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Certified Fund Specialist

We Invented the CFS Designation...

and reinvented financial services education to give you an edge in the industry.

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Certified Fund Specialist

Distinguish yourself with your education.
Articles For Financial Advisors

How to Evaluate Stocks; For Financial Advisors

As advisors, we sometimes forget the basics: a stock represents a fractional ownership interest in a publicly traded corporation.
Articles For Financial Advisors

Risks

One way academic researchers measure investment risk is by looking at stock price volatility.
Articles For Financial Advisors

Largest Mutual Funds

Table 9 lists the largest mutual funds in the U.S. as of December 2015, according to MarketWatch.com.  
Articles For Financial Advisors

Superior Active Fund Management

Arnott (1993) and Odelbo (1995)
Facts & Figures

1988

The year Institute of Business & Finance was founded.

Articles For Financial Advisors

Efficient Markets

A cornerstone of indexing advocates is based on securities markets being efficient.
Articles For Financial Advisors

Indexing

Wells Fargo Investment Advisors were the first to use indexed portfolios for some of their institutional pension plans from 1969-1971.

Certified Annuity Specialist

What you learn about annuities can make you invaluable.

Master of Science in Financial Services

One of the industry’s most pragmatic elite degrees.
Facts & Figures

16,000

# of professionals that have taken our courses

Facts & Figures

Keeping It Real

Written by advisors for advisors

Articles For Financial Advisors

How to Evaluate Stocks; For Financial Advisors

As advisors, we sometimes forget the basics: a stock represents a fractional ownership interest in a publicly traded corporation.
Articles For Financial Advisors

Risks

One way academic researchers measure investment risk is by looking at stock price volatility.
Articles For Financial Advisors

Largest Mutual Funds

Table 9 lists the largest mutual funds in the U.S. as of December 2015, according to MarketWatch.com.  
Articles For Financial Advisors

Superior Active Fund Management

Arnott (1993) and Odelbo (1995)
Articles For Financial Advisors

Efficient Markets

A cornerstone of indexing advocates is based on securities markets being efficient.
Articles For Financial Advisors

Indexing

Wells Fargo Investment Advisors were the first to use indexed portfolios for some of their institutional pension plans from 1969-1971.
Articles For Financial Advisors

Duration

A fund’s duration can sometimes be a misleading measurement of interest rate risk if the bond fund has a meaningful weighting in convertibles, fore
Articles For Financial Advisors

Unpopular Funds

Fund popularity can be measured by percentage change in net cash flow over a stated period.
Articles For Financial Advisors

Expense Ratios

Bogle (1999b) concluded 92% of return shortfall for active managers was due to expenses.
Articles For Financial Advisors

Currency Risk

In general, a currency futures contract locks in the exchange rate between two currencies.
Articles For Financial Advisors

S&P 500 Sectors: Beta, Correlation, R2 & Weightings

Most of the information from Table 5 comes from State Street’s SPDR ETF website. SPDR ETF symbols are shown in parentheses.
Articles For Financial Advisors

R2

Barron’s defines R2 as a mutual fund term indicating “on a scale of 0 to 100, the percentage of a fund’s performance…explained by moveme
Articles For Financial Advisors

Serial Correlations

For investors, serial correlation, also referred to as autocorrelation, measures predictability of returns from one period to the next.
Articles For Financial Advisors

Unsystematic Risk Does Not Equal Higher Returns

Systematic risk principle states expected return depends solely on asset’s systematic risk.
Articles For Financial Advisors

Beta

Beta measures market risk, also known as systematic risk.
Articles For Financial Advisors

Risk-Return Characteristics of a 100 Stock Portfolio

A 2004 AAII Journal article by Daniel Burnside, How Many Stocks Do You Need to be Diversified, points out even a 100-stock portfo
Articles For Financial Advisors

Systematic and Unsystematic Risk

One way academic researchers measure investment risk is by looking at stock price volatility.
Articles For Financial Advisors

S&P 500 Weekly Drops of 5%+

From the beginning of 1980 through August 24, 2015, there have been just 29 instances (29/1851 weeks = 1.5% of the weeks) when the S&P 500 drop
Articles For Financial Advisors

Highly-Ranked Stock Pickers

From March 2009 to March 2014, stocks returned 26% a year, as measured by the Wilshire 5000.
Articles For Financial Advisors

Harvard’s Endowment Fund

The $33 billion Harvard portfolio is the largest endowment fund in the world.
Facts & Figures

1988

The year Institute of Business & Finance was founded.

