Earn the Small Business Wealth Advisor Designation
Become the Advisor Business Owners Actually Need
Deliver sophisticated, full-lifecycle financial planning for high-net-worth founders — not just exit strategies.
The Opportunity
Business owners control America’s wealth — yet fewer than 5% of advisors can serve them properly
34.8 million
Number of small business owners in the U.S.
$15 trillion
Amount of small business wealth to be transferred
49%
Percentage of business owners plan to exit within 5 years
Fewer than 5%
Percentage of advisors with training beyond exit planning
Why This Matters
Most programs teach only one sliver of the journey: the sale. Real value — and real wealth — happens long before and long after an exit. Founders need advisors who understand cash flow struggles, reinvestment decisions, growth inflection points, key risks, valuation drivers, succession complexities, and multi-generational wealth. The gap is massive. The demand is accelerating. The window is now.
With the Small Business Wealth Advisor Designation Program, you’ll gain the advanced, integrated expertise to create meaningful impact from a business’s earliest stages through its long-term growth and eventual succession.
SBWA
About the Program
What Makes this Program Different
Only Designation Covering the Entire Business Owner Lifecycle
Go far beyond exit planning. Gain expertise in the real drivers of entrepreneurial wealth across every stage.
University-Accredited Credibility
Backed by Wake Forest University, giving you elite-level validation and trust with sophisticated founders.
Revenue-Ready Tools and Planning Resources
Immediate application. Real frameworks. Real client impact — starting with your next meeting.
Business + Personal Wealth Integration
Understand both sides of a founder’s balance sheet with a unified framework no generalist advisor can match.
Prerequisites
Professional standing
Active financial services practitioner in advice, planning, investment management, insurance, accounting, or related discipline.
Prerequisite credential or license
None
Experience
Minimum 1 year of professional financial services experience within the last 7 years.
Curriculum
8 Modules | 40 Hours
Program overview, expectations, and setting your strategy for serving business-owner clients.
Dive into the psychological traits of entrepreneurs, their motivations and barriers — and how to position yourself as their strategic partner.
Financial statement analysis, cash flow management, tax optimization, and financial dynamics across entity types.
Valuation drivers, growth strategy, operational systems & process, customer experience & retention, strategic analysis and planning every advisor must understand.
Risk event identification and assessment, insurance protection strategies, asset protection planning, business continuity, and specialized risk considerations.
Wealth diversification, advanced retirement planning, estate and legacy planning, advisory boards, post-exit financial transitions and wealth management.
Liquidity paths, valuation mechanics, tax implications, succession options, and preparing for transitions.
Build your business-owner advisory playbook with client engagement, pricing, and marketing strategies, and apply the frameworks to real-world client scenarios.
Designation Requirements
Coursework
Complete all 8 modules (~40 hours) of the SBWA curriculum, spanning startup through growth, risk, wealth, and exit.
Module assessments
Achieve a passing score of at least 70% for each module assessment, with unlimited attempts.
Comprehensive assessment
Pass the cumulative SBWA assessment with at least a 70% score.
Ethics & disclosure
Complete the end-of-course ethics attestation and disclosure audit.
Award
- CeriFi confers the SBWA designation, issues the Wake Forest University certificate.
- Coming Soon: CeriFi issues a digital badge and lists the holder on the public SBWA registry.
Continuing Education
Cycle
The SBWA designation is valid for a 2-year period; renew by the anniversary date.
Mandatory renewal
Through attestation:
- Re-affirm status as an active financial services practitioner in advice, planning, investment management, insurance, accounting, or a related discipline
- Re-affirm the SBWA Code of Ethics, Fitness & Conduct Disclosure.
Continuing education: voluntary
- 20 hours of relevant CE per cycle is recommended to stay current but is not a precondition for renewal.
- CE interoperability: CFP® CE, CPA / tax CPE, IAR CE, legal CLE, and insurance CE accepted in full or in part where content maps to SBWA domains.
Good standing
- Marks may be used only while current. Lapse escalates to suspension and, ultimately, revocation.
Use of Marks
Advisors who satisfy all requirements earn the right to use the SBWA marks after their name — e.g., “Jordan Rivera, CFP®, SBWA.” The marks are owned and licensed by CeriFi and may be used only by advisors in good standing.
Individuals who have been authorized to use the Small Business Wealth Advisor designation are subject to CeriFi’s disciplinary process. Complaints against a designee may be filed by anyone with a formal business relationship such as a peer, supervisor, or client.
Any complaints filed will go through an internal review process. CeriFi maintains a list of Small Business Wealth Advisor professionals in good standing.
Please use the following form to submit your complaint.
https://dalton-education.com/dalton-support
CeriFi reserves the right to periodically update the complaint procedures, and it is the individual’s responsibility to make sure they are following the most recent version
Preview the Program
Request Free Trial
Want to experience the program before enrolling? We’ll send you complementary access to one full module.
