Is your Advisor Certified?

All types of Investment Stewards should mandate the CEFEX certification of their service providers. In other words, your service providers should be subjected to their own independent fiduciary assessments. This significantly reduces your fiduciary risk and ensures that fiduciary diligence is prevalent within the organizations you engage.

To view a full list of CEFEX-certified investment advisors, click here.

CEFEX offers draft content for a Request for Proposal issued by Stewards, which can be tailored to suit your needs as a 401(k) plan, 403(b), foundation, etc. This Word-format RFP contains the specific questions Stewards should be asking of their investment advisors. CEFEX-certified advisors will be well-prepared to respond to this RFP.

CEFEX-certified advisory firms display the CEFEX Certification Mark.

Watch the short interview: 'How does a plan sponsor benefit from its advisor being CEFEX-certified?' (1:46 m)

If your Investment Advisor is already CEFEX-certified, this significantly reduces the effort required for you to attain CEFEX certification as a Steward. This is because many of the significant investment fiduciary practices have already been assessed, including asset allocation, investment manager due diligence, the investment policy statement and the service agreement.

Please inquire with your CEFEX-certified advisor, or contact us.


Introducing the Independent Assessment Report

With this CEFEX exclusive report, Investment Stewards can now easily document their advisor selection with confidence. The IAR provides a summary of CEFEX's rigorous annual assessment including the methodology, the date and the people involved.

Learn more about the Independent Assessment Report

Observations

"Our firm uses our CEFEX certification to articulate our fundamental belief in total disclosure and best fiduciary practices... We believe this certification should be a standard requirement in the selection of Investment Advisors..."
Investment Advisor.