The Investments & Wealth Institute kicks off its 36th annual conference in Austin on Sunday, and the event runs through April 2. IWI, celebrating 40 years as an organization, offers the Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA), Certified Private Wealth Advisor (CPWA) and Retirement Management Advisor (RMA) certifications. It has about 21,000 members.
“We expect a crowd of about 800 attendees — about half of whom are employee advisors and the rest who are independent advisors,” said IWI CEO Sean Walters, in an interview with ThinkAdvisor.
“These are mainly advanced [financial] practitioners," Walters added. “Many of them work with $600 million in assets under management and up … and have been in business for about five to 10 years. They’re lifelong learners.”
Some of the IWI event’s keynotes speakers are DoubleLine CEO Jeffrey Gundlach and iCapital Chief Investment Strategist Anastasia Amoroso. Other speakers include Yale University Professor Roger Ibbotson, CEG Worldwide CEO John Bowen, PGIM DC Solutions Managing Director David Blanchett and Diamond Consultants President Louis Diamond.
In addition, the IWI conference features over 40 educational sessions with breakout sessions focused on investment, retirement, wealth and practice management.
Some themes Walters plans to emphasize on stage include the increasing use of horizontal teams, or “super teams,” to serve high-net-worth clients. “Many of the top advisors are doing this — building out a team-based model of multiple competencies," he said.
Looking ahead, IWI says it plans to host two national events in 2026: One in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in April, and the other in Scottsdale, Arizona, in November. “They’ll be held for one and a half to two days and be high-intensity events,” Walters added.
According to recent research by CEG Worldwide, advisors with IWI certifications manage an average of $267 million more in team assets than those without these designations.
Plus, advisors with all three IWI certifications have an average yearly income of close to $762,000, which is 33% more than advisors without any IWI designations. Also, advisors with IWI certifications are more likely to serve ultra-high-net-worth clients and portfolios of $25 million and higher than non-certified advisors.
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