Are you a wealth advisor trying to enter or develop your attain within the high-net-worth (HNW) market? This shopper phase contains enterprise house owners, executives, artistic professionals, and next-gen heirs with a web value of $5 million or extra.
These potential shoppers characterize a various group with distinctive challenges and life targets far past asset accumulation. To draw and retain HNW shoppers, you’ll want superior technical experience and nuanced expertise in folks and household dynamics administration.
How are you going to get or fine-tune these expertise? Incomes the Licensed Non-public Wealth Advisor® (CPWA®) certification from the Investments & Wealth Institute (IWI) is one solution to accomplish this objective. However is it definitely worth the time, effort, and cash you’ll dedicate to the method?
That will help you make your resolution, let’s assessment what getting a CPWA certification includes and the way it may benefit wealth advisors who want to serve HNW shoppers.
What Is a CPWA Certification?
The CPWA certification program includes a singular, multidisciplinary method to addressing the monetary wants of HNW shoppers. Candidates to this system can select between two enrollment choices:
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A 6-month on-line program together with a 1-week, in-person class at a prime enterprise faculty
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A 12-month online-only program
The conditions are:
Lastly, it’s essential to cross a four-hour ultimate examination protecting 135 questions.
What Are the High Causes to Contemplate the CPWA?
The first advantages cited by many advisors holding this certification are:
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Aggressive differentiation within the crowded HNW market
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Extra confidence in working with ultrawealthy shoppers
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Superior information particular to fixing complicated planning challenges
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Potential for increased compensation and profession development
And, latest information tells us {that a} CPWA certification could also be an efficient solution to develop your apply. In line with Cerulli Associates, CPWA practices have the biggest common shopper dimension within the business:

What Will You Study?
The CPWA program’s curriculum is designed to provide the idea and sensible methods you’ll must serve HNW shoppers—and to cross the required certification examination. The 11 core matters are damaged down into the next 4 classes:
1. Wealth administration. Understanding the massive image is crucial to optimizing planning for the ultrawealthy. This phase will make it easier to analyze and suggest tax-efficient options and learn to construct and handle portfolios that meet complicated HNW targets.
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Tax planning. This deep dive into HNW-specific taxation will information you in speaking about methods with shoppers, simplify planning, and make it easier to work successfully with shoppers’ tax attorneys.
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Portfolio administration. This phase will elevate your talents to harmonize wealth-building methods, threat administration, tax consciousness, and portfolio methods with shoppers’ assets and targets.
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Danger administration and asset safety. You’ll be taught to guage acceptable insurance coverage and asset methods to guard shoppers via life occasions together with marriage, divorce, and dying.
The [CPWA program] content material was implausible and considerably elevated my capability so as to add worth to my goal market ($1 million–$5 million investable, primarily company VP-level folks).”
Justin Hutt, CooperDavis Monetary Group,with Commonwealth since 2017
2. Human dynamics. Working with any shopper phase requires sturdy expertise in managing expectations, decision-making, and relationships, however you’ll want to lift your recreation when serving the extremely prosperous.
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Ethics. Studying to establish and classify moral and regulatory points throughout the wealth administration spectrum will mean you can work confidently with a complicated shopper base.
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Behavioral finance. Cognitive and emotional biases can intervene with a shopper’s capability to make sound selections. By studying the right way to establish biases, you’ll be higher outfitted to right or complement these tendencies.
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Household dynamics. Tailoring methods for household organizations, trusts, and enterprise entities will rely upon your understanding of key household roles, household workplace infrastructures, and the nuances of performing shopper discovery.
3. Legacy points. In case you haven’t mastered the complexities of how charitable and property planning options assist shoppers switch wealth, this phase provides you with the superior expertise you want.
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Charitable giving and endowments. You’ll be taught to evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of private and non-private charities, foundations, and trusts, in addition to the tax implications of giving methods in complicated shopper situations.
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Property trusts and wealth switch. Though elements of property planning could lie outdoors your obligations, a full understanding of wealth switch, end-of-life planning, and fiduciary points is crucial to the work of an HNW wealth advisor.
4. Specialty shopper companies. There are particular challenges concerned with enterprise planning along with HNW shoppers’ broader planning and portfolio administration wants.
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Govt compensation. This phase addresses the right way to consider inventory choices, deferred and fairness compensation plans, and concentrated inventory conditions, together with guidelines, restrictions, and tax implications.
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Carefully held companies. As a major inhabitants of the $5 million-plus shopper base, carefully held enterprise house owners want advisors who could make acceptable suggestions about enterprise entity buildings and their tax implications, buy-sell agreements, valuation strategies, the enterprise lifecycle, and succession planning.
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Retirement. To information shoppers with huge belongings via the distribution section, you’ll want to know return sequencing, analytical forecasting, tax therapies, Roth conversions, distribution necessities, and analysis of certified plans and web unrealized appreciation (NUA) guidelines.
So, Is the CPWA Certification a Worthwhile Funding?
If what you are promoting objective is to draw and retain HNW shoppers, the information and insights supplied by a CPWA certification could make it easier to goal—and higher serve—this nook of the advisory market. However, ensure you may have a transparent plan earlier than diving in. Making lasting connections along with your desired clientele all the time depends upon your agency’s service choices and the shopper expertise you ship.

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Commonwealth and IWI are separate and unaffiliated entities. Please seek the advice of your member agency’s insurance policies and acquire prior approval for any designation/certification applications.