[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

While it may be a good idea to hire a "financial advisor" if you need assistance with your money, not all of them are the same. Anyone can call themselves a financial advisor, but many are actually a life insurance salesperson or stock broker in disguise. For example, I have known many people who have been advised by a life insurance salesperson to transfer all of their money into an annuity, which yields a huge commission for the "advisor", and is usually a bad investment. They didn't even realize that the annuity product they purchased was a life insurance product because the advisor told them that it was a retirement investment, and never used the word annuity or insurance. If you hire a financial advisor, you should get a signed statement from him/her that they are acting as a "fiduciary" for you. This will provide some legal protection, but you should also ask a lot of questions and get more than one opinion. You should also ask the advisor how they make money, by commission or by charging you a fee for their time.

Very true. Have to ask how they make money, best to go to someone who charges a fee for giving advise.