Today there are more people than ever in the business of giving investment advice.  Brokers, bankers, insurance agents, accountants, registered investment advisors and so called financial planners are eager to sell you investments.  Unfortunately, since most of these people are paid by sales commissions up-front and ongoing fees as long as you hold on to the investment they are much more interested in selling new investments than managing their recommendations after the sale.  In many cases their stardard advice to simply hold on for the long term can be very expensive.  

Before trusting anyone with your money you should learn about their actual experience and find out how they plan to work for you after your initial investment.  You should also know exactly how much they will be paid both up front and ongoing and if they have any bias to recommend specific investments because they pay higher commissions.  Any advisor should give you answers to these questions in writing.

Jim Bunker