When do you decide you need an accountant or financial advisor

Accountant can be helpful in some cases. A good accountant helps you plan - not "do your taxes". By tax return time, the most value from an accountant is gone. I got an accountant when I was having a lot of changes to my job/life that could have tax implications (rental property, working overseas, etc). He advised on some things to prepare for in order to minimize my tax burden.

As for filing taxes, unless you have a very complicated situation, turbotax should work fine.

We got a financial advisor when we were checking our situation for retirement planning. My wife and i both come from modest backgrounds and are super nervous about having enough fore retirement. We find it helpful, but not a "must".

As far as taxes go, it's time to get a professional to handle them in any of the following scenarios:

-You start your own business, or become an investor/partner in a business.
-You move from a W2 earner to a 1099 contractor.
-You convert a home you own to a rental, especially if it's a home you have lived in.
-You approach retirement age.

There are other scenarios, but those are the most common.

But hire them not to just do your taxes, go to one as soon as one of those scenarios is on the horizon for the tax planning they can help you with. That's where the value of a CPA is.

I'm a CPA, and as others have said, the value is in planning, not filling out forms.

I tell people that I help them determine what is taxable and what is not. If you don't need any help with that (i.e. you just have a W-2) then you don't need a CPA.

Of course, that requires talking to me throughout the year. If I only see a client once a year, I can't provide much help.

Especially for my small business clients, I tell them I can provide the most value if they call me BEFORE they make any big business decision such as add a new employee position, buy something big, do some financing, etc.

Through our 401k we can pay a small fee to use an advisor, if we want to use an outside advisor they will re-imburse at a percentage of your investment. I started as soon as money started going into 401k you can learn a lot before you have big sums of money to play with.

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What's the going rate on accountant and financial consultant?

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Don't know about the CPA, but for an FA there are 3 options:

1. commission-based, buys you A, B, or C shares of mutual funds, takes an up-front commission on stocks/bonds
2. fee-based aka wrap-fee, charges you a percentage of assets under management yearly, buys you I shares on mutual funds and no transaction costs
3. fee-only investment advisor, charges a flat fee for planning

Which you choose depends upon your situation and needs.