IBF
1988
Founded
Free Advisor Tools
Try before you decide
Quizzes, benchmarks, and practitioner guides for all eight IBF designations. No login. No sales pitch. Just tools built for financial professionals.
Four types of tools. All free.
Click to filter. Every designation has all four.
Self-Assessment Series
10 questions. Instant results.
See where you stand in under five minutes.
Practice Benchmark Series
25 questions. Three tiers.
Detailed gap analysis for your practice.
Practitioner Brief Series
Deep dive for working advisors.
10–15 pages of real analysis. Free download.
The Specialist’s Edge Series
Same data. Different analysis.
Scenario walkthroughs that show the specialist difference.
Designation
Self-Assessment
10 Qs · Interactive
Practice Benchmark
25 Qs · Interactive
Practitioner Brief
PDF · Free Download
Specialist’s Edge
PDF · Free Download
Investments & Products
How Well Do You Really Know Funds?
Most advisors miss 4 out of 10. The ones who don’t have a systematic edge.
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Where Does Your Practice Actually Stand?
The gaps in your process are the ones your clients find first.
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Beyond the Return Number
The analysis you’d want to read even if you never enrolled.
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What a Fund Specialist Sees
Same client. Same data. Two completely different reviews.
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How Well Do You Know Digital Assets?
Can you actually advise clients on crypto, or just talk about it?
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Where Does Your Practice Actually Stand?
Digital asset advisory is either informed or opinion. 25 questions that show which.
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Digital Asset Custody and the Advisor’s Fiduciary Obligation
The custody framework that separates advisors from commentators.
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What a Digital Asset Specialist Sees
One advisor sees opportunity. The other sees regulatory risk.
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Retirement & Income
Your Client Retires Friday. Is the Income Plan Ready?
Rules of thumb or real strategy? This quiz can tell the difference.
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Where Does Your Practice Actually Stand?
The income planning gaps your clients feel but can’t name.
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Building an Income Floor That Changes the Withdrawal Conversation
How guaranteed income reframes the 4% rule.
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What an Income Specialist Sees
A retirement income gap of $180,000. The data was identical. The analysis wasn’t.
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A Client Asks About Annuities. Are You Ready?
Most advisors explain annuities. Few actually understand them.
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Where Does Your Practice Actually Stand?
The gaps in your annuity process are the ones your clients discover first.
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When a Variable Annuity Rider Pays for Itself
The break-even math most advisors skip. We did it for you.
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What an Annuity Specialist Sees
Same client. Same annuity. Two completely different suitability reviews.
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Tax & Estate Planning
How Well Do You Know Tax Planning?
Knowing the tax code and using it are two different skills. This tests the second one.
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Where Does Your Practice Actually Stand?
Tax knowledge you thought you had until you didn’t.
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Roth Conversion Timing for Maximum Tax Savings
Multi-year projection vs. single-year rule of thumb.
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What a Tax Specialist Sees
Same tax return. One advisor finds the standard deductions. The other finds $47,000.
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Your Client Just Inherited $2 Million. Now What?
What the law requires vs. what most advisors assume. The gap is wider than you think.
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Where Does Your Practice Actually Stand?
You discuss estate planning. But do you execute it?
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Trust Structures That Protect Assets Across Generations
The irrevocable trust decision framework most advisors never learned.
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What an Estate Planning Specialist Sees
The $340,000 mistake was in the trust document. Only one advisor caught it.
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Life Transitions
How Well Do You Know Divorce Financial Planning?
Divorce changes everything about a financial plan. These questions show whether yours holds up.
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Where Does Your Practice Actually Stand?
The financial complexities of divorce that most advisors underestimate.
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Tax Traps in Divorce Property Division
The after-tax value analysis that changes settlement negotiations.
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What a Divorce Financial Specialist Sees
Same marital estate. One settlement costs the client $210,000 more.
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Your Client Turns 62 Next Month. What Do You Tell Them?
Guessing at claiming vs. planning it. Most advisors can’t explain the math behind their own advice.
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Where Does Your Practice Actually Stand?
Social Security strategy is either calculated or it’s a guess.
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The Hidden Math of Social Security Claiming Decisions
Survivor benefit impact: the most overlooked factor in claiming.
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What a Social Security Specialist Sees
$96,000 left on the table. The advisor wasn’t wrong. They just never checked.
Read the scenario →
More Resources
Tools for advisors and their clients
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Every quiz, benchmark, and guide on this page connects to one of eight IBF designation programs. $1,495. Self-paced. 12 months.
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