<prompt> Human: UPDATE Thank you so much to everyone who reached about the question!In the future to TL;DR this thread, the answer to finding a Financial Advisor that is a CFP without having a friendfamily member recommend someone directly...is to go the the CFP board website to narrow down the search in your area. You can also look up fee only CFPs on the Garrett Planning network, but keep in mind those advisors pay to be on the Garrett List. Alternatively you could potentially go to your bank or credit union and ask for one. You can also ask here, you will get names PMed to you make sure you do your own due diligence on anyone you will work with. You might also be able to go thru Vanguard online only or Fidelity has physical offices. If in the UK you can try unbiased.co.ukThank you to those who gave recommendations on what to do with the money, although this was not the point of the thread. I had already known that if I take money out of the IRA it will be taxed heavily for me 28, I didnt realize there may be an additional early withdrawal penalty of 10 as well. So for those who say its a wash, just pay off your student loans, that advice DOES NOT APPLY IN MY CASE and to those of you who are sending me concerned messages I WILL NOT BE PAYING OFF MY STUDENT LOANS WITH THIS MONEY. There is no way I would lose 40 of the money to pay off a 6.55 interest loan. My moms retirement funds will go to boost my own retirement funds, and allow me to not worry about my own retirement except for my employer match for a few years until Ive paid off my student loans on my own. People kept asking me my basic numbers which is why I posted them, I think that by posting those it lead the thread away from how do I find a CFP? towards do XYZ with your funds. That was my fault, Im going to edit that portion of the original thread. original post My mother recently passed away unexpectedly leaving me with a moderate amount of retirement funds 300k to be split evenly with my sibling. They are currently in a mix of an annuity, stocks, and an IRA. She already has a financial advisor with Edward Jones, who charges 1.35. Hes ok, but I would like to weigh my options. The thing is I have no idea how to find a different one. Every reddit post just says you dont need a financial advisor unless XYZ, well now that I do fit into the XYZ criteria and actually need one, I dont know how to find one. I think i am looking for one that charges fee based rates rather than percentage rates. Who can aggressively grow my retirement funds, is a CFP, and ideally wont charge fees on some funds that were grandfathered in she already paid commission on some mutual funds 50k worth and Edward Jones will not charge commission if I leave the mutual funds alone or move them around in the same fund family. I asked if other advisors would do the same IE is that the law or an incentive to stay with EJ? and he did not give a clear answer. I know I can ask friends and family but that has only generated one lead so far.  <response>: Depending on how taxes would work on this money in your jurisdiction, I would cash out and pay back as much debt as possible. Holy shit 156k in student loans ! Averaging 6.55 returns is doable if you invest it, but its going to be sooo close, that I personnaly would just put as much as possible towards getting rid of this huge debt.Dont know if your house is paid or if you have a mortgage, but depenging on your APR you might want to get going on that as well. 