re: Financial advisors?

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Would you guys/girls advise getting involved with someone like this? Is it worth the money? Or should I stay conservative until my debts are done and kid is a stable situation?

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Don't trust financial planners that hound you. Don't trust accountants to give you investment advice. Don't trust investment managers to consider your tax implications.

Trust me when I say this, you do not need to reach on "other financial ventures" as you say to get significant returns. Dividend paying value stocks, core fixed income, EM fixed income, and long duration fixed income for the carry (yield) advantage will probably yield you better results over the long run than any sort of high beta equity investment.

Think of this example that most people don't realize. If you have a security with a 6% return followed by a 4% loss, it will be worth more than a security with a 60% return and a 40% loss. Investment returns over the next 20 years will be lower than the past 20 years on an aggregate basis. My best advice is to go in 3-4 diversified 40 act mutual funds, diversified across dividend paying equities, emerging market bonds, and core fixed income. The market is EXTREMELY complicated right now, and if you're just looking to just dabble in stock picking you are lamb for the slaughter. It would be like me saying I just want to dabble in heart surgery in my free time, it just doesn't work like that. Vanguard and Fidelity have some good low-fee funds that retail investors can get exposure to. Then just sit back and enjoy your returns and easy sleep.

Keep enough liquidity to handle your needs. I would recommend some sort of CDs, but short-term rates are going to get driven down even more over the next year or two. You're going to see massive amounts of bank capital having to find a home soon due to decreased commercial paper supply, negative real rates (and negative to zero nominal rates in Europe), and a decreasing "preferred habitat" for short-term investing. Hopefully this is somewhat helpful for you, good luck.