What Is a Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP)?
Let me explain what a Retirement Income Certified Professional, or RICP, really is. I'm talking about a financial professional who focuses on retirement income planning. You earn this designation by completing the specific program for retirement income professionals. Once you're qualified, as an RICP, you advise retirees and those close to retirement on how to best use the assets they've built up. The goal is to help them live comfortably within a realistic budget and avoid running out of money too soon.
Key Takeaways
Here's what you need to know right away. A retirement income certified professional specializes in planning income for retirement. This designation comes from completing the RICP training program provided by the American College of Financial Professionals. RICPs assist retirees and near-retirees in using their retirement assets in a sustainable way. To apply, you must have three years of business experience. Students go through three courses and pass an exam for each one.
Understanding Retirement Income Certified Professionals (RICPs)
The American College of Financial Services, according to its website, provides financial professionals with the education to reach their career goals. Their programs include everything from the chartered life underwriter (CLU) insurance specialty, which was the first designation they offered back in 1927, to the more recent RICP.
This not-for-profit college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, developed the RICP to meet the financial planning needs of America's growing number of retirees and near-retirees. Accumulating retirement savings requires different skills than using those savings to create a comfortable, lasting income in retirement—these are seen as two distinct abilities.
With more retirees out there, there's increasing demand for professionals who can guide people on optimally using their assets during retirement, not just saving for it as they get older.
The RICP is aimed at financial professionals who already hold a broad-based credential like chartered financial consultant, certified financial planner, or CLU, or whose work already focuses on retirement income planning. You need three years of business experience to apply—an undergraduate or graduate degree counts as one year of that experience.
To enroll in the RICP program, you must already be a financial professional, such as a chartered financial consultant, certified financial planner, or chartered life underwriter.
The program is set up as self-study with three online courses: Retirement Income Process, Strategies, and Solutions; Sources of Retirement Income; and Managing a Retirement Income Plan.
It covers best practices on topics like Social Security, risks in retirement financial planning, Medicare and other health insurance options, long-term care needs, plus tax and estate planning. This equips RICPs to help clients maintain their standard of living in retirement, fill income gaps, build an estate plan, and reduce risks.
At the end of each course, students take a closed-book exam with 100 questions. RICPs have to follow a code of ethics and meet reporting requirements. To keep the designation, you must complete 15 hours of continuing education every two years.
Special Considerations
Many financial professionals are good at helping people build retirement assets, but with more retirees, there's a big need for expertise in managing and using those assets. Fewer advisors know how to figure out things like when a client is ready to retire financially, the right rate to withdraw savings, how asset allocation should shift in retirement, the best age to claim Social Security, paying for health care and nursing homes, late-life tax planning, or retirement housing.
The RICP program is designed to address this gap in the financial industry.
Other articles for you
A moratorium is a temporary suspension of activities or laws to manage crises or financial hardships.
A telegraphic transfer (TT) is an electronic method for sending funds overseas, typically completing in two to four business days.
Buy to cover is a trading order used to close a short position by repurchasing borrowed shares.
A Kagi chart is a Japanese technical analysis tool that uses vertical lines to show supply and demand levels and price reversals independent of time.
A mortgage banker originates and funds mortgages using their own or borrowed funds, often selling them later, and differs from brokers who act as intermediaries.
Predatory pricing is an illegal tactic where companies set unrealistically low prices to drive out competitors and establish a monopoly.
EdTech integrates technology into education to enhance learning and customize curricula for better student outcomes.
Hedging is an investment strategy that reduces risk by taking offsetting positions in related assets.
Inventory management involves overseeing the ordering, storing, and selling of a company's raw materials, components, and finished products to avoid shortages and overstocking.
The OPEC Basket is a weighted average of oil prices from OPEC member countries, serving as a benchmark for monitoring global oil market stability.