January 2019 Newsletter: What do you learn in CLU?

I spent much of December at various Christmas events. I must be a boring conversationalist, because I find the topic often turns to designation programs for financial advisors. Given that we have two initiatives upcoming related to the Chartered Life Underwriter program, I will take this opportunity to discuss that program.

First, the CLU is not so much an insurance designation as it is a tax and estate planning designation. There is very little pure insurance content left in the CLU. The insurance stuff that remains is primarily focused on estate and succession issues. The textbooks have the same chapters around insurance contract law as what used to be in the Advocis LLQP textbook. There is no discussion of actuarial principles, or field underwriting, or annuities, or complex beneficiary designation outcomes.

So, if there is minimal insurance content left in the CLU, what is there? I always tell prospective students that if they are working with business owners, including farmers, then the CLU might be right for them. So much of the focus is on business succession. We cover trusts, taxation, buy-sell agreements, estate freezes, domestic agreements, and a variety of other topics that a financial advisor might talk to a business owner client, or their own advisors, about.

As mentioned, we have two upcoming initiatives related to the CLU. First, we have our annual CLU webinar courses starting in March. Course 255 (the first course in the program) runs over 4 days in April. Course 256 runs over 4 days in June, and Course 256 runs over 5 days in August, September, and October, culminating in an exam, which is tentatively scheduled for early October. If you’re interested, please respond to this newsletter. You must have completed at least the Core Curriculum leading to the CFP certification in order to pursue the CLU.

The second initiative is a webinar series that I am describing as ‘CLU-Lite’. This is a 43 video series, each video running 10-20 minutes. Upon release, the videos will have quizzes attached, so those who watch will be able to obtain CE credits. Taking in the whole video series (about 8 hours of content) will provide 8 CE credits as well as a good preview of the content of the CLU program.

As always, thanks for reading, and the best of the New Year to you!