Facts & Figures

16,000

# of professionals that have taken our courses

Facts & Figures

Keeping It Real

Written by advisors for advisors

Certified Fund Specialist

Distinguish yourself with your education.

Certified Annuity Specialist

What you learn about annuities can make you invaluable.

Master of Science in Financial Services

One of the industry’s most pragmatic elite degrees.

Certified Income Specialist

Customize—and maximize—your clients’ income investments.

Certified Tax Specialist

Give your clients investment related tax advice.

Certified Estate and Trust Specialist

Serve your clients' interests for generations to come.

  • After completing my CAS™ designation… two weeks later I rolled a $217,000.00 case.

    IBF gave me the tools and knowledge to close the sale. Thanks IBF for taking my sales to the next level!

    Hundley Batts, Jr., CAS™
    President of HB2 Insurance Services LLC

  • IBF's program is under-valued. Which means that I got more than my money's worth.

    The curriculum was unwavering and has enhanced my business tremendously.

    I think what a lot of individuals fear when going into an executive educational program, is, "Will the information gleaned from the program be applied to my practice?" That has not been the case with IBF.

    I truly do not understand why many other professionals do not seek to complete the entire MSFS program. It's well rounded and designed to nurture the financial professional into becoming a more mature and respected individual from both their clients and their peers.

    Steve Lewis, MSFS
    Virtus Wealth Advisors

  • When I came into the industry some 20 years ago, the best advice I received was to contact the IBF to obtain my CFS™ Designation.

    Going through the coursework was not only interesting but enlightening. I have no doubt that the knowledge gained, kick-started my career in financial services.

    Over the years, I have found myself going back to the well, so to speak, and utilizing IBF resources on an ongoing basis. I have received several certifications, as well as, my MSFS.

    The creditability and prestige gained through my association with the IBF has been invaluable to my practice.

    Richard Chrzanowski, MSFS
    Money Concepts Capital Corp.

  • Wealth Management demands sophisticated advice.

    The IBF MSFS has provided me the knowledge to disseminate that level of advice to my clients.

    Dan McDevitt, MSFS
    Ameriprise Financial

  • I take great pride in becoming a member of this exclusive group of my peers that has shown a commitment above and beyond the average industry standards.

    Achieving a MSFS degree shows my continuing efforts of providing top levels of investment counsel and financial service to my clients.

    The added benefit of having investors with a certain feeling of reassurance that coincides with my supplementary education through IBF is invaluable.

    Ray Ambrosino, MSFS
    Garden State Securities

  • As the head of training for an asset management firm I wanted my employees to have a deeper understanding of the Mutual Fund arena.

    I looked at other certifications and a couple things that drew me to IBF's Certified Fund Specialist™ were the extensive coverage of our business, the case study to put into practice what they learned, and the Continuing Education to keep my sales force current on updates in our industry.

    Tim Wilkinson, CFS<span id=“tmpRm”>™</span>
    ING Funds Distributor LLC

  • I came to IBF seeking to complete my CFS™ , but within 2 years I was able to successfully complete my MSFS, which provided me with a good foundation as I progressed throughout my career.

    Hadley Joseph, MSFS
    Morgan Stanley Smith Barney

  • Focused learning to help clients and stay on top of legislative and product changes is imperative!

    IBF course materials have helped me develop the skills and discussions necessary to help current clients and turn prospects into clients.

    As a result I have fewer and larger clients - allowing me more time to focus on more profitable clients and working with people and families I enjoy seeing.

    I will continue to work with IBF as they continue to provide top tier information to me for my benefit and the benefit of our clientele.

    Willard E. Gombert, MSFS
    The Financial Architects Inc.

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Telephone : (800) 848-2029

Our Address

PO Box 371243
San Diego, CA, 92137 USA

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Main Email : info@icfs.com
Student Services: studentservices@icfs.com

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