Anyone use an independent financial planner?

[rek001]

I've been worrying about this for awhile now and it dawned on me that maybe I could ask you good peoples' advice.

Right now my partner and I invest through a broker with AG Edwards (now Wachovia), a recommendation by a doctor in my partner's practice.

He's ok, pretty conservative. He's set us up with a muni bond ladder, some stocks and a fair investment in American Funds family.

This is the thing, my partner is a doctor in a small practice and as such, has a completely self-directed retirement plan. All bonuses and spare cash are turned over to our broker for investment.

Upon my retirement I will get a decent company pension but because we're not married, upon my death the pension will cease (I'm 12 years older).

So I've been worrying a lot about our retirement savings lately, especially with the financial markets in such turmoil.

We are not very financially savvy, and need a bit of handholding when it comes to choosing and monitoring the performance of our investments. I'm thinking we could do better, especiallly in comprehensive planning - taxes, insurance, asset management.

The April issue of Chicago magazine has an article about independent financial planners in the Chicago area, but it's a bit overwheming, how do you choose?

Well, thank you for reading my story and any advice would be most appreciated.