Approved IAR CE Courses

All successful financial planning practices face the challenge of scaling their advice to serve more clients and make their businesses more profitable. However, making a practice more scalable while still providing excellent service to the client can be a multi-faceted challenge that can take advisors years to address while finding themselves unable to grow sustainably. In this webinar, Michael Kitces shares research on scalability, walking advisors through the process of establishing expertise, systematizing client deliverables and engagement, coping with client variability, and delegating to leverage time efficiently. Throughout the webinar, Michael provides practical steps advisors can take to work forward scaling to financial advicers and how doing so can not only make practices run more efficiently but also increase advisor revenues.

Ponzi schemes aimed at defrauding unsuspecting individuals and taking their money have existed for hundreds of years. The Madoff scheme brought this type of scam to the attention of the American public in 2008, but there are many other such schemes that have operated in the United States since then. The purpose of this course is to familiarize tax professionals with Ponzi schemes and help them identify the hallmarks of such schemes. The guidance offered to tax professionals to deal with clients who have suffered Ponzi losses is presented and discussed, together with examples from the U.S. Tax Court in which taxpayers are seeking to recover their losses.

This live presentation will address current regulatory priorities and examination risks affecting SEC-registered and state-registered investment adviser firms. The course will focus on fiduciary obligations, economic conflicts of interest, fee and expense practices, disclosure requirements, compliance program effectiveness, information security, incident response, vendor oversight, and practical examination-readiness techniques.

The presentation will explain how investment adviser firms can identify applicable regulatory risks, evaluate whether written policies and procedures are reasonably designed and effectively implemented, recognize common deficiencies, and document their compliance reviews. The course will also distinguish between federal requirements applicable to SEC-registered investment advisers and corresponding considerations for state-registered advisers, which must evaluate applicable state securities, privacy, books and records and supervisory requirements.

The course is intended to provide compliance personnel and investment adviser representatives with practical methods for reviewing conflicts, disclosures, advisory agreements, fee calculations, information security safeguards and programs and supporting records before or during a regulatory examination.

Upon completion of this self-study course, financial professionals will be able to identify key ethical principles, fiduciary obligations, and regulatory requirements when writing and reviewing advertising and marketing pieces to stay aligned with the SEC’s Marketing Rule. Best practices for maintaining ethical standards in these areas are included in the course materials and real-life examples are provided. Participants will have a demonstrated increase in awareness and knowledge as measured by a post-course assessment. Real-world scenarios help illustrate ethical dilemmas and proper conduct. Mastery of these principles protects not only the client relationship but also the advisor’s professional reputation.

This course provides a thorough examination of qualified tuition programs (QTPs), more commonly referred to as Section 529 college funding plans. These plans can be either prepaid tuition plans or college savings plans for payment of qualified higher education expenses. The course addresses the different plans and their respective benefits, as well as the rules that govern contributions to and distributions from these plans. Other issues addressed include the required coordination between QTPs and other education expense programs; the effect of QTPs on student eligibility for financial aid; the associated income, gift, and/or estate tax treatments for both contributions and distributions; and some of the important considerations in choosing a QTP.

This course will provide advisors with a review of the SECURE Act 2.0 that was passed in 2022 and discusses what provisions are going to be effective starting in 2025. Specifically, this course will cover the new RMD age rules and penalties, the various inherited IRA beneficiary designations and distribution requirements, and the added option for Qualified Charitable Distributions. Additionally, this course will discuss the new catch-up contributions to 401(k) plans and auto enrollment for employer retirement plans. Lastly, this course will provide advisors with best practices for advising clients on these new rules and guidelines.

Jeff Levine, CPA/PFS, CFP' and Director of Advisor Education at Kitces.com, will give an in-depth breakdown of the SECURE 2.0 Act that has been passed by both houses of Congress and is expected to be signed into law before the end of 2022. In this breaking-news webinar, Jeff will go over the numerous provisions of SECURE 2.0 that will be relevant for advisors and their clients, including the legislation's gradual pushing back of the RMD age from 73 to 75, the expansion of opportunities to make Roth contributions (including new SEP and SIMPLE Roth IRAs), and the elimination of RMDs on Roth-style employer retirement accounts; along with the ability to transfer 529 plan assets to a Roth IRA, expanded catch-up contribution limits, new exceptions to early-withdrawal penalties, and more. Advisors will walk away with information on how their clients will potentially be affected by the new law, as well as ideas on how to take advantage of some of the new planning opportunities it opens up.