CLU® Program Requirements

To earn the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®) designation, the following are required:

• Complete CLU® coursework within five years from the date of initial enrollment (or five years from the date of January 1, 2006, if previously enrolled in the CLU® program).
• Pass the exams for all required and elective courses. You must achieve a minimum score of 70% to pass.
• Meet the following experience requirements: three years of business experience immediately preceding the date of use of the designation are required. An undergraduate or graduate degree from an accredited educational institution qualifies as one year of business experience.
• Take the Professional Ethics Pledge.
• When you achieve your CLU® designation, you must earn your recertification every two years.

CLU® Exam Information

CLU® exams are administered electronically at national testing centers throughout the year by The American College via the Pearson VUE testing center network.

The exam consists of 100 objective questions based on the curriculum and is two hours in length. Typically, there are three types of questions included in the exam-straight-answer, multiple-option, and all-except questions.

Your results will be provided immediately upon exam completion.

CLU® Curriculum

You will need to pass eight examinations—one for each of the five required courses and three elective courses—to earn the CLU® designation: Click on each course name below to view the course description.

Required Courses

311: Fundamentals of Insurance Planning

Focuses on the role of planning for insurance needs. Covers basic concepts in risk management and insurance, insurance industry operations, legal principles pertaining to the industry, and regulation of insurers. Examines social insurance, life insurance and annuities, medical and disability income insurance, long-term care insurance, and personal property and liability insurance. Concludes with an overview of commercial property and liability insurance and a case study.

323: Individual Life Insurance

Focuses on life insurance policies and annuities available for personal needs of individuals, and their use in financial planning. Covers individual insurance products and insurance reserves regulation. Outlines insurance company organization, operations, and investments.

324: Life Insurance Law

Examines legal rights and obligations of the policy owner and the insurance company, the way disputes between insureds and insurers are resolved, and general principles of the judicial process. Covers legal aspects of life insurance, including basic principles of contract law; policy provisions and the incontestable clause; assignments, ownership rights, and creditor rights; beneficiary designations and disposition of proceeds; the law of agency; and advertising and privacy issues.

330: Fundamentals of Estate Planning

Covers various aspects of estate and gift tax planning, including the nature, valuation, transfer, administration, and taxation of property. Provides a basic understanding of the estate and gift tax system, including strategies of estate planning. Discusses gratuitous transfers of property outright or with trusts, wills, and powers of appointment; use of the marital deduction; valuation of assets; and buy-sell agreements. Covers the client interview, fact-finding, ethical standards, and development of personal estate plans.

331: Planning for Business Owners and Professionals

Focuses on tax and legal aspects of organizing a business; compensation planning for the business owner; business succession planning; buy-sell agreements; estate planning and estate freezing techniques; methods for transferring a family business; lifetime disposition of a business interest-taxable and tax-free dispositions and the use of the installment sale and other methods; business uses of life and disability insurance for the benefit of business owners; disability buy-sell agreements; risk management for a closely held business; and the special problems of professional corporations.

Elective Courses (Three are required)

300: Financial Planning: Process and Environment

Provides an overview of the financial planning process, including communication techniques, ethics, risk tolerance, time-value-of-money concepts, financial planning applications, regulatory issues, and the legal and economic environment for financial planning. Offers an understanding of the role and responsibilities of a financial planner along with some analytical skills to aid in financial decision-making.

321: Income Taxation

Examines the federal income tax system with particular reference to the taxation of individuals. Covers such items as items of gross income, exclusions from gross income, deductions, tax credits, capital gains and losses, taxation of life insurance and annuities, income taxation of partners, partnerships, corporations, and shareholders.

326: Planning for Retirement Needs

Focuses on retirement planning for the business, the business owner, and the individual. Covers qualified plans, nonqualified plans, and IRAs and deals with retirement needs for individual clients. Emphasizes the practical knowledge needed for choosing the best retirement plan and designing a plan that will meet a client's needs. Discusses personal retirement planning and retirement distribution planning.

328: Investments

Covers various aspects of the principles of investments and their application to financial planning. Discusses risk analysis and risk and return computations. Looks at stocks, bonds, investment companies, options, and futures contracts. Includes an extended discussion of tax issues in investing, as well as of issues in the practice of portfolio management, including strategic and tactical asset allocation. Provides many examples of ethical and practical issues in managing a client's portfolio.

334: Estate Planning Applications

Covers estate and gift tax principles with emphasis on life insurance planning applications. Discusses forecasting the gross estate, life insurance trusts, valuation principles, the use of charitable contributions as an estate planning technique, planning opportunities stemming from the marital relationship, the taxation of trusts, implications of employee benefits, and estate freezes. Includes a case study reflecting procedural aspects of estate planning.

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