While most industry associations in the wealth space have been struggling to maintain their advisor memberships, a clear outlier is the Investments and Wealth Institute.
Now boasting more than 21,000 members, IWI is seeing high demand among financial advisors focusing on the high-net-worth investor segment for its advanced programs, which include paths to be a Certified Private Wealth Advisor, Certified Investment Management Analyst and Retirement Management Advisor.
Once known as the Investment Management Consultants Association, with roots in the wirehouse firms, the IWI has been on a tear since rebranding itself in 2017 and establishing itself as the next step for professionals to take after obtaining status as a CFP and/or CFA.
"Our No. 1 initiative is to help serve those practices focusing on HNW investors," said Sean Walters, the organization's longtime CEO. "These advisor teams are seeking advanced content and education to help them better serve their clients, which is a key area that we have invested in through our tiered membership approach, massive content library, and highly desirable, advanced certifications."
IWI has been aggressively expanding its membership base outside of the traditional wirehouses and asset managers, to encompass independent advisors.
"Over half of our membership is now independent, with much of that growth coming from our CPWA designation," Walters noted.
He points to several large broker-dealers, both traditional and independent, that are investing in providing advanced training and education from IWI to raise their advisors' competency and skill levels to better serve the more high-net-worth segment.
Particularly now that the baby boomers are retiring in record numbers, the recent IWI Experience conference focused on advanced wealth planning issues, such as retirement income planning.
"The biggest investment anyone will make in their lives is retirement," noted Joe Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab. "As a result, clients heading into retirement need to be supported with a team of both investment, tax and financial planning experts to make it all work."
Accordingly, IWI is seeing strong growth in its Retirement Management Advisor certification, with a majority of that interest coming from the RIA segment.
"The RMA and CPWA certifications are a great supplement to general financial planning designations, as they cover so much more of the complexities in wealth management and retirement planning than those other designations don't really delve into," one advisor told me at the Las Vegas conference. "To be competitive today as advisors, we really need to have that advanced training and knowledge."
Tech Tradeoffs
Another key topic area at IWI Experience was technology. A panel discussion led by Shannon Rosic of Informa included Clayton Chandler, chief data and analytics officer at Osaic, and Rashmi Badwe, chief operating officer for wealth management at TIAA.
These tech pros serving thousands of advisors noted many of the tradeoffs necessary to provide workable solutions.
