The advisors I have had to pleasure to talk to have nothing but garbage to say.  They say it beautifully but ask them a real question and you will notice you will never get an answer.  They are like used car salesmen except you are handing over your life's savings for a long time.  This is so important there should be some kind of registry where advisors must register the contents of the portfolio's (minus personal info) they manage and all the costs, gains and losses (present and past).  A person could then make a decision not based on how good they sound (about a topic the consumer knows little about) but about how well they have managed assets their entire career.  Love to see this for authors of financial articles too.