<prompt> Human: I am a 27 year old who has some extra cash each month to invest in. A trusted friend who also happens to be a financial advisor advised me to go with an advising firm that he knows and trusts. I spoke with them and they seem like a very decent company to do business with. They would get paid by commissions for my investments into a brokerage company ie Fidelity. The thing is, I already was given two ETFs to invest in by another friend in the financial advisory business. He told me the ratios and everything. given that ETFs and Mutual funds are not demanding for the average investor, is it really beneficial to go with such a firm? By the way the amount of money I am investing is in the single thousands- nothing huge.  <response>: No. Financial Advisers are for the lazy or for the people stuck in those traditional ways when companies like Vanguard werent on the internet. Its really easy to get a nice portfolio going for yourself. 