There are basically three types of financial advisors. The commission only advisor earns his money by selling you a product that is meant to help put your financial plan to motion. A fee only financial advisor will work out a financial plan for you and then charge you for that service. Then comes the fee and commission based advisor who helps you meet your goals and then help executing that plan by selling you’re a product that will implement that plan.

A fee only financial advisor is increasingly becoming common and more preferred by the most firms. Basically the financial advisor will look at your current financial status and then help you identify both your short term and long term goals. Then he drafts a plan using this groundwork so you meet your goals objectively.

They may charge their services using an hourly rate. Which is better than buying a product from commission based financial advisor where conflict may arise between you and him. In the end you will just feel like he was more concerned in you buying the product than meeting your financial goal. A fee only basis is also advantageous to the advisor himself, besides winning more clients of course.
The advisor will feel obligated to keep updating and run a check up on his clients. He needs to make sure that no one wavers off track. It also provides a working relationship with your client through ongoing contact. Eventually this works out in your favor.

Fee based advisors are strictly restricted by the standards in the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors to charge commission or bonuses even if his financial plan becomes a success and the company in question booms even more so than he had predicted. The fees can be charged on the basis of time and drawing up the plan.

Fee-based advisors can also charge a specific percentage on the total assets owned by his client. However this may incur as a loss for him because some companies will have a very low net worth. A way around this is to set the minimum net worth he is going to accept. Therefore he shuns all firms falling below this minimum.
Otherwise this is your best option when you are choosing a financial advisor. The money you pay for the service is worth it. Of course they are those charges that will come in the mid term when he is checking up on you and he’s making sure that you do not fall off course. But if you create a good relationship with him, he may discount his fees as time goes on.