@snowball, I have not read all of this thread. I know a fair bit about finance (former bus school prof, worked on Wall Street, helped start a quant hedge fund). Although I could manage my own money, I don’t have time to pay attention. I hired a fee only financial planner to first do a financial plan for us and then later to manage some of our money. I selected a woman who seemed very good (she was) in part because my wife found it almost traumatic to think about money (her parents used to fight about money). While this FA was good, a thirty-something guy on her staff was fantastic. Could explain without jargon and would spend a fair amount of time with my wife answering her questions. Also worked with the kids of the family when they were in HS, college and thereafter. My wife is no longer anxious. The FA’s that I work with help with a lot of other stuff – do we have the right insurance, how to minimize taxes doing various things, can we afford to buy a house in Florida (under the assumption we don’t make it our tax residence, under the assumption that we do, under the assumption is eventually is submerged by rising ocean, etc.). The fee is fixed but as @CFP pointed out, the fixed fee tends to rise with assets under management.
I know someone very capable who created something called Napkin Finance to be able to explain key financial concepts simply. It has a website. She has her own book call Napkin Finance. I have not read the book but think she is very good.
I also found Andrew Tobias’s The Only Investment Guide You Will Ever Need to be very good when I was much younger. It was pithy, funny and helpful.