[ffumarola]

Overall, this is pretty bad advice IMO. Investing in individual stocks, even at the recommendation of a "professional" is a fools game. You will be hard pressed to find a "professional" who can routinely and repeatedly beat an index fund.

Also, "professionals" charge high expense ratios when compared to funds through Vanguard, Fidelity, etc. A lot of financial advisors stress the importance of expense ratio as one of the most important facets of your portfolio.

For the record, I invest in index funds through Vanguard with expense ratios ranging from .05% to .22%.