I believe my situation is a bit complex, and without professional assistance, I'll probably never get around to making the most of my money.

Anyone have tips on what I need to look for and ask when seeking out a Financial Planner? Also, what kinds of rates and fees would be reasonable?

Here is a few...

What are the planner's qualifications?
How will the planner's determine my financial goals/needs?
How is the planner compensated (fees or commission)?
Possess Series 6 and Series 66 licenses?
How are disputes resolved?

Something else to think about: what is it exactly that you want them to do? Do you want someone to help you build a plan, and then you execute it with self-directed investment accounts, or do you want an active money manager to run your investments for you?

BE careful of the big companies like American Express. Last year I was offered a job to become a Financial Planner at AMEX.

I turned it down as their training involves turning their FPs into essentially salesman for their high commission based insurance products.

I could not consciously tell my friends I had their best interest in mind when my employer was pushing me to sell their products and I could not recommend independent investments I might have believed in like recommending Dell Computer or some other blue chip.

First max-out your IRA and 401K via broker via good mutual fund. Then if you have excess funds to invest...screw the brokers and go get stock directly from the companies via Dividend Reinvestment Programs also known as DRiPs.

This involves buying common stock directly from the company at little or no commission rate. Not all companies offer DRiPs, but many do, such as HD, XOM, MCD, KO, PEP, JCI, JNJ, BAC, BDK, HD, GE, etc. It is worthwhile to learn about it...do an Internet search on dividend reinvestment.

It is a fun way (poor man's way) to accumulate stock by investing a few hundred dollars or even as much or as little as you want every month. (Some have $25 or $50 mins). Or you can choose not to invest every month.

I started in the early 1990s accumulated anywhere between 3-5 shares of any given company per month. Typically I would invest about $1,000 a month in 3 or 4 companies. After a year or so when I had 50 to 100 shares in each company, I would request a certificate (round lot of 100 usually). Then I would send that certificate to my discount broker ($7 - $10 per trade) for safekeeping. Then I would ask my broker to identify each stock's support and resistence. I'd set a "stop loss" a few dollars under the lower support assuming if any of my stocks fell below the lower support..they were likely to tumble further. In the event that the stock suddenly were to take a nose dive...it would automatically sell at the stop loss price capturing a majority of the accumulated wealth at a discounted commission rate less than $10. (Full service brokers charge $100 to $300 to sell 100 shares at $50/share).

As long as the stock kept appreciating, I held on to it, raising the "stop loss" as needed every month to make sure I was preserving the wealth.

This is basically buy and hold strategy...very similar to the way Warren Buffet invests. In other words, he finds brand name companies with low debt to equity ratios, good return on capital, solid profit margins...and usually under-valued.

Again...do the IRA and 401K first....then become wealthy via accumulation of good quality stocks. As good quality stocks spin-off cash dividends every quarter (yes, tax liability) have those funds automatically re-purchase additional shares and fractions of shares. Most good companies will grow 10% or better every year and eventually split 2 for 1 or more every 3 - 7 years. Imagine building a stock to 200 shares...have it hit $100 a share...split 2 for 1 giving you 400 shares at $50...running it to $100 a share again and split again 2 for 1 giving you 800 shares. All the time you keep raising the stop loss a few dollars under the lower support so that you do not lose the profit you've built-up over-time.

This has worked for me nearly tripling my investments since the early 90s...or about the last 12 years.

Let me know if you want to know more and I can guide you to where you can learn how to do this yourself. Also...brokers will not tell you about this because they have no vested interest telling you how to accumulate...and even sell stock via no or very low commissions.

Good luck.

AlecJamer