Economic and market Insights for financial professionals -- CFP, CIMA, CPA and other financial planning professionals -- have been provided monthly by Advisors4Advisors, a continuing professional education service and Fritz Meyer, an independent economist, since March 2011. A former strategist and portfolio manager at one of the world’s largest investment companies, Fritz Meyer’s classes month-after-month for 15 years received at least 4.7-stars on a five-star rating scale. Now, the No. 1 instructor of financial economics to financial planning professionals is offering his highly rated IAR CE with economic and market insights for financial professionals.
This is Andrew Gluck, reporting on my work with Fritz Meyer. I’m a reporter and usually keep out of the stories I write here but the thousands of advisors who have attended our webinars know I’m the guy behind Advisors4Advisors.
“Free IAR CE” is a term I choose carefully to describe our CE/CPE program dealing monthly with IAR CE with economic and market insights for financial professionals, but free IAR CE really is what our existing members get. To be clear, we have provided CFP, CPA, CIMA, EA, ChFC, CLU and IRS approved classes for over 15 years. Now, we added the ability for members of Advisors4Advisors ($60 quarterly) to earn IAR CE credit at no additional charge.
For professional education about IAR CE with economic and market insights for financial professionals, CFP, CPA, CIMA, EA, ChFC, CLU and IRS EA have sought out Advisors4Advisors program for Certified Financial Planner, CPA/PFS, and CPA financial planning professionals since 2009.
Despite a never-ending torrent of free CE and CPE classes flooding our inboxes every morning from financial product providers, Fritz Meyer’s IAR CE with economic and market insights for financial professionals have stood out. Ironically, it’s not because Fritz Meyer’s classes are ever especially exciting; every month, the IAR CE with economic and market insights for financial professionals changes. Changes month-to-month are slight. It’s like watching paint dry.
Titles written for classes monthly almost always seem sensationalized when they’re about data surprises, like a sudden drop in Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index share price or a surge in new orders in the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) service-industry purchasing managers index.
IAR CE with economic and market insights for financial professionals is not a topic we've tried to spread on social media. Ironically, IAR CE with economic and market insights for financial professionals is a dish best served cold. Hot stories with sensational headlines draw eyeballs, not brains.
A smart way to look at it: Fundamental economic and market data monthly are best viewed by financial planning professionals managing the achievement of lifetime goals for clients through a lens focused on the following six learning objectives (LOs) explained below. Let’s call them Strategic LOs, because they are not focused on the latest twist but convey the real wisdom imparted at all of Fritz Meyer’s monthly classes.
The six Strategic Learning Objectives are important because they are measurable. They allow Advisors4Advisors to measure whether we’re delivering value to our members. The assessment you must pass after live IAR CE classes, and the assessment required of CFP, CIMA, and CPA financial planners on replays, as well as IARs, is designed to measure whether you really achieve the stated learning objectives in our advertisements and email invitations. We’re actually testing to make sure we’re doing right by you.
We love providing IAR CE with economic and market insights for financial professionals based on a formula that can measure if you are learning what we tell you you’re going to learn! Here are the six LOs for Fritz Meyer’s IAR CE with economic and market insights for financial professionals:
LO 1. Review Performance of Main GDP Growth Drivers. Inflation, job formation, and Other Fundamentals. Enables learners to make informed financial decisions based on current data. Learning measured in scored final assessment questions requiring learners to know data and characteristics of recent fundamentals, such as employment growth, productivity, and corporate earnings.
LO 2. Analyze Stock Market Reaction To Recent Geopolitical News. Learners will feel better able to assess the impact of geopolitical events (e.g., Israel/Iran tensions and U.S. elections) on market performance and volatility. Learning measured in post-class assessment questions about stock market performance following major crises in modern history. Relevance: Helps learners put geopolitical events in perspective and averts putting too much weight on short-term trends.
LO 3. Know Key Facts About Federal Reserve Monetary Policy. Learners will be better able to interpret Federal Reserve's rate policy. Grow conversant in facts needed for making data-driven investment decisions. Measure achieving the learning objective by asking participants in the final assessment to identify accurate descriptions of various Fed policy points and their implications for interest rates.
LO 4. Formulate Investment Strategies Based on Earnings Valuations on S&P 500. Learners will be able to develop long-term investment strategies by analyzing current earnings valuations versus modern history. Measure by: Asking participants in the final assessment to choose the best description of current stock market prices relative to 12-month trailing and forward-looking Wall Street analyst earnings estimates. Relevance: Know if the stock market is in a bubble or nearly so.
LO 5. Create An Economic Growth Outlook Based On Authoritative Sources. Learners will be able to develop their own GDP growth outlook informed by the most recent consensus forecasts of leading professional economists. Measure by asking in final assessment about consensus forecast of economists surveyed quarterly by The Wall Street Journal versus GDP Nowcasts by New York and Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank branches, and Blue Chip Economics survey of top economists. Measure by in final assessment question asking about details of various recent consensus forecasts. Relevance: Enables learners to devise an economic forecast driving investment decisions.
LO6. Review Major News & Analysis In Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Poignant news and analysis, as reported in WSJ, the largest U.S. financial news outlet, about the current financial economic situation, are reviewed. A curated review of important WSJ articles keeps participants current on what’s happening in financial economics based on an authoritative source. What was learned will be measured by questions about the main points of WSJ articles discussed by the instructor.
IAR CE with economic and market insights for financial professionals, including Certified Financial Planner, CPA/PFS, and CPA financial planning professionals, is a new way we can provide free IAR CE with economic and market insights for financial professionals.
Fritz Meyer, an independent economist, has taught on A4A monthly since March 2011. His monthly classes averaged a rating of 9.7 (out of 10) annually year after year. Before teaching on A4A, Fritz was senior strategist at one of the world's largest investment companies for over a decade. Since mid-2011, A4A members consistently rated Fritz Meyer’s CE/CPE presentations higher than 4.7 (out of five stars) every month. He has no product affiliations, and his classes are solely member-sponsored CE/CPE.
