<prompt> Human: I went to a Financial Planner yesterday and honestly he really sketched me out. Maybe I had the wrong expectations, but Id love to know if these are red flags or not :1. He talked for an HOUR AND A HALF non-stop about how awesome he was, all the money he makes people, yadda yadda. I couldnt get a word in. Really felt like a hard sell. Something about the fact that he felt the deep need to impress me like this felt like it was a scam.2. He seems to think he can beat the market or at least time the market. He just kept talking about how hes really good at investing money. Ive always thought that rule is that nobody can beat the market and youre always better putting your money in no fee index funds. Isnt that correct? I wanted a financial planner not a stock broker.3. He wanted to invest my money through a company that he works for. Like I brought up Vanguard and he said that he would much rather use the company that he has ties to called IAA. Again, I wanted a neutral party not someone who was tied to a brokerage company.4. He also wanted me to do an annual plan with him where Id go to see him quarterly and he wanted to control my investments. 5. His suit fit incredibly badly. I know this is superficial, but he had a sad salesman kind of vibe. His jacket sleeves were like 3 inches too short no joke.6. He actually worked ON Wall St. in an incredibly weird building with like 100 offices where there were clearly one on one meetings like mine happening all over. Felt kinda like these guys were renting there so they could have the prestige of a Wall St. office. The whole thing had a sketchy vibe.In the end I was able to convince him that all I wanted was ADVICE this is after 2 hours. That I needed to know how to diversify my investments into index funds, that I needed to know how much of my student loans to pay off, and how to do my taxes in a better way. He agreed to help me with this stuff for 650... seems really steep, but this is NYC and it seems close to what another FP quoted me.Anyway, this guy came highly recommended, but it just feels wrong. Should I cancel our appointment tomorrow or am I being paranoid?My actual situation is this : Ive got about 100,000 saved up that I need to do something with besides let rot in a bank account. Im a freelancer so I dont have a 401K. I also dont want to put my money into an investment that I cant take out until retirement. I have grandiose plans of being an artist and I may want to live off this money for a while do something entrepreneurial with it. Im looking for something thats a safe investment over 5 years. I also have 50k in Student Loans with interest rates ranging from 2 - 5.EDIT : Ok, I just called the guy and broke up with him. It really felt like a break-up, too, although he took it very well. I felt really guilty wasting this guys time yesterday I used to be in sales and know how brutal that life can be, but you all gave me the courage to pull the plug before it was too late. I found a fee-only FP who was very highly recommended by another friend of mine and he seems about 1000x less sketchy. One thing Ill say is that everybody seems obsessed with me setting up an IRA, but Im really stressed about locking my money up until Im an old fart. I totally 100 understand that the tax discount makes an IRA a huge win for making money. I get that, but I really think Im going to want to use my savings way before Im 60 years old. Is there ANY reason to set-up an IRA if you plan on using your money before your 60?Assistant: Youre wasting your time, and if you go with this clown youll be wasting your money as well. Your situation doesnt seem very complicated - take a few hours and learn how to manage your money yourself.Please read the information found in the FAQ particularly I Have X ... What Do I Do With It?! and the Long-Term Investing Start-Up Kit You may find Your 401k and You: Basic Information and Your IRA and You: Basic Information worth a read as well.Human: Ill be honest. I feel like I have a great sense of the fundamentals, but picking funds and diversification ratios is really scary to me and a lot more complicated than I think people make it out to be. Im gonna can this guy I saw yesterday cause he seems sleazy, but Id still feel a lot more comfortable if I had someone I could talk it out with in person and occasionally email if something comes up. Its worth the fee to me to have a piece of mind and not be on an island.  <response>: Then just use a Vanguard target retirement account or a really diversified, low fee fund like FFNOX 