The 2025 CFP IAR CE and CPA CPE class catalog doubled in size the past month, with 10 new classes added to our course catalog. New classes are always listed on Advisors4Advisors, under Latest Classes.

Advisors4Advisors retired its 15-year old custom-coded professional education platform and began 2025 on a new learning management system (LMS).  As our team became more familiar with the new software, it's become clear the new platform enormously improves the learning experience and makes class management easier. 

CFP Board, IWI, NASBA, and NASAA have approved the following classes for 1 credit of 2025 CFP and IAR CE credit, and "Tax Planning Strategies for 2025," is approved for 1.5 credits.                

• Key Variables In Retirement Portfolio Analysis, Craig Israelsen
• Supreme Court Rejects Key SEC Enforcement Method, Jeffrey Plotkin, J.D. 
• FOMO And Other Psychological Influences In Bull Markets, Frank Murtha
• Tax Planning Strategies for 2025, Paul Hood, JD
• Mastering Diversified Portfolio Strategies, Craig Israelsen, Ph.D.
• The Fiduciary Era Of Life Insurance, Steven Zeiger
• Fritz Meyer Economic Update, February 2025
• Raising Children in a Wealthy Community, Frank Murtha
• Investment Adviser Performance Advertising Rules, Amy Jones, Arin Stancil 
• Core Concepts In Financial Counseling, Frank Murtha

The addition of these 10 2025 CFP IAR CE classes reflects all we learned while rebuilding our LMS. Redesigning the LMS forced embracing new technology, processes, which is not always easy.  

Each new 2025 CFP IAR CE class involves writing an assessment and scoring it, along with creating engagement exercises, crafting measurable learning objectives, reporting completed classes to CE and CPE regulators, seeking approval for new classes from multiple regulators, and much more. Most important, the knowledge covered must be practical for fiduciaries and taught by effective educators who are independent experts. 

Point is, rethinking the education process resulted in a huge improvement in creating measurable learning objectives (LOs).  The 10 new 2025 CFP IAR CE classes added to our catalog are built with 10 learning objectives, and scored assessments are written with one question devoted to each LO. Thus, before you decide to replay a webinar, you know exactly what the class assessment will be about.   

This, along with other improvements to our approach, enabled us to we now provide a guarantee to give your money back, if you pay attention to a class and fail the required assessment. Yes, we guarantee you’ll pass any class you pay attention to, or you're entitled to a refund. 

Put simply, you are eligible for a refund for a class or your last membership payment, if you’re not 100% satisfied with a class because the assessment was too challenging, and you failed to score 70% or more on the assessment.   

Our catalog of 2025 CFP IAR CE classes was designed to make it so easy to pass the scored assessment, we can guarantee your success. How can we guarantee you will pass the assessment while meeting the rigorous standards imposed on CE and CPE by regulators including the North American Securities Administrators Association, Investments & Wealth Institute, National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, American Institute of CPAs, and CFP Board of Standards?   

The answer is scored assessments on our 2025 CFP IAR CE classes are a knowledge check and  not a test. The scored assessments on 2025 CFP IAR CE are not intended to be difficult to pass. The assessments just need to confirm you learned what was advertised in the class description. We're writing questions in our assessments confirming you actually learned what we said you would up front in the class description. 

The reason for the no-fail guarantee is practitioners avoid to taking tests. CFP and CPA professionals are not required to pass a scored assessment to receive credit on live webinars. But they are required to pass an assessment on webinar replays.         

These rules were developed years ago and seem likely to be adjusted because they no longer promote best practices in professional education. The current rules essentially have caused professionals to have an aversion to scored assessments. So they don't replay webinars on-demand because CFP Board, IWI, NASBA/AICPA, and NASAA require professionals score at least 70% on a scored assessment. Changes in technology have revolutionized CE and CPE delivery methods, and the current rules are getting in the way of streaming CE and CPE classes, which makes it easier to learn because it's available anytime.    

Live CE/CPE webinars are a great mode for delivering classes.  On-demand webinars offers greater flexibility, but professionals often prefer attending live webinars two very good reasons. Live classes are: 

1.    Unscripted, urgent, and Q&A interaction.  “This fosters a sense of community and allows professionals to get their specific questions answered in real-time,” according to one study.  

2.    Quality Time.  Scheduling attendance at a live webinar encourages focused attention and minimizes distractions, leading to a more immersive learning experience.   

These two factors may seem almost insurmountable.  Not surprisingly, a search on Google Gemini on the topic returns results showing an extensive body of research demonstrating live webinars are more effective.  Googling whether live or on-demand webinars are more effective will almost certainly lead you to believe live webinars are superior. However, live is not better when in comes to delivering CE and CPE. 

Technology improvements have leveled the playing field. Features to simulate live webinars have recently been added to Advisors4Advisors classes. Members can now ask a question or commenting on a classes offered on demand. This improvement has been added to the 10 2025 CFP IAR CE classes listed above.    

The knowledge topics in 2025 CFP IAR CE classes are generally fundamental to practicing as a CFP, CPA financial planner, CIMA, or other financial advice professional. Yet 2025 CFP IAR CE classes are not about topics you are likely to find offered by other CE and CPE providers. For example, Craig Israelsen's class, "Key Variables In Retirement Portfolio Analysis," provides the practical knowledge to implement a scalable investment advice practice providing low-expense diversified core portfolio strategies of client portfolios. This enables IA Reps to act as fiduciaries by separating portfolio management expenses from advice fees. It's a practice system supporting fee transparency and full disclosure, as required by the '40 Act. The 2025 CFP IAR CE catalog contains uncommon knowledge. 

After converted members to the new LMS, Advisors4Advisors membership benefits expanded significantly in January 2025. In addition to live classes for CFP and CIMA CE, membership benefits were expanded to include:                  

•    CPA CPE On-Demand Webinars

•    Free IAR CE Credit

•    Simpler, Streamlined Technology

Advisors4Advisors membership included CPA CPE credit for live internet webinars for over 15 years. Now, CPAs also are eligible to earn CPE credit on-demand via webinars.