CRPC® or Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor℠

How does the CRPC® Program work?

The College’s professional designation programs all feature open enrollment. You can enroll and begin whenever you like. While we offer periodic live classes, these are completely optional and are available to all students at no additional charge.

When you enroll you will receive immediate access to the College’s exclusive online student portal. Within this portal you will find copies of your written study materials, streaming video lectures, downloadable MP3’s, interactive quizzes, and even access to live classes when they are in session. You will also be able to contact your professor with questions or issues.

All of these things are included with your enrollment and we pride ourselves on not charging for additional 3rd party books, online functionality, access to professors, etc.

Students must successfully pass the course’s single final examination within one year of their enrollment date. Final exams can be administered at our approved testing centers: PSI, Prometric, or ISO Quality Testing. The first examination is included as part of your enrollment. Subsequent examination attempts are $100 each. Students must attempt the exam within six months of enrollment and have one year to complete the program.


Course Topics:


Module 1 – Maximizing the Client Experience During the Retirement Planning Process

• Chapter 1. Retirement Planning Trends and Challenges
• Chapter 2. Step 1 — Establish and Define the Client-Counselor Relationship
• Chapter 3. Step 2 — Gather Client Data, Including Goals and Expectations
• Chapter 4. Step 3—Processing and Analyzing
• Chapter 5. Steps 4,5, and 6

Module 2 – Principles and Strategies When Investing for Retirement

• Chapter 1. Investment Policy
• Chapter 2. Asset Classes, Characteristics and Performance
• Chapter 3. Portfolio Management Principles
• Chapter 4: Asset Allocation Principles
• Chapter 5: The Asset Allocation Process — A Practical Application
• Chapter 6: Stock Investment Strategies
• Chapter 7: Bond Investment Strategies

Module 3 – Making the Most of Social Security Retirement Benefits

• Chapter 1. The Origin of Social Security
• Chapter 2. Estimating Future Benefits
• Chapter 3. When to Begin Retiree Benefits
• Chapter 4. Benefits Available to a Covered Workers’ Spouse, Survivors and Ex-Spouse
• Chapter 5. The Future of Social Security

Module 4 – Bridging the Income Gap: Identifying Other Sources of Retirement Income

• Chapter 1. Traditional IRAs
• Chapter 2. Roth IRAs
• Chapter 3. Annuities
• Chapter 4. Mutual Funds
• Chapter 5. Life Insurance
• Chapter 6. Home Equity
• Chapter 7. Post Retirement Employment

Module 5 – Navigating Health Care Options in Retirement

• Chapter 1. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Health Savings Accounts
• Chapter 2. Planning for Incapacity
• Chapter 3: Medicare
• Chapter 4: Medigap
• Chapter 5: Medicare Advantage Plans (Medicare Part C)
• Chapter 6: Medicaid
• Chapter 7: Long-Term Care

Module 6 – Making the Emotional and Financial Transition to Retirement

• Chapter 1. The Retirement Decision
• Chapter 2. Early Retirement
• Chapter 3. Corporate Early Retirement Programs
• Chapter 4. The Reality of Delayed Retirement
• Chapter 5. Making the Transition to Retirement

Module 7 – Designing Optimal Retirement Income Streams

• Chapter 1. Pre-retirement Distribution
• Chapter 2. Lump-Sum Options
• Chapter 3. Distributions and Taxation
• Chapter 4. Survivors and Beneficiaries
• Chapter 5. Variability in Retirement Planning Assumptions
• Chapter 6. Creating Sustainable Income Streams

Module 8 – Achieving Tax and Estate Planning Objectives in Retirement

• Chapter 1. Taxation of Distributions from Taxable Accounts
• Chapter 2. Distributions from Tax Deferred Accounts
• Chapter 3. Distributions from Tax Exempt Accounts
• Chapter 4. Taxation of Annuities
• Chapter 5. Taxation of Home Sales, Social Security, Life Insurance, and Tax Diversification
• Chapter 6. Introduction to Estate Planning
• Chapter 7. Transferring Property by Will and Will Substitutes
• Chapter 8. The Federal Gift and Estate Tax
• Chapter 9. Estate Planning Strategies for the Retiree

Module 9 – Fiduciary, Ethical, and Regulatory Issues for Ad

• Chapter 1. History of U.S. Financial Regulation
• Chapter 2. Forces Changing Financial Services
• Chapter 3. The Fiduciary Standard
• Chapter 4. Formal Ethical Codes and the Investment Professional