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The rule

If you cannot verify a license, do not do business

Free, official tools only
Licensing

Our licenses, and how to verify anyone

Where we are licensed, and how to verify a financial advisor's license yourself using free, official tools. The rule is simple: if you cannot verify someone's license, do not do business with them.

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How do you verify a financial advisor's license?

You can verify any financial advisor's insurance license yourself, free, in four steps:

  1. Ask the advisor for their full name and National Producer Number (NPN).
  2. Look the NPN up at the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) to confirm the license is active.
  3. Confirm the status and any disciplinary history with your state department of insurance, via the NAIC state directory.
  4. For a Federal Retirement Consultant, also confirm the FRC℠ designation by name; it is listed with FINRA's Professional Designations database.

Each step is walked through in detail below, with links to the official lookups.

Verify it yourself

How to check any license or advisor, in four steps

You never have to take a credential on faith. Verifying a financial advisor's license is the same process a careful buyer uses, with free, official tools.

  1. 1

    Get the advisor's name and NPN

    To verify financial advisor license claims, start with the advisor's full name and National Producer Number. The NPN is a unique ID assigned to every licensed insurance producer in the country. A professional will give it to you without hesitation.

  2. 2

    Look them up nationally with NIPR

    The National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) is the official body that manages producer licensing across states. Its records show whether a license is active and where the producer is licensed.

  3. 3

    Confirm with the state department of insurance

    Every state has a department of insurance with a public license lookup. Use the NAIC directory to find yours, then confirm the license number, status, and any disciplinary history in the state you live in.

  4. 4

    Confirm the FRC designation

    Every Federal Retirement Consultant can be confirmed by name, with a designation status you can check before you ever share a phone number. The designation is listed with FINRA's Professional Designations database.

Official verification tools

The public lookups we point you to

These are the real, government and regulator-run resources. No login, no fee.

NAIC

State insurance department directory. Find and contact your state's official regulator.

Open the lookup

NIPR

National Insurance Producer Registry. The official system of record for producer licensing.

Open the lookup

Your state DOI

Every state runs a free public license lookup. The NAIC directory above links you to the right one.

Open the lookup
The consultant network

How the FRC℠ network is licensed

The Federation of Federal Employee Benefit Advocates LLC (FFEBA) is the education and certification organization behind the FRC℠ designation. The Federal Retirement Consultants in the network are independent, licensed financial professionals. Insurance and securities work is regulated state by state, so each consultant in the network holds and maintains their own state licenses. FFEBA itself is a certification body, not a licensee, and holds no insurance or securities licenses. The consultant's own license is what you verify before you work with anyone.

To check the consultant you are talking to, use the official lookups above: confirm their NPN with NIPR, their state license with your state department of insurance, and the FRC℠ designation itself by name in the verification tool.

Plain English

What do an NPN and a state license actually mean?

Two terms that do most of the work when you check a financial advisor's credentials.

NPN
A National Producer Number is a unique ID for a licensed insurance producer, assigned through the national registry. It is how you look one specific person up, no matter which state issued their license. Think of it as the producer's permanent file number.
State license
Insurance producers are licensed by each state, not nationally. A state license is legal permission to sell or advise on insurance in that state. An advisor helping you must hold an active license in your state, which is what the state department of insurance lookup confirms.

Every FRC is also verifiable by name in the Find an FRC verification tool, and our how financial advisors get paid page discloses the FRC compensation model in plain language. Not being able to verify a license is a core reason a review before you decide matters.