I think they are good for people who inherit money. People who are intelligent enough to accumulate substantial sums can usually handle it themselves - websites like bogleheads are very helpful for some strategies like tax loss harvesting. I think the main role of advisers is to enrich themselves.

Hhi 325. Dh has MBA but works for non profit. We have 800 k under his management and usually be beats the mkt by a bit. If u invest in tax preferred and sounds like u do, and there is nothing extra...you don't need them. A good index fund will beat most most of the time. My whole market fund iOS the best of our funds. Domestic....trow price I think

I'm one of the PP's that said you can do it yourself. You can open two accounts per child one under your name and another under your husbands name. For us we live in Maryland and have two kids and put in10k per year which in our bracket gives us a 1k per year tax deduction.

PP: could you share some of your 529 tax strategies? It's awesome that you're so young and have amassed so you. I am envious.

I have one. We have about a 750,000 under his mgmt. We have another 500,000 under my mgmt. Some year he beats me. Some years I beat him.

But he's been very good at a few areas I don't know anything about, namely estate planning, 529 tax strategies ( we've devised some clever shit there), and things of the like. He's also made some valuable introductions to people, and has provided a lot of guidance related to alternative investments that have been quite useful.

I don't know for sure its not stuff I couldn't do on my own, but so far I've been pleased.

Our HHI is 200K, 32 yo.

We make around twice what you make and have no need for a financial advisor. Everything I've learned about retirement and managing expenses comes from here:
http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page

We are on pace for a nice retirement in 10 years or so

I don't think it's necessary, but if you want it for a second opinion on things like "should I buy a disability policy" or "how heavily should I fund a 529" that's fine as long as you are not paying lots of money for the advice. In general I don't think financial planners are worth what they cost, but that goes double if they are charging thousands of dollars.

Our HHI is in that range but we don't do private school and our mortgage is not too high, so we usually do have a sizeable amount to invest each year -- or at least it feels sizeable to me, usually $50-75K. Our planner has helped us be more aggressive than we would be on our own and so far it has paid off. He also helps evaluate things like 529s, how to allocate our 401Ks, insurance needs, can we afford to buy X, etc.

We do, and our income is in that range.

Sometimes it feels like a pain, but sometimes I appreciate that he can recommend things that we might have thought of or wouldn't know how to pursue. Do we need long-term care insurance, and if so, how much. Which 529 plan is best for us, and how to decide how much to save - enough to fully fund HYP or enough to pay for a good state school and assume that loans and other savings can cover the rest when the time comes. How much to put into retirement savings and how much into non-retirement investments. What is an annuity and would we want one. And in all these instances, what are the best companies or particular accounts to use.

He also is good at building the financial models to show us potential projections of total wealth at the time we retire based on given rates of return.

What you're doing is straightforward and will work just fine. DH and I like having a bit more fidelity in the analysis. Sure we could do it all ourselves, but for a few hundred bucks a year it's nice to have it done by a pro.

I am the OP here, I should add that we don't have significant money from before marriage to invest in anything. Whatever we have (after our expenses) goes into an index fund.

You are making all the right choices. Our household income is in the 200 to 250 range. If you want someone to suck your money hire a planner but you are obviously doing a great job on your own. Just remember the planner is out to earn as high as a commission as possible and don't buy into the ones that tell you that they only charge you a percent on your underlying assets so it is to their advantage to manage it as efficiently as possible. There are some people who are afraid to invest their oen assets or aren't smart enogh to do so. You are not one of these people.

We do because we have about $500,000 savings from before we had kids (and can no longer save so much) that is invested seperately from 401Ks.

We don't have any extra money to invest.

Just met with one last week. Our HHI is right within the range in your subject line. I think it will be helpful with making decisions about things like life insurance, planning for care for aging parents (this is a big one), and the right balance between paying off student loans and saving for retirement/college fund. Just nice to have an objective party involved, and I do expect our HHI to rise, so nice to develop a relationship with someone now in the early stages of estate planning...

We don't have a financial planner, with a combined household income of around $260K, and it doesn't really seem necessary... we both work and max out our 401(k) plans, invest any leftover significant savings in Index funds, have a low interest mortgage, and pay for private school (so we don't have a lot of cash lying around for investment like real estate). We contribute modestly each month to a 529 account. I don't feel like paying $$ for a planner. Am I missing out on some critical financial advice? Are there things I should be doing from a financial perspective that I can or cannot research myself? We don't have significant funds to invest funds, and so I'm wondering what advice they would be giving us...