Looking into mid life wealth and investing

I met again with my rep that I hold my term life insurance policy with last week. We discussed short term, mid term, and long term savings goals. When it got to mid term/long term, he started to sell me on whole life insurance and used the pitch that I could also use it as mid life wealth since I could pull money from it. We discussed 529 plans as well as other mutual funds that I could invest in in lieu of a 529 plan that offer the ability to pull money from if needed.

His pitch sounded great and had me interested and about to pull the trigger until I started to do a little research online. Since the meeting I am 100% not for going whole life due to the multiple articles online I read about. The articles I read mention that most of the initial fees go straight to their commission and you don't start to see any returns until 10-20 years.

While in the meeting, I mentioned to him that the company that handles our 401k at work advised me to start saving in a separate Roth IRA with some money going toward a 529 plan for my son (being born in July). He immediately advised against it and said there was multiple other ways (better ways) to spend that money for savings.

The bottom line is I am 30 years old, married, and have a kid on the way. I put 4% into 401K with owner match (8% total). I want to build some "mid life" savings as well as start saving for my kids education. Should I kick this guy to the curb and handle it myself by investing elsewhere (Vanguard, etc) in the standard Roth and 529? Or is there better options out there? I am not as investment savvy as many on this board but in the last few days of research I have second guessed what he told me last week.

Thanks for any input.