Every family needs a financial plan.

"I'm going to buy a house, but first I'm meeting tomorrow with my financial planner," said the 30-something woman to an older co-worker in the department store. "Must be nice," her co-worker responded. "I wouldn't know what to tell a financial planner if I met one."

We live in a time of terrific deals on mortgages and cars, but also job insecurity, tiny interest rate returns on investments and a stock market that nobody quite knows whether to trust again.

Some Americans really try their best to formulate a personal strategy to address all this, either doing it on their own or seeking professional advice. Others just try to put financial issues such as retirement and a child's education completely out of mind, hoping those issues will somehow resolve themselves.

To cope with complicated times, every family needs a comprehensive financial plan that includes money goals, budget, taxes, insurance, asset allocation, retirement and an estate plan.

If you choose to go to a professional planner, you'll typically pay anywhere from $300 to $10,000 for a plan, depending on your net worth, the specific planner and time spent on the plan. You should wind up with a detailed plan that has dates and a savings strategy to meet your goals. You then must follow the plan to get the desired results or you've wasted your money.

Like doctors, financial planners vary in designations, philosophies and quality. Have an initial interview with anyone offering you financial advice before you make a commitment. Be alert for "red flags" signaling that the planner in question may not be a good choice.

"The first red flag is if someone gives you advice before learning anything about you, such as your financial information, your family, obligations, personal goals and risk tolerance," said David Yeske, a San Francisco-based certified financial planner (CFP) and president of the 29,000-member Financial Planning Association (www.fpanet.org). "That person may be more interested in making financial transactions than in doing comprehensive financial planning."

Within the Financial Planning Association trade organization, 17,000 members are CFPs like Yeske and the rest are professionals from a variety of disciplines involved in planning. The CFP designation requires experience and a two-day, practice-based examination that has only a 50 percent pass rate.

"In the initial interview, the planner is required to give you certain documents and these should definitely be read, even though they may be long," advised Lance Ritchlin, spokesman for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (www.cfp.net) in Denver, which administers the CFP program. "Ask planners if they've had disciplinary problems, what professional organizations they're involved in, how long they've been in the community and also ask for referrals of past clients."

All the planner compensation should be disclosed up front including any commissions derived from investments that may be recommended and how those commissions work, Ritchlin added.

"The most extreme red flag is when the answer to absolutely everything happens to be the product that the person doing the planning is selling," said Vern Hayden, CFP with Hayden Financial Group LLC in Westport, Conn., and author of the book "Getting an Investing Game Plan" (John Wiley: 2003). "I believe it's always a mistake if the outcome of the planning requires investing in proprietary products of the company with which the planner's associated."

The planner must also give you a hand.

"It is not effective planning to simply produce a 100-page document and give it to the client," said Ray Ferrara, a CFP and chief executive officer of ProVise Management Group LLC in Clearwater, Fla. "The planner must take the client through it all because life is much more dynamic than that and not simply a fixed situation."

A plan must be reviewed periodically to take into account changes in the market and your family's situation.

"Those planners who did truly comprehensive financial planning on an ongoing basis had the happiest clients the past three years," observed Yeske. "Their clients suffered less than others because they had a consistent course of action and didn't thrash around wildly."

The Financial Planning Association includes "fee-only" planners and those planners who receive commissions from investments, while the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (www.napfa.org) is strictly fee-only. Feeonly planners charging by the hour are often the most reasonably priced. If the planner actively manages your money, there may be an annual asset-based fee of 0.5 percent.

Professional affiliations and designations are always a plus. Here are some professional planning-related designations in addition to the CFP and the bodies that award them based on education, testing and experience:

Chartered Financial Consultant from The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pa.; Personal Financial Specialist from American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; Chartered Financial Analyst from Association for Investment Management and Research; Certified Investment Management Consultant from Institute for Certified Investment Management Consultants; Certified Public Accountant from American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; Chartered Life Underwriter from The American College; Accredited Tax Advisor from Accreditation Council for Accountancy and Taxation; Registered Financial Consultant from International Association of Registered Financial Consultants; and Enrolled Agent from the IRS.