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CPWA® Certification Renewal Requirements

 

Stay at the Top of your Game
 

We believe that to stay competitive and relevant, certificants need to stay connected. The Investments & Wealth Institute believes that the rigor of a continued competency standard, in the form of continuing education (CE) will keep you in touch with today’s changing landscape and our process is simple and efficient for all our stakeholders.

Requirements

Woman wearing glasses reviewing large piece of paper with data.

CIMA®, CPWA®, and RMA® certified professionals are required to complete and report a minimum of 40 credit-hours of continuing education within a 2-year period. At least two of those 40 credit-hours must be dedicated to ethics. As of January 1, 2020, certificants are also required to dedicate at least one of those 40 credit-hours towards tax or regulatory topics.

Demonstrating High Standards


By maintaining the CIMA®/CPWA®/RMA certification credentials, certified professionals are demonstrating high standards of professionalism to the public they serve.

Certificants must renew their certification every two years. There are three requirements for renewal:

  1. Complete and report a minimum of 40 hours of continuing education (CE) credit, including two ethics hours and one Taxes & Regulations hour.
  2. Pay a certification renewal fee. 
  3. Complete the compliance requirement – indicating continued adherence to the Institute’s Code of Professional Responsibility, and Rules and Guidelines for Use of the Marks, as well as disclosing any federal/state regulatory actions or complaints.Two men seated at office table looking a laptop screen.

The certification period begins on the first day of the month that the license is effective and expires on the last day of that month, two years later. Failure to meet all certification renewal requirements by the renewal deadline will result in loss of the right to use the certification marks.

Certified individuals will receive renewal notifications, and will have the option to pay the renewal fee and complete the compliance requirement, as early as six months prior to the renewal deadline.
 

Certification renewal requirements may change at the discretion of the CIMA® Certification Commission or CPWA® Certification Commission. Certificants will be notified in advance of any certification renewal requirements changes.

Pyramid image with three levels of CE: Premier CE, Sponsored CE, and Self-reported CEReporting CE. Approximately 200,000 hours of CE are reported annually by more than 10,000 certificants.

Reporting CE Credit

 

 

Investing in ongoing education is paramount in today's changing, highly-regulated financial environment. The following options are available for earning and submitting CE credit toward Investments & Wealth Institute certifications (CIMA®/CPWA®/RMA ℠).

1. Investments & Wealth Institute Premier CE: If you complete in-person or online continuing education from the Investments & Wealth Institute, you will have the Premier CE credit automatically applied to your record. This method of earning CE offers maximum assurance that the CE will count toward your continuing competency requirement. This CE is audit proof.

EARN PREMIER CE                 EARN ONLINE PREMIER CE
 

2. Sponsored CE: If you complete in-person or online continuing education from a Registered CE Sponsor, you will be able to log into your Dashboard online and verify that CE hours were uploaded by the CE Sponsor. If the hours are not reported, you may enter a program ID and report the credit using our convenient online portal. Sponsored CE is subject to audit.

3. Self-Reported CE: If you complete in-person or online continuing education from an independent, third party that is not the Institute or a registered CE Sponsor, you may still report those hours through your Dashboard online. Using the streamlined CE reporting tool, you will be asked to provide program details and attest to completion of the program. CE credit will be automatically added to your record upon entry and will require a CE fee. Self-Reported CE is subject to audit.

Please maintain records of self-reported CE including content, clock time and completion in case of audit.

  • CONTENT: Final agenda from CE provider with attended sessions marked (for conferences only) and program/session description(s) from CE provider

  • CLOCK TIME: Documentation of 50-minute-minimum session/program length from CE provider

  • COMPLETION: Proof of completion/attendance (attestation from CE provider, “thank you for attending” notification, sign-in sheet, completion certificate or final attendee list). Registration confirmations, travel arrangements and ID badges are not accepted as proof of completion

As a credentialing body, we take great pride in ensuring that your credentials remain relevant, and that the requirements to maintain them are targeted and attainable. Ongoing education ensures that you remain up to date on applicable industry changes, concepts and skills to better serve your clients.

