As of September 9, the Certified Retirement Counselor (CRC) certification has officially met the certification accreditation standards determined by the National Commission of Certifying Agencies (NCCA), according to the International Foundation for Retirement Education (InFRE), which established the CRC in 1999.
“As the leader in retirement education for professionals, InFRE is keenly aware of our responsibility in maintaining a role that promotes competency in regard to the retirement planning profession,” said Kevin Seibert, CFP, CEBS, CRC, Managing Director at InFRE, in a release.
“We knew accreditation of the CRC program was a vital building block to offering an industry-wide and consumer-accepted retirement certification. Only a few financially-related certifications have achieved NCCA accreditation status because it is difficult to meet the standards,” Seibert said.
InFRE developed the CRC with the Center for Financial Responsibility at Texas Tech University. John Salter, Ph.D., CFP, AIFA, and director of the Division of Personal Financial Planning at Texas Tech, said in a statement, “The CRC provides in-depth and focused content in all aspects of retirement.” The CRC is also endorsed by both NAGDCA [National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators] and NPEA [National Pension Education Association]. Over 2,000 professionals have met the CRC certification eligibility and testing requirements.
According to the announcement, “InFRE designed the CRC process to help retirement professionals understand increasingly complex issues and retirement risks facing retirees, as well as help pre-retirees saving through individual, private employer and government employer retirement plans become more retirement ready. This one-of-a-kind certification also acts as an indicator for consumers searching for a knowledgeable retirement professional that can help them with both their retirement accumulation and distribution planning needs.”
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