The College for Financial Planning is launching the“ Professional Generational Wealth Transfer Advisor” designation program( with a mark called the“ PGWTA.”)

It’ s designed to help advisors prepare for the historic shift in wealth transferred from baby boomers and older generations.

The college’ s new program comes at an opportune moment. According to Cerulli Associates, a total of $ 124 trillion is expected to be passed down to the next generation through 2048. Of that, $ 105 trillion is expected to go to heirs, while $ 18 trillion will go to charity. Cerulli adds that baby boomers and older generations will account for 81 % of all transfers.

The college’ s self-study program, which runs for 120 days, has a curriculum that“ incorporates tax-efficient and risk management strategies, business succession planning, and strategic philanthropy to combine comprehensive instruction in wealth-transfer planning,” according to a press release.“ It also provides practical guidance on navigating family

The new program is designed to help advisors prepare for the historic shift in wealth transferred from baby boomers and older generations.

dynamics and values, helping advisors engage the next generation of clients while strengthening long-term family relationships.”

The program is best suited for mid- and advanced-career advisors, said the college, but no prerequisites are required. In addition to earning the designation, advisors completing the course can also apply earned credit toward the estate planning course in the college’ s CFP certification education program, or to one elective course in the Master of Science program in personal financial planning.

Graduates also will earn six hours of CFP certification continuing education credit and 16 hours of CE credit for the College for Financial Planning designation.

“ As trillions of dollars shift hands in the Great Wealth Transfer, remaining a trusted steward requires an entirely new caliber of specialized expertise,” Dirk Pantone, president of the college, said in the release. He added that the college established the Professional Generational Wealth Transfer Advisor designation“ to directly confront this massive industry evolution.”

Citing research that shows more than 80 % of heirs plan to leave their parents’ financial advisors, Pantone said,“ Client retention has become a critical strategic imperative,” and he added that the new program“ answers this challenge head-on, equipping advisors with a first-of-its-kind, advisor-focused curriculum that signals elite capability in navigating complex family dynamics, tax-efficient strategies, and holistic legacy planning.”

The College for Financial Planning, part of global education company Kaplan, provides flexible degree, non-degree, and continuing professional education programs to students in the U. S. Shortly after its founding in 1972, it introduced the CFP certification.

— FA Staff

The 4 % Rule May Be Costing Retirees Money, Morningstar Says

Continued from page 8 portfolios performed best for retirement income planning. Portfolios with roughly 30 % to 50 % equity allocations generally produced the strongest results.

Today’ s market environment may be more supportive than many retirees and advisors realize. Morningstar views equity valuations as elevated but not extreme, and it believes higher bond yields have improved the outlook for retirement withdrawals.

“ Bonds we think are still looking relatively good thanks to their higher starting yields,” Arnott said.“ We’ ve seen a big increase in yields across the board that bodes relatively well for future returns.”

That improvement has helped lift Morningstar’ s withdrawal-rate assumptions from the ultra-conservative 3.3 % it published in 2021. At that time, near-zero bond yields weighed heavily on retirement income projections.

Arnott’ s analysis also highlighted factors advisors should incorporate into retirement-income planning, including Social Security timing, pensions, annuities, inflation shocks, long-term-care costs and sequence-of-returns risk.

Arnott said retirement spending remains one of the areas where financial professionals have the greatest opportunity to add value.“ Decumulation is the toughest problem in financial planning,” she said.“ This is really where you can demonstrate the most value as financial advisors.”

— Tracey Longo

10 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | JULY / AUGUST 2026 WWW. FA-MAG. COM