reinforce or unravel an otherwise well-designed estate plan. Through real-world examples and practitioner insights, this webinar highlights the advisor's critical role in coordinating the moving parts of a plan, ensuring clients' wishes are honored both in life and after death.

With today's $15 million estate tax exemption, relatively few clients face traditional estate tax concerns. Yet financial advisors are increasingly expected to guide estate planning conversations that go far beyond tax minimization. In this session, expert Marty Shenkman will explore the evolving 'menu' of estate planning priorities: protecting wealth from lawsuits and divorce through asset protection structures; strengthening revocable trusts to address aging and health challenges; leveraging non-grantor trusts for income tax benefits; reviewing and repurposing existing or outdated trusts; and designing flexible plans that provide both asset protection and client access. Advisors will leave with practical insights and tools to elevate their estate planning conversations and deliver more value to clients.

In this continuing education session, learners will review 2 Nerd’s Eye View blog articles: Don’t “Avoid Probate”: Reframing Estate Planning Success Around Managing (Not Escaping) The Probate Process and Gifting Strategies That Allow Business-Owner Clients To Save (Millions Of) Dollars In Estate And Income Taxes.

In the first article, David Haughton reframes probate as a normal and often necessary component of estate administration rather than a failure of estate planning. He emphasizes that advisors can use estate planning to focus on coordinating estate administration and managing client expectations, rather than probate avoidance.

In the second article, Anna Pfaehler explains how business-owner clients can use strategic gifting of business interests to reduce estate and transfer tax exposure, particularly by shifting future appreciation outside their taxable estate. She highlights key techniques such as timing gifts before liquidity events, leveraging valuation discounts, and structuring ownership to preserve control while maximizing tax efficiency.

In this continuing education session, learners will review 2 Nerd’s Eye View blog articles: Private Fund Due Diligence: A Checklist For Reviewing Governing Documents And Operational Controls [LINK TBD], and Medicaid Planning Trade-Offs: The Ethical Challenges In Balancing Asset Preservation And Care Needs [LINK TBD]. In the first article, Rich Chen, founder of Brightstar Law Group, examines how Registered Investment Advisers (RIAs) can meet their fiduciary obligations when recommending private fund investments, detailing the legal review of governing documents — including conflicts of interest, layered liquidity restrictions, side letters, expense allocation authority, and indemnification provisions — as well as operational due diligence covering segregation of duties, valuation practices, cybersecurity, and the independence of third-party service providers. In the second article, David Haughton, VP of Estate Planning at Carson Group, explores how Medicaid planning can lawfully preserve assets while creating difficult ethical trade-offs among care quality and flexibility, spousal security, inheritance goals, and access to a needs-based public benefit, and outlines how advicers can look beyond technical eligibility rules to identify whose interests a recommendation serves and document the client’s priorities and trade-offs. Together, the articles help advicers strengthen the ethical and fiduciary rigor of their recommendations, whether reviewing a private fund sponsor’s governing documents or navigating the competing interests at stake in Medicaid planning.