Why did I drop the CDFA? /IDFA designation? My advice for others in considering pursing or keeping this designation.

This commentary is referring to the Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA) ? designation which is governed by the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts (IDFA).

When I obtained the CDFA? designation roughly 15 years ago, I thought it was an incredible concept to address the financial implications of divorce through a professional designation, sometimes you learn there is a disconnect between theory and application.

Over the years I have faithfully completed my requirements to keep the designation. I went physically to the conference every other year. It was the best way to stay up to date and gather the 15 credits of divorce specific Continuing Education (CE) I needed.

I have steadily watched a decline in the conferences the IDFA hosts. The conference I attended in Dallas in September 2023 was the last straw for me. The entire conference was a sales pitch for ancillary divorce related services. IDFA hasn’t created any materials or resources to support people with marketing the designations, instead they outsource that to people like Nancy Hetrick, who seems to run the IDFA conference now. If you want her secret sauce, you pay! I don’t blame her for providing a valuable service, but I do detest the IDFA pushing her services for the entirety of the conference. I wonder, do they get a kickback? If so, we all know that should be disclosed!

I attend many financially related conferences at least 4 times a year on a regular basis. In Dallas, IDFA implemented a “code for credit system”. To get CE credit, you had to obtain a code at the end of the session. Often the code providers would forget to give it, so you would be sitting in a conference room waiting for the code after the hour you were due to be there had expired. This left little time for the bathroom, water and breaks. I’ve never witnessed this at any other conference I have attended.

The other thing I just couldn’t stomach anymore was the IDFA’s outright push for more money in terms of CE credit. It used to be 30 credits over 2 years, of which 15 had to be divorce related content, 15 divorce and 15 financially related CE, attendance of the conference every 2 years would get you what you needed. Then they changed it to 30 CE of ONLY divorce related content. ?

As a holder of other financial designations, let me put that into context. For the CFA, there are no annual CE requirements, the CFP requires 30 general financial related CE credits of which, 2 of them must be ethics related. As an advisor in Maryland, I need 12 CE credits per year. Then I have annual firm and license CE requirements. That means I do a lot of CE every year, all of which is not applicable to the CDFA ? designation!

For many people that means annual attendance of the conference! Alternatively, finding high quality divorce related CE is not easy to find. There are some divorce specific online options you can pay for and then complete in your own time. I can only conclude this designation is no longer appropriate for financial professionals unless their sole business is related to a divorce offering. ?This article's heading excerpt is taken directly from their website, in which their guidance about the CE seems to be offering conflicting information, this is how hastily they implemented the change in divorce only CE guidance, but I can tell you one thing, they are policing the 30-divorce related CE vigorously.

After dropping the CDFA ? designation, I can say the one area the IDFA spends lot of time and money on is its vigilant pursuit of offenders who have dropped the designation and have referenced it in old content. I am not even sure technically how that works, given I was a CDFA ? and should have the ability to reference it over the time frame it was relevant to me. But one thing I can tell you, my guess is they are hoping they can force you to sign back up if they call out enough things you must remove. I have received two letters from Carol Lee Roberts in a matter of months (of not renewing the designation) policing my use of the designation and threatening legal action. One references a Hightower Bethesda Facebook (we have 12 followers) posting from 2021, it took me 20 minutes to find it myself. I wish that same vigor was applied to putting together a high-quality conference or managing the CDFA ? designation’s reputation, so more of the public knew what the designation means.

In conclusion, I would save your money and time and if you are an investment professional who does not plan on working 100% with divorce related clients, you should not pursue this designation. As you can see on multiple levels it’s not what you might aspire the designation to be in theory. I hope one day it can return to a high-quality designation, but sadly, the path it has chosen is not going to get it there.