Loren Merkle

Loren Merkle is an award-winning financial planner and founder of Merkle Retirement Planning. He is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^TM, Certified Financial Fiduciary®, and holds life, health, and accident Iowa insurance licenses. Loren authored the book, Retire Your Way, which guides individuals on planning for retirement and hosts Retiring Today with Loren Merkle, which was awarded the Iowa Motion Picture Award. His expertise has been featured on major media networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC, and he is a renowned speaker on financial planning, retirement planning, leadership, and business growth.

Loren takes great pride in having helped hundreds of families plan for their future with over 24 years of experience in the financial industry. His competitive spirit has led him to receive multiple awards, including Best Financial Planner, Best Customer Service, 21 of 2021, and the Camille Wanna Award.

As a philanthropist, Loren and his company proudly support various charitable organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, The Food Bank of Iowa, Meals from the Heartland, Can Do Cancer, and the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation. As a single dad, he takes great pride in being a father to his daughter, Jayce. In his free time, he enjoys outdoor activities like boating, camping, hiking and believe it or not, was a competitive ax thrower. Loren is on a mission to help you build a retirement plan to enjoy your ideal lifestyle in retirement.

Designations Definitions

Certified Financial Planner™ or CFP®

The CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, CFP® and federally registered CFP (with flame design) marks (collectively, the “CFP® marks”) are professional certification marks granted in the United States by Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (“CFP Board”).

The CFP® certification is a voluntary certification; no federal or state law or regulation requires financial planners to hold CFP® certification. It is recognized in the United States and a number of other countries for its (1) high standard of professional education; (2) stringent code of conduct and standards of practice; and (3) ethical requirements that govern professional engagements with clients. Currently, more than 62,000 individuals have obtained CFP® certification in the United States.

To attain the right to use the CFP® marks, an individual must satisfactorily fulfill the following requirements:

Education – Complete an advanced college-level course of study addressing the financial planning subject areas that CFP Board’s studies have determined as necessary for the competent and professional delivery of financial planning services, and attain a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited United States college or university (or its equivalent from a foreign university). CFP Board’s financial planning subject areas include insurance planning and risk management, employee benefits planning, investment planning, income tax planning, retirement planning, and estate planning;
Examination – Pass the comprehensive CFP® Certification Examination. The examination, administered in 10 hours over a two-day period, includes case studies and client scenarios designed to test one’s ability to correctly diagnose financial planning issues and apply one’s knowledge of financial planning to real world circumstances;
Experience – Complete at least three years of full-time financial planning-related experience (or the equivalent, measured as 2,000 hours per year); and
Ethics – Agree to be bound by CFP Board’s Standards of Professional Conduct, a set of documents outlining the ethical and practice standards for CFP®

Certified Financial Fiduciary® (Certified Financial Fiduciary)

This designation is reserved for those professionals who have successfully completed a rigorous certification and training process established by NACertified Financial Fiduciary and The American Financial Education Alliance (AFEA) which include:

Exemplified the highest standards of morals, ethics, and fiduciary standards of service
Passed a certification exam with a score of 75% or better
Passed full background check and in good standing with regulatory license requirements
Business office was reviewed for best practices and compliance
Completed and submitted the signed Certified Financial Fiduciary Application for
Agreed to the National Association Certified Financial Fiduciary terms of awarding and maintaining certification
Agreed to abide by and uphold the Certified Financial Fiduciary Code of Conduct

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