Estate planning course launches

The training specialist has created PIQ Estate Planning, an online-training course, in conjunction with online trust provider TrustUs.

PIQ Estate Planning programme is a self-directed learning course for advisers who want to broaden the range of advice they provide to clients. 

The programme will not qualify advisers to provide estate planning advice, but will give them the tools to have the conversation and refer clients to the right parties.

The course includes education on the key principles of asset protection and estate planning, advice on how to hold more meaningful conversations with clients on the topic, identifying risks and providing solutions. 

Professional IQ College said the course would help financial advisers identify gaps in their clients' financial protection.

Rod Severn, chief executive of Professional IQ College, said conversations about mortgages could be a "trigger" to talk about estate planning.

"While advisers cannot provide estate planning-specific advice if not qualified, they can still point clients in the direction of an expert in the field, and potentially make all the difference to their financial wellbeing," Severn said.

The course will take about nine hours to complete, and costs $675. Advisers will earn up to 14 CPD points. 

Jane Eschenbach of TrustUs said the new module would help advisers under the FSLAA regime, with greater focus than ever on competency, knowledge and skills. 

Eschenbach told TMM Online that estate planning was often overlooked in New Zealand. She said the course would help advisers have "confident conversations" with clients about the potential risks around relationship properties and business partnerships.

"Clients often don't understand the Property (Relationships) Act, for example. A homeowner moves someone in and the partner helps to pay the mortgage – after three years that home becomes a relationship property.

"This training is about all of the issues that could affect a client's estate, like a breakup or the end of a business relationship," she says.

"People think a will is all they need to think about, but any life event can impact us and our estate," Eschenbach adds.