<prompt> Human: This is my first post on rpersonalfinance but I am an avid consumer of the great content and advice produced daily. I would consider myself somewhat intelligent when it comes to finances and basic investment strategies but this one is over my head and I am not sure if this is good advice or not.Bachground: I have a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA with Edward Jones, each worth about 4500. About 2 years ago I met my current financial adviser who I have used to only buy term life insurance from for my wife and myself.I decided I wanted to doing something with the IRAs because they were just sitting there barely making anything and I have a 1 year old son that I would like to help pay for college down the road.I contacted my financial adviser asking if 1st. if I could and 2nd. would it be smart to roll those IRAs into some 529 plan. Instead, he recommended that I: Cash out the traditional IRA paying the penalty Combine the cashed out IRA with the Roth IRA into a Variable Annuity Roth IRA invest 5,400 within the first contract year bringing the balance to 10,000 so that it can remain a front-end design for the VAsI know this isnt a lot of money but I am 28 years old and know that the decisions I make now will have a major impact on my familys life down the road. Questions I have are:1. Is this a smart decision?2. What is your take on this financial adviser? Should I look for someone else or stay the course with him?3. What recommendation would you suggest I do with these IRAs?In case I did not cover enough detail, I have added the final papers provided to me that I am to review and sign. They can be accessed hereUpdate:Received this response from the adviser:No. Were doing a rollover of your Traditional IRA into a Traditional IRA no penalty when we do that. Not a cash out. At the same time were doing a rollover of your ROTH IRA. Once the Traditional is set up with us, well do a 1 time ROTH conversion, moving your Traditional IRA into your ROTH. That portion Traditional will be taxed for this year as income. The letter of intent is just telling them of your intent to get the funds up to 10,000 by the end of the 1st year. If you want to talk more about it and have more questions feel free to call.Assistant: Is this a smart decision?No.What is your take on this financial adviser? Should I look for someone else or stay the course with him?You dont need a financial advisor at all.What recommendation would you suggest I do with these IRAs?Roll them to an IRA with a low cost provider with Vanguard, Fidelity, or Schwab.Please read the information found in the FAQ particularly I Have X ... What Do I Do With It?! You may find Your IRA and You: Basic Information and Your 401k and You: Basic Information worth a read as well.The less involvement you and everyone else reading this has with Edward Jones, Northwest Mutual, or any of the other scammy sales companies, the richer youll be in the end.Human: Why?Assistant: NWM are thieves. Why pay 2 for an IRA when you can pay 0.2 at Vanguard.See my experience for some detailsYou gain nothing at NWM to justify the fees they chargeHuman: It also looks like I would pay a 4.5 for any purchase under 100k right? Is that common?  <response>: It was common in the 70s-90s, but no longer, you should not pay ANY commissions to invest in a mutual fund or ETF. 