IMCA’s wealth adviser program taps demand for advanced skills
The recession may have taken a toll on wealth, but wealth management is alive and well.
The recession may have taken a toll on wealth, but wealth management is alive and well.
In March, the number of designees in the Investment Management Consultants Association’s chartered private wealth adviser program rose 22% year over year, from 177 to 256, with another 30 designees expected by the end of 2009.
The continuing popularity of wealth management in financial services was also underscored last month when New York-based Citigroup Inc. unveiled Citi Personal Wealth Management, a newly created premium-banking-services unit led by Deborah McWhinney. But while the division will serve a broad range of customers, the IMCA designation concentrates on clients with more than $5 million in investible assets.
“The original idea was to accommodate financial advisers who are certified financial planners but now are working with clients who have $5 million to $10 million in investible assets,” said Jim Dobbs, president of Dobbs Wealth LLC in Golden, Colo., who helped design the program. “There was clearly a need for more education to help them work more effectively with those clients.”
Mr. Dobbs, who has been an adviser for nearly 20 years, said his firm doesn’t reveal assets under management as a matter of policy.
According to Edythe “Dede” Pahl, executive director of Greenwood Village, Colo.-based IMCA, the increased interest in the designation reflects rising demand by wealth management experts who want to be “better prepared to deal with the complex issues facing their high-net-worth clients.”
As a result, the CPWA program emphasizes areas of study such as advanced tax and estate planning, concentrated stock positions and planning for closely held businesses, said Mr. Dobbs, who has also de-signed certified financial planning courses for Southern Methodist University in Dallas and the University of Texas at Austin.
“We decided not to concentrate too much on portfolio management,” he said. “We assumed that’s where more experienced advisers already have experience and expertise.”
Mr. Dobbs also said the program tries to balance academics with practical application.
“You can’t just teach these concepts; they must be applied,” he said.
In fact, Randy Golden, managing director for FGMK/Preservation Capital Partners LLC of Bannockburn, Ill., who received his CPWA designation in March, said he’s been able to use what he learned over the past few months.
“One of our clients was a Fortune 500 executive who had a large position in his company because of stock options,” said Mr. Golden, whose firm manages about $165 million in assets. “Shortly after we started the concentrated stock and tax courses, the market began to go down, and I was able to apply what I learned to his situation. Six months later, it turned out to be a nice value-added for the relationship.”
According to John Moninger, San Diego-based senior vice president of LPL Financial of Boston, the financial crisis has underscored the need for a legitimate wealth management designation.
“People are looking for trust and confidence, and that’s best gained through knowledge,” said Mr. Moninger, who received his CPWA designation in September and heads LPL’s wealth management business. “This kind of designation gives you a leg up on the competition and the necessary knowledge to compete for the high-net-worth client.”
Although the designation is not very well-known now, Mr. Moninger believes that it has great potential as a marketing tool for advisers.
“It’s exactly what a client who has a lot of money may ask for,” he said.
But Mr. Dobbs said that marketing shouldn’t be the main reason IMCA members get the designation.
“You should not be doing this for letters,” he said. “You should go into the program for what you can do to enhance your value to clients.”
Mr. Golden agrees.
“I didn’t get the designation to market myself better,” he said. “I was looking to expand my skill set and increase my knowledge in areas I deal with on a regular basis.”
The two-year-old designation program costs $7,475 for IMCA members and $7,975 for non-members.
Financial advisers who work with high-net-worth clients study for approximately six months, then attend classes for a week at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
After completing the courses, the advisers must pass a four-hour written examination.
E-mail Charles Paikert at [email protected].
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