fi360 and The Retirement Advisor University Announce Strategic Partnership

PITTSBURGH, March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- fi360, the nation's premier organization for fiduciary education and investment analytics, and The Retirement Advisor University (TRAU) at the UCLA Anderson School of Management today announced that they have established a strategic partnership to expand their educational reach.

The partnership will provide participants from each program with access to both fi360 and TRAU training courses and designations. At a time when fiduciary regulation is continuing to evolve, fi360 and TRAU are expanding their educational offerings to support advisors with a comprehensive approach to both fiduciary responsibility and retirement planning.

The strategic partnership will enable current students and clients to earn reciprocal course credits and participate at a discounted rate in each organization's training programs, expand the scope of their education, and receive both the AIF designation from fi360 and the C(k)P designation from TRAU.

"This partnership with fi360 will add depth to our retirement advisor curriculum," said Fred Barstein, the founder and executive director of TRAU, the first retirement planning certification program associated with a nationally recognized institution of higher learning. "Given the ongoing regulatory debate surrounding the fiduciary standard, it now makes sense to increase our educational offerings to help current advisors, registered representatives and other investment fiduciaries prepare for the changes ahead."

"As more of our students seek continuing education, we believe this initiative with TRAU will help them to expand their curriculum with ease," said Blaine Aikin, CEO of fi360. "We are very pleased to be working with an educational organization that, like fi360, has the best interests of the fiduciary community at heart."

For more information on the fi360, TRAU partnership, please visit their websites at http://www.fi360.com/main/index.jsp and http://www.trauniv.com/trau/AboutTRAU.asp.

About fi360

fi360 offers a comprehensive approach to investment fiduciary education, practice management and support that has established them as the go-to source for investment fiduciary insights. With substantiated Practices as the foundation, fi360 offers world-class fiduciary Training/Education, Tools and Resources that are essential for fiduciaries and those who provide services to fiduciaries to effectively and successfully manage their roles and responsibilities. Fi360 assists those who rely on their fiduciary education programs, professional AIF® and AIFA® designations, Web-based analytical and reporting software and resources to achieve success. For more information about fi360, please visit www.fi360.com or Twitter: @fiduciary360.

About The Retirement Advisor University

TRAU™, The Retirement Advisor University at UCLA Anderson School of Management Executive Education is the first retirement planning certification program associated with a nationally recognized institution of higher learning. Participating advisors and wholesalers can benefit by earning certification that has real meaning to plan sponsor clients, prospects, and the retirement industry as a whole. The Retirement Advisor University is the product of collaboration with UCLA Anderson Executive Education. Curriculum is a combination of onsite classes at the UCLA campus, virtual classroom courses E-Learning and self study. By combining world-class professors with retirement industry leaders TRAU has created the most comprehensive retirement training program for financial advisors in America.

SOURCE fi360