Why I Got My CLU

EDUCATION Why I Got My CLU

The chartered life underwriter, first created in the U.S. in 1927, is Advocis ’ s premier financial planning designation. Five advisors spoke with FORUM about its appeal

Nancy Byrne, CLU, CFP, CHS Financial Planning Solutions, Saint John, N.B. Earned the CLU in 2016

Igot the CLU because I thought I was missing something — the ability to humanize all the technical competencies for clients. I wanted to debunk the mechanical approach of using a product focus and the CLU taught me to place proper emphasis on what really matters — understanding what the client is looking for and wants to achieve.

It taught me how to actually listen to a client, learn what is important to them, and recognize the opportunities and potential pitfalls. Only then do we worry about which tool influences the best results. Every single client is different, every situation is different, and the CLU just brings everything together.

The most enjoyable aspect of my role as an advisor is sitting with my clients and learning about them. It was just basically learning every aspect of the full financial picture.

Grant Maddigan, CLU, CFP Principal Planning Inc., St. John ’ s, NL. Earned the CLU in 2020

When people are making financial decisions, it usually comes down to a tax or an estate issue. And the CLU really dives deep into those areas.

I wanted more in-depth knowledge of estate planning and taxation.We advisors need to educate ourselves so if someone has a question, we may not have the answer, but we need to at least know where to go for the answer. And the CLU allows me to work better with accountants and lawyers, and be able to collaborate more with other professionals to better serve my clients.

It covers issues like personal estate planning for people with disabilities, estate considerations for business owners, and corporate reorganizations. Then the last course, the advanced estate planning course, really ties everything together.

The first two courses give you a lot of foundational knowledge.

The CLU allows me to give clients, especially business owners, a 360-degree view of their finances from a 30,000-foot level. I’ m able to hone in on specific estate planning and taxation pieces so that I can make the clients more aware of the impact of their financial decisions from a tax standpoint.

Cindy Bowden, CLU, CHFC Cindy Bowden Insurance and Benefits, Markham, Ont. Earned the CLU in 1984

I’ m a second-generation advisor. Virtually every second or third-generation insurance advisor that I know has their CLU. It’ s because they worked with long-time advisors who recognized that it was a necessary designation to know what you ’ re doing, especially for the business market. I never thought of it as having a choice.

The CLU curriculum integrates all the different aspects of what a person has to have in place to take care of the risk in their life for death, disability, retirement, and poor health.

When you finish the CLU curriculum, you realize how much you don ’t know, how much you must continue to learn, and the many pitfalls if you don ’t learn properly. When I took the CLU, there were two tax courses. You came through those and realized there were a lot of landmines, but also many opportunities for people to structure their affairs to minimize tax. Without the CLU curriculum, you wouldn ’t know all the different ways of owning life insurance. It increases your awareness of the complexity of the world, the law, insurance contracts, and the implications of not doing things correctly. Not being aware of the broad number of things we learn as CLUs can impact clients negatively.

The designation also sets you up so that you can work in more specialized areas. For example, I know advisors who became specialists in things like pensions, succession planning, and shareholder agreements. Group benefits became one of my own specialties.

Ted Polci, CLU, TEP First York, Toronto Earned the CLU in 1972

To me, the CLU has always been the designation for someone who really wants to be taken seriously in some of the more complex areas of insurance planning, such as estate planning or business insurance. I’ m talking about things like business succession and shareholder agreements.

The CLU looks at tax issues surrounding trusts and wills, tax rates in different provinces, probate areas, capital gains tax, capital dividends that come out of life insurance proceeds, and shareholder agreements. These are all areas that would not be covered in a more general designation in great detail. The CLU focuses more on taxes on the different kinds of investments for those involved in helping their clients structure an investment program to meet retirement needs, savings, and goals.

Business owners are looking for intelligent, informative conversations on areas that concern them. They want specialized advice. They ’ re not looking for someone to say, “I haven ’t done much work on that issue, but I have somebody who may know something about that. ”

They ’ re looking for somebody who says, “Yes,I’ ve done something similar to your case. Not exactly the same, but I know what you ’ re talking about. I can help you with that. ”

Arun Mehra, CLU, CFP Arun Mehra Insurance Agency, Halifax Earned the CLU in 2000

Iwanted to have knowledge of the various financial products and their applications for an individual’ s objective. For business owners, taxes play a big role in their planning for the future and their retirement. So the CLU gave me the in-depth knowledge of all the financial products in my toolkit.

I also learned how the tax system works and gained a legal understanding of how insurance contracts work.

Having it certainly separates you from the crowd because you have in-depth knowledge of your industry.You help people to make sure they are protected against most of the financial risks that they have.