Does a commission based financial advisor ever make sense?

[Anonymous]

No, it involves an obvious and unavoidable conflict of interest. The advisor is incentivized to earn commissions, and consequently will recommend products which generate commissions even if alternatives exist which would be better for the client, even if not for the advisor. Commission payments to the advisor are independent of how well the client does - the advisor will make money whether the client makes or loses money - the only consideration is transactions which generate commissions, not whether those transactions end up being profitable for the client or not. The advisor makes money either way.

[Anonymous]

The only way it is “worth it” is if the alternative is to not invest at all and either spend the money or let it sit in a traditional savings account.

If you can check your email and pay bills online, you can open a Vanguard account, buy some Commission-free, .04% expense ratio VTSAX, and chill. Will you optimize for all scenarios? Probably not. But you also won’t pay tens of thousands for the privilege to lose money in a down year.