Unfortunately, some people don’t begin planning their retirements soon enough, nor do they fully grasp the principles of growing retirement income. I attribute this to the fact that most people don’t have access to dependable mutual funds investing advice. It’s not that there isn’t good financial advice out there, but payment to a consultant is usually involved if you want custom information. So, many people opt to go it alone, only to discover too late that they won’t have what they need to retire. This is why experts recommend using financial pros to develop retirement plans. And since it is your hard-earned money, you owe it to yourself to do some research first so you can ask informed questions of the financial advisor. Getting the lay of the land, financially speaking, will also save you money if your advisor charges an hourly rate.

Here are some of topics you should know before you pay someone for financial advice:

How life insurance affects your financial bottom line
Some people don’t need information on term life insurance and other forms of insurance protection because they don’t have dependents that make life insurance necessary. But those who do need it should choose wisely. Understanding the difference between cash value, term life and variable universal life (VUL) will allow you to pick the option best for you. And I’ll clue you into one fact right from the start: cash value policies, such as whole life and universal life can usually be counted on to produce a bad return on investment and will often leave your loved ones with inadequate coverage. So you should keep that in mind when you talk to a consultant.

The differences between no-load and load mutual funds
Some financial consultants get commissions on sales instead of an hourly rate, so they only make money if they steer you toward “loaded” funds (funds with service fees). This is why it’s sometimes better to pay by the hour for financial consulting, so you can get objective advice. If you study the difference between load and no-load funds, you’ll see why this distinction is important.

Have an idea when you will retire and how much money you’ll need
It’s a good idea to know about when you’ll retire and how much money it will take to maintain your lifestyle before you meet with a financial planner. That will help her form a plan.

Once you’ve done your homework, you’ll want to to do just a little bit more: ask your friends or family if they can recommend someone before you pick a financial consultant to work with. Once you have that information, see how well that person has done with his own finances. If you don’t see evidence of that they did it for themselves, they won’t be able to do it for you!