What You’ll Be Capable Of After Earning The Designation
Confidently advise founders at every stage of their journey
Diagnose the unique challenges shaping business owner wealth
Build enterprise-value-driving plans
Lead conversations generalist advisors can’t
Deliver integrated business and personal planning
Position yourself as a strategic partner — not a vendor
Expand your revenue potential and AUM opportunity
Display the SBWA designation to signal specialized expertise to clients and referral sources
FAQ’s
Most programs focus solely on preparing clients to sell their companies. SBWA is the only designation that trains advisors across the full business lifecycle, covering decades of planning leading up to and following a liquidity event—not just the transaction itself.
Professional standing: Active financial services practitioner in advice, planning, investment management, insurance, accounting, or a related discipline.
Prerequisite credential or license: None
Experience: Minimum 1 year of professional financial services experience within the last 7 years.
This program takes approximately 40 hours to complete. We recommend 6-8 hours of dedicated study weekly. The program is fully asynchronous, allowing advisors to learn on their own schedule.
Yes, it includes a variety of planning resources such as worksheets, calculators, checklists and more that advisors can use to guide conversations with clients.
There are 6 module exams and then one final comprehensive exam and learners must score a 70% or higher on all to pass.
Yes, students who successfully complete the SBWA program will be mailed a certificate of completion from Wake Forest University.
Yes, the SBWA program fulfills the 28-hour requirement for CFP CE. We are in the process of obtaining accreditation from NASBA for CPE credit.
Not at all, SBWA is built for any financial professional serving business owners—including CPAs, EAs, and tax advisors who want to move deeper into strategic planning and client advisory services.
Group and enterprise pricing options are available, and we can help align SBWA with your team’s growth strategy. Contact us for firm-level packages.
Please reach out to a Dalton advisor here and we’re happy to answer any questions.
Advisors who satisfy all requirements earn the right to use the SBWA marks after their name — e.g., “Jordan Rivera, CFP®, SBWA.” The marks are owned and licensed by CeriFi and may be used only by advisors in good standing.
Meet the Experts
CPA, CFP, CFA
James Dalton
James Dalton is the Chief Academic Officer at CeriFi. He previously served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and George Mason University, and held senior roles at Kaplan Professional, Assessment Technologies Institute, and KPMG. He holds an MBA from Loyola University New Orleans, a Master of Accounting in Taxation from the University of New Orleans, and a BS in accounting from Florida State University.
Mr. Dalton is a widely published author in the financial planning field, co-authoring or contributing to several textbooks including Fundamentals of Financial Planning, Retirement Planning, and Estate Planning. He has also authored study materials for the CFP® exam and the CFA® exam, and served on the CFP Board of Standards’ Comprehensive CFP® Exam Pass Score Committee.
Financial Advisor
Smaiyra Million
Smaiyra Million serves as an industry fellow at Babson College Executive Education and is the former Executive Director of the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, where she leads efforts to cultivate the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Prior to her tenure in academia, she spent thirty years operating luxury hotels, spas and health clubs—most notably as CEO of Millennium Partners Sports Club Management LLC—and has been recognized among Massachusetts’s top women-led businesses and inducted into the YWCA’s Academy of Women Achievers.
MBA, CPA, CFP®
Joe Gillice
Mr. Gillice is a co-founder of Dalton Education, LLC. and currently Chief Operating Officer of CeriFi. Previously, Mr. Gillice was Director of University Programs for BISYS Education Services, where he implemented and managed financial planning programs at Georgetown University, Duke University and many others. Mr. Gillice is a former adjunct faculty member at Georgetown, Northwestern and Duke Universities where he taught financial planning, insurance and investment planning. He is the author of Financial Calculator Essentials, co-author of Fundamentals of Financial Planning, The Dalton Review Pre-Study Materials in Investment Planning and Fundamentals of Insurance Planning. Mr. Gillice has a Master of Business Administration from Georgia State University and a finance degree from Florida State University.
Financial Advisor
Richie Owens
Richie Owens, CFA, obtained his Masters degree in Economics from Edinburgh University in 1994 before qualifying as a chartered accountant in the UK in 1998. He spent several years at KPMG in risk and assurance and corporate finance, before taking what was meant to be a brief detour into financial education to sharpen his technical and presentation skills. He never quite made it back.
In 2008 he earned his CFA® charter and moved into CFA® financial education, a path he has now followed for nearly two decades. Since then, Richie has delivered live review classes in London, across Europe, in New York, and throughout the United States.
He is currently based in New Jersey, where he creates instructional videos, writes exam prep material, and supports students throughout their exam preparation.
J.D., LL.M.
Mike Giangrande
Mike Giangrande is a California licensed attorney and has been a tax practitioner for over 25 years. He is licensed to practice before the United States Tax Court, has a B.S. in Accounting and an LL.M. (Tax) from Chapman University, and has a J.D. from Whittier Law School with a certificate of concentration in business law. Mike has spent time as an adjunct professor of law and he served as a member of the Orange County Assessment Appeals Board.
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