Any questions regarding CE can be emailed to recertification@i-w.org.

Five Reasons to Choose Investments & Wealth Institute Premier CE


1.  Audit-proof CE – a certificant may be audited, but the Premier CE earned through Investments & Wealth Institute live, print and online educational programs will not be audited.
 
2.  No fees – Your registration fees cover all CE reporting costs.
 
3.  Quality, relevant content– Investments & Wealth Institute updates all of its investment, wealth, and retirement management content regularly through a job analysis process. All Institute live and online educational offerings are mapped to this Investments & Wealth Competency Matrix.
 
4.  Auto-Reporting – The Institute uses various forms of assuring participation in its CE-accepted programs, and we automatically report Premier CE into your record within two weeks of the activity.  
 
5.  CFP® Quality Partner Status – Investments & Wealth Institute is a CFP Board CE Quality Partner. For CFP® professionals who are members of the Institute, this is an added benefit and assurance that we consistently and accurately upload your CFP® continuing education credit to the CFP Board.

Take advantage of your Institute membership!

Elite members have full access to our on-demand CE library, and Signature members have access to 5  hours of on-demand CE. Not a Signature or Elite member? Learn more about the benefits of membership and upgrade today →

 

Accepted CE Topics


Continuing education is a form of recertification and should be related directly to the knowledge, skills and abilities that are covered in the education and examination process. A summary of accepted CE topics for CIMA®, CPWA® and RMA® certifications are listed below. Note this is not an exhaustive list. For more details, see the certification topics in the Candidate Handbooks for CIMA® Certification and CPWA® Certification.

Accepted Education Topics

(please note this is not an exhaustive list)

 

Technical Investment Management

Global Capital Market History and Valuation
Applied Finance and Economics
Applied Statistics and Data Interpretation
Traditional and Alternative Investments
Portfolio Performance and Risk Measurements
Portfolio Theory
Individual and Institutional Investment Policies
Manager Selection
Investment Analysis and Recommendations
Investment Consulting Process (including client discovery, monitoring and portfolio review)

Wealth Management

Applied Behavioral Finance Family Dynamics
Tax Strategies and Planning Portfolio Management
Risk Management and Asset Protection
Business Entities and Closely Held Business Executive Compensation Plans
Retirement Planning
Charitable Giving
Estate Planning and Wealth Transfer

Retirement Management

Client Diagnostics
Retirement Lifecycle
Retirement Management and Allocations
Retirement risks
Retirement income
Comprehensive retirement planning
Social Security and Medicare
Healthcare planning
Elder care/Elder Abuse/Dementia assistance
Retirement policy-making
Accumulation and decumulation strategies
Retirement product landscape
Withdrawal strategies
Tax-efficiency in retirement
Insurance strategies

Governance and Regulations

Investments & Wealth Institute Code of Professional Responsibility Ethics
Applicable Regulations; Compliance and Legal Implications

Supplemental

Building Your Business (if related to investment or wealth management)
Leadership Programs (if related to investment or wealth management)

Topics and Submissions Not Accepted

(please note this is not an exhaustive list)
 

Marketing skills and techniques
Motivation programs
Team building
All FINRA, NASAA, insurance or other regulatory and licensing exams
Proprietary information, products or services
Normal business procedures
Due diligence presentations/sessions
Online courses without exams and passing grade
Webcasts without proof of attendance/exams

Client/public presentations or seminars
Programs/sessions less than 50 minutes
Tapes/CDs/DVDs
Prep classes for licenses/certifications
Self-published books
Authorship of newspaper articles
Non-peer reviewed journals
Grading exams for other designations/certifications

CE Audit

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Each month, a sample of certified CIMA®, CIMC®, CPWA®, and RMA® holders will be selected for audit at random. Audited individuals will have 30 days to provide documentation that substantiates proof of completion, content and clock time for all CE that is under audit.

Certificants need only verify CE Sponsored CE and Self-Reported CE. Premier CE offered by Investments & Wealth Institute is not subject to audit.