Approved IAR CE Courses

In this continuing education session, we review two blog articles: How To Register And Remain Registered With The SEC As An Internet Investment Adviser and DoL's Retirement Security Rule & PTE 2020-02 Amendment: What Advisers Need to Know Now About Giving Rollover Advice After Sept 23, 2024. In the first article, Chris Stanley explains the history of the Internet Adviser Exemption as a pathway to SEC registration and reviews the 2024 amendments to the rule. In the second article, Jacqueline Hummel reviews upcoming changes to the fiduciary standards for advisors providing investment advice to retirement investors under the final version of the Department of Labor's Retirement Security Rule.

You asked the clients for their estate planning documents, and they gave you 62 pages of Wills and trusts. As a financial advisor, you're expected to review the documents to help them understand whether their estate plan aligns with their goals. But it can take hours and hours to read through lengthy documents and translate legalese to English and provide recommendations. However, most estate planning documents have common elements that provide the core information that advisors need to know, and learning them provides a shortcut that allows advisors to review documents more quickly and spot the key issues.

In this continuing education session, we review 2 articles from the Nerd Eye's View: Inspired Discovery: Asking Vision Questions to Focus on Clients' "Ideal Self" and 'ReFire' Instead Of 'Just' Retire: A Framework To Help Clients Plan For Purpose In Retirement. In the first article, Kathleen illustrates how retirement can be reframed not as an end, but as a phase of life centered on fulfillment, self-exploration, and purpose. In the second article, Meghaan Lurtz explains how advisors can restructure discovery meetings to start with vision-oriented questions that encourage ideal-self conversations, moving the meeting from a technical discussion to one that is more inspiring and meaningful for clients.

For many financial advisors, compliance can feel like a regulatory box to check to offer financial advice. But at its core, regulation is designed to protect consumers, and when the intent behind the rules is understood, it becomes easier to follow them effectively. In this session, Chief Financial Planning Nerd Michael Kitces is joined by compliance experts Jim Lundy, Patrick Noel, and Leila Shaver to discuss the practical realities of keeping your firm compliant without compliance becoming an undue burden, what regulators and examiners are really focusing on when it comes to compliance audits, where otherwise well-meaning advisors can still unwittingly get into compliance trouble, and what RIAs need to keep in mind as they seek to create a positive culture of compliance.

This quiz will include a review of the following articles: Implementing Retirement Income Guardrails To Facilitate (The Right) Spending Raises And Spending Cuts, Providing Mortgage Advice In A Higher Interest-Rate Environment: Opportunities For Advisors To Add Value, and How Different Monte Carlo Models Perform In The Real World: Assessing Quality Of Predictiveness In Retirement Income Forecasting Models

Monte Carlo analysis has become the dominant methodology for advisors to analyze retirement income planning strategies. But the way the results of Monte Carlo analysis are framed for clients can invoke different emotional responses and can affect portfolio withdrawal rate decisions. With this in mind, advisors can take advantage of a range of options to improve their use of Monte Carlo analysis, including framing the results as a 'Probability of Adjustment' rather than 'Probability of Success', comparing results using historical scenarios, leveraging regime-based models, and using risk-based guardrails. Using these methods, advisors can potentially provide clients with greater peace of mind regarding their retirement income choices and better help them achieve their specific income and legacy goals.

Incentive stock options (ISOs) can offer employees significant wealth-building opportunities, but navigating their tax implications, exercise strategies, and associated risks requires careful financial planning. In this webinar, Daniel Zajac explores the lifecycle of ISOs, the differences between qualifying and disqualifying dispositions, and the impact of the alternative minimum tax (AMT) on exercise-and-hold strategies. Through practical client scenarios, Daniel demonstrates how financial advisors can evaluate tax-efficient exercise strategies, manage AMT exposure and credits, and balance potential tax savings against concentration risk and cash flow needs. In the webinar, how the timing of ISO exercises and sales can influence financial outcomes and create opportunities for more effective tax planning is also explained.

In this continuing education session, learners will review 2 Nerd’s Eye View blog articles: How Sec. 530A “Trump Accounts” Impact Intergenerational Giving Decisions, and Hazards With Engaging Heirs Too Quickly: How Proactive Estate Settlement Can Disrupt Disclaimers By Triggering (Early) Acceptance. In the first article, Ben Henry-Moreland, CFP®, Senior Financial Planning Nerd at Kitces.com, examines where the new Sec. 530A Trump Accounts fit among the vehicles parents use to give to their children. He outlines five eras of intergenerational giving and explains how Trump Accounts function as a starter retirement account. Advicers can then match each giving vehicle to a family’s philosophy of giving. In the second article, David Haughton, an attorney and VP of Engagement for Hargrove MSO, explains how proactive service to heirs after a client’s death can unintentionally eliminate the option to make a qualified disclaimer. He reviews the requirements of a qualified disclaimer under IRC Section 2518 and offers a three-step sequence for deciding whether to disclaim. This helps advicers avoid triggering early acceptance and coordinate disclaimer decisions with the estate planning attorney. Together, the articles help advicers guide clients through intergenerational wealth transfers with greater intention and fewer costly missteps.

In this continuing education session, learners will review 2 Nerd Eye's View blog articles: Using Subtrusts To Allow Stretch IRA Treatment For Trusts With Multiple Beneficiaries and Motivating Clients Of All Ages And Life Stages To Stop Delaying Estate Planning. In the first article, Ben Henry-Moreland explains the practical implications of naming a trust a beneficiary of a retirement account and how the Final RMD Regulations have altered the distribution schedule rules for trust beneficiaries. In the second article, In this article, David Haughton, JD, CPWA' explains why clients may be delaying estate planning and ways that clients can help them move forward with a combination of regular communication about the topic, building a basic estate planning foundation, and utilizing the right tools and partners.