When it comes to money and investing, my belief is that you should handle your own transactions and educate yourself as to where to invest and how to invest. Hiring a financial advisor should be the last option, unless you know them very well and can trust them with your money.

I’ve always been told that many stock brokers and advisors are in the game of making money - for themselves. No offense to those of you who are in this industry ;) They’ll recommend investments because there are higher commissions associated with them.

The Skilled Investor Blog has a great article that provides the pros and cons of working with financial advisors. Also, Free Money Finance has some great advice:

“...you should never, ever, ever trust your money and financial decisions to any sort of "financial advisor" that you haven't checked out, called his/her references (preferably from people you know), and interviewed as if your life depended on making the right choice.”