By the time you understand enough about your finances to properly research/vet a potential financial advisor, you'll know enough to do it yourself. You're already off to a good start maxing your IRA and 401K. I recommend getting a couple of good personal finance books and spending some time at bogleheads.org - the advice you'll get there is worth its weight in gold.

The late 90s and early 2000s had nothing to do with having an advisor or not. That was peak dot com bubble burst. If you think now is bad, this doesn't compare to that.

What are you wanting a financial advisor to do for you. You should probably be doing more than trying to max out 401k and IRA. On top of that you can just invest the same way but in a taxable account. Excess savings without a clear objective in T bills/CDs/HYSA isn't smart in the long run. Define your purpose and invest that way. Mindlessly throwing money in savings isn't smart.

You may be a good candidate for one of the robo advisor services (wealthfront, betterment) or if you occasionally need a person try out vanguard personal advisory service. The fees are relatively low and gets your excess cash into the market.

I think most of your friends on here and the bogleheads reddit , which are both full of great information would recommend you do it yourself, but I figure if you were predisposed to reading up on modern portfolio theory you woulc have done it already.

agree. I started off with Betterment and when I grew to a significant balance I "graduated" to Vanguard just as you describe. Vanguard advisor will give advice as a fiduciary even for non-Vanguard accounts. I was surprised when he agreed with my decision to save in a deferred compensation account that resulted in less investment in Vanguard.

Do. All. Of. This.

Second this. While you have solid income and some assets, an advisor really won’t offer a ton at this stage for what it’ll cost. Do some homework, stick to low expense ratio index funds, and keep up the good work.

Advisors can become more helpful when you have kids or are planning for retirement. Then they’ll model out scenarios, show likelihood of success, etc.

When you say max out retirement accounts, you do know just putting the money in isn't enough and you have to invest it, right? So many people make that mistake that it's worth checking.

The wiki here has a flowchart that is really good. Your situation doesn't need a financial advisor. Just follow the flowchart. Keep enough liquid savings to cover your needs based on how likely you are to lose your job and invest the rest.

Here's a link to the PF Wiki for helpful guides and information.

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Just keep investing in your SP500 index funds. Just set it and forget it even during market corrections until you retire. Just continue to DCA,, keep it simple and stress free. No need to involve an advisor for that. Consult one just before you retire.

T bills/CDs/HYSA are the perfect vehicle for sub 5 year time horizons. I just wanted to make sure you weren't putting money in those things without an objective. Otherwise, the only cash on hand should be immediate bills and 3-6 months emergency fund. Totally fine to have those plus a house saving fund.

How did the financial advisor lose your parents money?

He seriously underperformed the market as a whole.

curious what you do if you’re open to sharing.

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ah gotcha! i hope that you’re investing a lot of it than and have a plan to get out so you can enjoy life!

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If you want a one time consult, talk to a fee only financial advisor that is a fiduciary - I would bet my bank account that your parents weren't talking to one of those and they were talking to a salesman who convinced them to put everything in tech stocks right before the dot com bubble burst.