Industry group launches financial planning program

Looking to expand your offerings in life, benefits and financial planning? This new course may get you where you want to go.

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As the responsibility for financial planning is increasingly shifted to the individual, a producer’s ability to offer reliable and timely advice on everything from life insurance policies to a client’s investment portfolio is paramount.

To that end, the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) has partnered with the College for Financial Planning (CFFP) to offer a new and enhanced Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow (LUTCF) designation.

Details of the new course will be released in September, but NAIFA President John Nichols told Insurance Business the course will cover four key practice specialties: life insurance and annuities; health and employee benefits, including medical, disability and long-term care; multiline property/casualty insurance; and advanced financial advising and investments.

“The program is really the foundation of all financial planning—especially for the middle market,” Nichols said. “For middle-class America certainly every dollar is extraordinarily important, and so is making that decision of trusting an advisor for great, sound financial advice. When they see people with designations, that will give them more confidence that that person has the training, education and expertise to guide them.”

That’s particularly important as more Americans turn to personal financial savings plans rather than employer-provided pensions.

“Most people have some kind of financial savings plan—an IRA or 401K,” Nichols said. “NAIFA is taking a leadership position in providing its members the critical core competency of our financial foundation.”

The new program will be delivered through an instructor-led, live webinar platform and feature both instruction and real-time group learning exercises—something that really sets the program apart in NAIFA’s view.

“Instead of just being a brain dump, you also get the field activity,” Nichols said. “You can go back into the classroom and say, ‘How did it go? What did you learn?’ and you will get feedback from the moderator and other students as well. That’s the best part of this program.”

Registration for the program will begin in January 2015, with classes scheduled to begin in July. Interested producers must be NAIFA members at the time of LUTCF conferment.

NAIFA has offered the LUTCF designation since 1984, previously administered by the American College. That partnership is ending July 2015.

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