Where do I start?

I am lucky enough to have a friend and coworker that is about 10 years older than me and just recently retired. Over the past couple of years, he and I were required by work to be in the same hotel for a couple of nights a month. That afforded me the opportunity to spend some quality time over dinners and beers picking his brain about the journey he was just wrapping up and that I was preparing to embark on. He has become somewhat of a mentor to me and although we aren't traveling together anymore, he is still available by phone to answer some of my questions.

Probably one of the most important nuggets that I gleaned from our conversations is that it is probably not a smart thing to prepare for retirement alone. There are professionals in this world that help people plan for retirement and have far more knowledge about what to do and how to do it than you or I will every have. They also have more time to focus on the day to day execution of the "plan" that is agreed upon.

So if all I have to do is find someone to help me create the plan and execute it, why am I loosing so much sleep at night? Quite simply, choosing an experienced, competent, trustworthy, affordable financial planner is not an easy task. There are many individuals in this world that will tell you that they can make you rich and guide you to a comfortable and prosperous retirement, but "buyer beware". Choosing the right financial planner can literally make you or break you. It is hard enough to admit that maybe you are not the best person to manage your own money, but knowing that you are choosing a person that you will entrust with your future is even harder. The pain incurred from a wrong choice is one that could haunt you for the rest of your life. The choice doesn't relieve you of the ultimate responsibility for your financial future. This eminent decision has created even more questions to bounce around in my head! If I could just find all of the right answers!