I don't know. :) The guy I am meeting with today is actually 'free'. I am self-employed and I have an account with Fidelity. Once you get above a certain balance you get 'free' financial planning services. Essentially I meet with him every couple of years to review my investment selections as well as do the projection of whether my total savings meet my projected expenses in retirement. There are thousands of online tools that will pretty much do the same thing so I don't see a ton of value in that part of it. The value I see is for him to look over my portfolio and 'shoot the dogs' since he has far more knowledge about that stuff than I do.

The interesting (perhaps not to you) twist is that I have a split account with Fidelity. I manage exactly 50% and I pay them 1% to manage the other 50%. I have been doing this for the 8 years I have been self-employed and I am actually beating their Boston geniuses by roughly the 1% that I pay them. So clearly that part is NOT worth it but the guy that manages that half of my portfolio calls me for an hour every 6 months and gives me general advice about the markets. It also gives me a sense of security because they move things in and out of investments proactively so I am hoping the next recession won't hurt me as badly.

What I have NOT done ... and I plan to do this ... is meet with an independent financial planner to look at EVERYTHING I am doing. I am pretty much set on my kids' education but I need to have someone help me out with tax implications of a lot of my investments. I also want someone to review my life insurance policies and provide some guidance on when I should let those lapse based on my retirement balance, age, etc. When should I start buying long-term care insurance? Should I take Social Security as soon as I can because it might go away (or be reduced) based on sampling or should I wait until I am 70? Does an annuity for part of my income make any sense at all?

So there is your long, crappy answer. I definitely want to talk to somebody about the overall plan and kind of review where I am with about 8-9 years to go before retirement. I just need to find somebody that I think knows what the hell they are talking about and won't try to steer me into investments.