Senior Market Credentials and Designations

"Bill targets scammers who victimize the elderly" by Kathy Kristof, 04/27/08 Los Angeles Times

In the past several years, a virtual alphabet soup of "professional designations" have cropped up purporting to signal that the bearer has some specialized training and expertise in investment planning for retirees.

This article addresses the confusing proliferation of professional designations, particularly those that purport to indicate a specialty in working with senior citizens. Professional credentials and designations can be an important tool both for the consumer (to help differentiate between one professional and the next) and the professional (as the pursuit of such a credential or designation typically requires a significant amount of study).

With regard to a senior specialization, however, I wouldn't put too much weight on any that is currently available. This isn't to say that none of them are valid. The Chartered Advisor for Senior Living from the American College is probably the most rigorous of the currently available designations. I just think that the more generalized (with respect to age) designations (such as the CFP for financial planning, CLU for life insurance, and RHU for health insurance) are more useful at this time.