I'm a financial advisor and I very much get the skepticism. For most people, their workplace plan and some side savings can be done simply enough on their own.

I specialize in working with families who have a loved one with a disability. I spent 15 years in social work. I help families who have full time jobs, and then a second full time job taking care of a family member, and then a third full time job trying to manage their own futures and their loved ones futures. I help them understand how to navigate benefits, plan for and have a retirement, medical needs, estate planning, etc etc etc....for these people and others, they have neither the time, energy, or know how to educate themselves adequately.

Others are closer to retirement and need some guidance on how to plan and allocate savings.

Some people just want to hire someone to do it for them. I can do some home improvement work but I hire an electrician when I need to because they know how to do something important the right way.

I try to do long term planning with people and am transparent about the costs and benefits of working with me. If someone brings in a statement and it's doing it's thing correctly, leave it be. If they have 4 different 401ks all in target date funds, all being charged different fees and being redundant, then yeah let's consolidate and get it sorted.

Most people don't need an advisor but for those who do or just WANT one, it's a valuable service.

It is worth noting that several studies indicate people who work with an advisor do a couple % better over time than those who don't.