Chartered Life Underwriter^®

The Chartered Life Underwriter® (CLU®) designation is a specialized certification for life insurance underwriting and planning offered by The American College of Financial Services. The CLU® certification gives financial professionals an in-depth understanding of life insurance products, underwriting, and solutions as a key part of a goal-based financial plan. This underwriting certification includes insights on life insurance for business continuity, employee benefits, and estate planning. It is similar in some respects to the Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow (LUTCF) designation; however, the CLU® designation offers a more focused course of study on the practical, legal, and ethical aspects of life insurance throughout clients’ lifecycles.

To become a successful life insurance underwriter through the CLU® designation program, you must complete the five-course program, including all associated classwork and a final exam for each course. These online courses make earning this financial planning certification easier to tailor to your busy schedule.

The Chartered Life Underwriter® (CLU®) designation can be completed in 15 months or less and is considered a specialized life insurance underwriting certification for professionals who want expertise in all aspects of life insurance planning. According to FUSE Research’s 2024 Designation Outcomes Study, advisors who earn the CLU® designation report 81% higher growth in client retention, 36% higher growth in earnings, and 41% higher growth in production over a three-year period than their peers with no designations.

The CLU® designation includes information on life insurance concepts and law within the context of overall risk management, necessary knowledge to help clients address their estate planning needs, and solutions that address the life insurance needs of business owners and professionals, such as key person and related employee benefits.

Specializing in life insurance and life insurance underwriting provides financial protection for your clients’ loved ones in the event of their death, incapacity, or other situations. It ensures that clients are not burdened with significant financial stress during already difficult times. Life insurance can help cover funeral costs, outstanding debts, and everyday living expenses, such as mortgage payments or education fees, allowing your clients’ families to maintain their quality of life. Additionally, it can provide long-term security by replacing lost income and ensuring that your clients and their dependents can continue to meet their financial goals and needs, even after they are gone.

As one of the oldest professional designations in financial services with a history dating back nearly 100 years, the Chartered Life Underwriter® (CLU®) designation is considered the industry’s gold standard life insurance underwriting certification and provides the necessary knowledge to convey all these points and more to your clients.

The Chartered Life Underwriter^® (CLU^®) has been the industry gold standard for almost 100 years. It has stood the test of time and will continue to do so by remaining dynamic and relevant to the financial challenges of today.

The reimagined CLU^® has been updated and enhanced in two ways.

Program requirements – As of April 4, 2022, the CLU^® moved from an 8-course program to a more streamlined 5-course program. This provides students with a renewed focus on the topics and concepts needed to effectively navigate today’s insurance landscape.

Personal Pathway^® curriculum revisions – Since we introduced the Personal Pathway^® delivery model in June of 2020, students have been requesting that the core CLU^® courses be redesigned as well. We are happy to announce that, as of July of 2022, students have been able to enroll in newly redesigned Personal Pathway^® versions of the core CLU courses!

The revised and updated curriculum blends very well with our other dedicated credentials in retirement, wealth management, special needs, philanthropy, and financial planning. In addition, CLU^® Alumni research confirms the quality of the CLU^® Program and credential have been favorably enhanced with a renewed focus on the relevance of life insurance.

CLU^® students will receive timely information, taught by top industry thought leaders that will be readily applicable to their clients. The reimagined CLU^® focuses on the strategic application of life insurance and other tools, as a unique risk management device, at every phase of financial planning.  From income protection to tax favored wealth accumulation to estate conservation, and other complex planning concepts in trust, the CLU^® curriculum is robust, thorough, and will prepare advisors for any challenge they meet in the field. 

Yes! If you have already earned the Retirement Income Certified Professional^® (RICP^®), Wealth Management Certified Professional^® (WMCP^®), or Chartered Special Needs Consultant^® (ChSNC^®) designations, you will receive credit for the elective in the reimagined CLU^®. Conversely, once you have earned your CLU^®, you will have two courses that can be applied to your ChFC^® or CFP^® Certification Education Program studies.

For those holding the CFP® certification, it’s easy to transfer your existing credit to our programs and enable an accelerated path to CLU®. By filling out our Transfer of Credit (TOC) form, students may complete the CLU® Program with only three courses: HS 323, HS 324, and HS 331. You can complete the TOC form in My Learning Hub.

While The College’s CLU®, ChFC®, and CFP® Certification Education Programs offer different educational outcomes and areas of specialization, shared courses make it easy to grow in expertise and work toward completing multiple programs at once. The three programs share several common core courses, and all electives available in the CLU® Program are also part of the CFP® Certification Education Program and ChFC® Program. By earning the CLU® designation, you are six courses away from earning your ChFC® and five courses away from completing the CFP® Certification Education Program. Use this comparison chart to learn more about how you can expand your opportunities most efficiently.