Benefits of Choosing an AIF® Designee

What Makes AIF^® Designees Different?

Is the investment advice you are receiving really in your best interests? Unless your advisor understands and follows a fiduciary process, you can’t really be sure. Even those investment professionals who are required to act as fiduciaries might not have the experience or training to prepare them for this enormous responsibility.

Fi360 is accredited by the American National Standards Institute for the AIF® Designation, making the designation part of an elite group of accredited designations for financial professionals.

Only Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®) Designees have been certified specifically for their ability to follow a fiduciary process with their clients’ best interests at heart. Here are some attributes that make AIF® Designees different from other advisors or financial professionals:

Experience. Designees are required to provide documented industry and educational experience to qualify for the designation.
Education. Designees must complete the Accredited Investment Fiduciary^® (AIF^®) Designation Training, which covers the Prudent Practices^® for managing fiduciary assets for wealth, nonprofit and retirement clients.
Examination. Designees must pass an examination to prove comprehension of the Prudent Practices^® and ability to act in the best interest of clients.
Ethics. Designees adhere to a Code of Ethics and Conduct Standards that show a commitment to a higher degree of industry professionalism.
Continuing Education. Designees commit to keeping their knowledge and skills sharp by completing annual continuing education requirements.

AIF^® Designees Have the Knowledge and Resources to Help Clients with:

Creating and maintaining a comprehensive investment plan, strategy or policy statement that documents the processes and procedures that will be used to manage the plan/portfolio.
Analyzing and optimizing asset allocation strategies and investment menus.
Applying objective standards for evaluating and recommending appropriate investment options and products.
Monitoring and reporting plan/portfolio performance.
Evaluating a client’s current fiduciary practices and recommending actions to help mitigate compliance and litigation risks.
Understanding their important fiduciary roles, responsibilities and obligations with more confidence.

“A very low-cost index fund is going to beat a majority of professionally-managed money. The gross performance [of actively managed money] may be reasonably decent, but fees will eat up a significant percentage of the returns.”

Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway

2007 Shareholders Meeting

“All the time and effort that people devote to picking the right fund, the hot hand, the great manager, have in most cases led to no advantage.”

Peter Lynch, former Fidelity Magellan Fund Manager

Beating the Street, 1993

"The industry as a whole cannot outperform the market because they are the market, and long-term statistics revealing negative returns for the class of active managers confirms it. Yet, what a price investors are willing to pay!"

Bill Gross, PIMCO Co-founder

Former Manager of World's Largest Bond Fund