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Investments & Wealth Institute Unveils an Expanded Retirement Management Advisor® (RMA®) Certification Program

--News Direct--

The leading professional association for financial advisors, the Investments & Wealth Institute (the Institute), has just rolled out a new examination and a more robust and comprehensive curriculum as part of its expanded Retirement Management Advisor® (RMA®) Certification.

The enhancements to the program result from in-depth job analysis conducted by Professional Testing, Inc., detailing the knowledge and skill competencies required of retirement advisor professionals. The Institute conducted the Job Analysis in 2022, after surveying several hundred retirement-focused financial advisors. As a result, the RMA® Certification was expanded to address 65 topics organized within 11 sections and three knowledge domains. The RMA Certification Commission establishes initial and ongoing certification standards to ensure that certified Retirement Management Advisor® professionals can build retirement income plans for end clients more effectively.

“The enhanced RMA® Certification has been developed to be more practical, applicable, and outcomes-based,” said Mike Kurz, RMA®, CIMA®, CPWA®, CFP®, CAIA®, director of programs for the Institute. “It maintains its differentiation from other retirement income programs by being product-agnostic and client focused. And the program now better supports advisors in building reliable and sustainable income plans for retirement clients through fresh content, an extended curriculum, new case studies, worksheets, and tools.”

The new RMA examination and education curriculum will address the following detailed content outline:

The Retirement Opportunity

The Retirement Landscape – critical retirement demographics and current trends, with an understanding of the role of the client and advisor

Retirement Mindset and Behavior – evolution of retirement approaches, and understanding the behavioral science related to finance, aging, retirement, cognitive decline, and family dynamics to positively impact client actions

The Ethical Advisor – business standards, regulatory requirements, ethics concepts and the code of professional responsibility

The Retirement Client

Client Discovery and Analysis – prudent, client-oriented advisory processes, and ability to create, implement, monitor, and adjust retirement plans

Assessing Retirement Readiness – scenario planning models and optimized retirement income plans, issue prioritization, understanding available capital for funding goals, income creation using assets and liabilities

Retirement Risk Management – approaches, concepts, categories, assessments, and strategies

The Retirement Technical Design

Retirement Portfolio Allocations – planning approaches, including goals-based planning to build a repeatable retirement income planning client engagement process

Key Retirement Planning Decisions – Social Security and Medicare strategies, as well as withdrawal polices, rules and risks

Implementations Strategies – portfolio allocations, product selection, insurance, lending, and investment vehicles specific to delivering sustainable retirement income plans

Life in Transition – special situations, considerations, and aging issues

Retirement Policy Statements​ – road map for clients to take actions against their retirement income plan

Applicants must meet a three-year experience requirement and pass a comprehensive background check as part of the application process. To prepare candidates to sit for the new, comprehensive certification exam, the RMA® education program will be migrated to a new learning experience platform.

There are three open enrollment options available in 2023:

RMA Spring Cohort— February 17 – May 3, 2023: Structured online course (February 17 – April 30) followed by in-person Capstone May 1-3, 2023 in San Diego, California at the Institute’s ACE Academy conference. Candidates may sit for the certification exam onsite or complete via an online, proctored testing provider.

RMA Fall Cohort — June 6 – November 2, 2023: Structured online course (June 6– October 20) followed by live-online Capstone October 30 – November 2, 2023. Candidates schedule their certification exam to take the test via an online, proctored testing provider upon completion of all online course modules and the capstone.

RMA Self-Paced Cohort — Asynchronous online course (including Capstone module), estimated at six months of self study, Candidates schedule their certification exam to take the test via an online, proctored testing provider upon completion of all online course modules.

Learn more about the RMA® Certification program or apply for the program online. You may also view an introductory webinar here. Private cohorts for corporate clients are available, please contact Michael Mastey at mmastey@i-w.org for information.

About the Investments & Wealth Institute

Founded in 1985, the Investments & Wealth Institute is the premier professional association, education provider, and standards body for financial advisors. Through its award-winning events, publications, courses, and acclaimed certifications — Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA®), Certified Private Wealth Advisor® (CPWA®), and Retirement Management Advisor® (RMA®) — the Institute delivers Ivy league-quality, highly practical education to more than 20,000 practitioners annually in over 40 countries. Members of the Institute include the industry's most successful investment consultants, advanced financial planners, and private wealth managers who embrace excellence and ethics in applying a broad set of knowledge and skills in their daily work with clients.

Contact Details

Investments & Wealth Institute

Allison Edmondson

+1 303-850-3207

aedmondson@i-w.org

Company Website

https://investmentsandwealth.org

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