Ken, as you might recall, besides criminal prosecution my areas are estate planning, investments and taxation, including doing pro bono advice on other forums under a different name. Unless your situation is unusually complex, it's unlikely that a "financial advisor" has to be hired. There's nobody who's going to take care of you financially with the care that you will use yourself, after educating yourself a bit. If an advisor is used, he should be paid on an hourly fee basis($100 up)rather than collecting commissions on investment products which he sells, raising the possibility that the size of the commission would affect his recommendations.
I have no problem with discussing this in general on the board, which may possibly also help others, or in a PM if there're some specific personal matters which aren't appropriate for open discussion.
