* If it takes more than couple of hours to maintain your portfolio, there is something wrong with the way your portfolio is constructed. * If your financial advisor offers any Structured products, any product (e.g. Hedge Fund) based on anything that sounds like options, futures, participatory notes etc. - then fire your Financial advisor immediately. * If your Financial advisor works on commission basis and not fee basis - then fire your financial advisor. * If you don't understand why you should engage a financial advisor who is fee based and not commission based - then do yourself a favor. Get a copy of "Four Pillars of Investing", Read it and understand it. * For retirement planning, make sure your Financial advisor has read William Bernsteins articles "Retirement Planning from Hell" and he understands the need for monte-carlo simulation in retirement planning. * Value investing works but just remember that (a) Warren Buffett does it for leaving and (b) Buffett doesn't only buy stock from stock market - he has access to lot more options that an average Joe does not have. So investing in individual stock is a very risky proposition for average retail investor. * Investing in stock market based on charts is like running fool's errands. Drop me an email if you need me to help you on friendly basis. I don't do this for living.