Approved IAR CE Courses

Ethical decision-making is at the core of effective investment advisory practice. Investment Adviser Representatives regularly encounter situations involving fiduciary responsibilities, conflicts of interest, client communications, and vulnerable client protection while balancing professional judgment, regulatory expectations, and client needs.

This course provides a practical framework for applying ethical principles throughout the advisory relationship. Participants will explore fiduciary duty, the duty of care and loyalty, conflict identification and mitigation, disclosure practices, ethical communications, advertising considerations, documentation standards, and approaches for addressing capacity concerns and financial exploitation. Through practical examples and real-world scenarios, the program emphasizes how ethical principles can be applied consistently when facts are incomplete, business pressures exist, or competing interests arise.

This program fulfills the requirement for CFP Board approved Ethics CE. This program is designed to educate CFP® professionals on CFP Board's new Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct, which is effective July 1, 2024.

A strong understanding of investment products is essential for delivering suitable recommendations and supporting sound advisory decisions. Investment Adviser Representatives must be able to evaluate product structures, risks, costs, and portfolio roles while aligning recommendations with client objectives, risk tolerance, and investment policy statements.

This course provides a comprehensive review of equities, fixed income securities, and mutual funds commonly used in advisory portfolios. Participants will explore product characteristics, return drivers, risk considerations, cost structures, diversification benefits, and suitability factors. The course also examines how investment policy statements guide product selection, how to compare alternatives effectively, and how to document recommendations using a disciplined client-first framework.

Retirement planning does not end when a client leaves the workforce. Retirees continue to face important financial challenges related to income stability, healthcare costs, risk management, long-term care needs, and the possibility of outliving retirement savings.

This course examines key challenges to the financial security of retirees and reviews strategies for distributing retirement savings to help provide income for a lifetime. Participants will explore post-retirement planning needs, risk management considerations, and planning issues connected to illness, injury, long-term care, uninsured death, and longevity risk.

Major Topics:

Financial challenges facing retirees.

Post-retirement planning needs.

Retirement savings distribution strategies.

Lifetime income planning.

Risk management for illness and injury.

Long-term care and uninsured death risks.

Longevity risk and income sustainability.

By focusing on practical retirement income and risk planning concerns, this course helps professionals identify financial vulnerabilities that may affect retirees and evaluate strategies that support long-term financial preparedness. Attendees will gain useful insight into helping retirees manage resources, protect income, and plan more confidently for later-life financial needs.

Retirement planning remains one of the most important and high-risk advisory services provided by Professionals. From rollover recommendations and retirement income design to beneficiary planning and fiduciary obligations, advisers must balance client goals, regulatory expectations, and long-term financial outcomes when developing retirement strategies.

In this comprehensive course, Attendees will explore retirement account structures, rollover analysis, ERISA considerations, distribution planning, and retirement income strategies for advisory professionals. Attendees will review practical approaches involving IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, defined benefit plans, RMD planning, beneficiary coordination, and documentation standards used in retirement engagements.