As Irish society gets richer, more and more financial products are flooding onto the market. And while most people are agreed that choice is a good thing, the wide array of investments on offer is confusing for many.

For those without the time, energy or resources to compare the various different products, their returns and the charges they involve, good financial advice is a must. But where do you go to get it?

There is no end to those prepared to tell you what to do with your money. Advisers and accountants, banks and brokers, even pundits down in the local pub are prepared to offer an opinion. But the real question is who can you trust to give you independent advice that you won't regret down the line?

The Consumers' Association of Ireland (CAI) has a number of golden rules for those seeking impartial advice about what to do with their hard-earned cash.

The CAI's finance spokesman, Mr Eddie Hobbs, says that to give authentically independent advice, financial advisers have to be charging fees or disclosing their commission.

"If they are not doing either of these things, they are simply a freelance salesperson, out for hire to whoever will pay the highest cheque," he says.

He urges consumers to make sure the adviser has a good professional qualification, usually a diploma or degree in disciplines such as accounting and finance, financial planning or investment.

He also warns people to make sure that the person advising is properly regulated. To check this out, consumers only need to call a freefone number at the Central Bank, 1890 200 469, to confirm whether an adviser is regulated by the Central Bank and what he or she is authorised to do.

Most investment intermediaries are regulated by the Bank, except those who sell insurance products only and who come under the jurisdiction of the Department of Enterprise and Employment.

Rule Number Four, Mr Hobbs says, is to ensure that the advice you get is in writing, in case you have to take legal action down the line. "If it is not in writing, it is not advice but verbiage," he says.

Finally, he urges consumers to trust their instinct and if they have a bad feeling about someone, not to ignore it. "If your logic is telling you one thing but your instinct is telling you something else, don't go against your instinct. Highly skilled sales people can be very good at creating distractions and building confidence."

So armed with this advice, where do you go next?

The main types of advisers to fit into the above categories and who can offer independent advice include accountants, fee-based financial advisers and brokers who are not tied-agents.

The banks, though they can provide comprehensive advice on their investment products, will only inform you of the products they have on offer, either through their asset management subsidiaries or their life assurance arms. But if you want advice on the full range of products available on the market - and what best suits your needs - you are unlikely to get it at your local branch or from any of the other institutions selling various products.

Accountants are one source of unbiased advice and have the added advantage of being strong on complementary issues such as tax planning. However, their client base is generally made up of those with a reasonable sum to invest, usually in the region of £50,000 upwards.

Accountants do not work on a commission basis, charging for their time instead. "I regard myself as a professional person selling time for a price," says Ms Dervilla Whelan of O'Hare & Associates, a Dublin-based accountancy firm providing financial advice to its clients.

Ms Whelan's service generally costs £140 (€178) plus VAT per hour. But to examine the client's risk profile and do all the necessary work involved in advising someone usually takes a few hours and the average charge varies between £500 to £750 depending on whether clients invest in commission-based products or not.

If accountants advise clients to invest in products with commission, it is usually refunded to the client or added to the sum to be invested. In instances where commission cannot be relinquished - such as tracker bonds - accountants will use it to offset their fees.

Mr John Crowe of KPMG says the firm generally deals with higher net worth individuals. But he points out that advice on investing £50,000 to £100,000 would generally cost between £500 and £1,000. "If you go to a commission-based adviser with £100,000, they could take as much as £3,500 in commission," he says.

With fee-based financial advisers, you also have to pay for what you get but again the cost is transparent. There are a growing number of firms providing advice on overall financial planning and lump sum investments to a broad range of people.

The three-year-old, Dublin-based firm Financial Engineering Network is not just targeting the high net worth category although most of its clients would typically have household income of £40,000 plus. In what it describes as a loss-leader type service, it offers a no-cost expenditure review to first-time clients where it examines their finances and advises them on whether they are getting good value.

A complete audit of your financial wellbeing, including a review of your debts, pension and life assurance arrangements as well as your investments, costs £525 plus VAT. The company will also offer advice on how to invest a lump sum but that often comes back to an overall review, it says.

"It's difficult to do in isolation. It's a bit like trying to design a room in a house without knowing what the rest of the rooms are like," says technical director, Mr Aidan McLoughlin.

Finally, there are the large number of brokers dotted around the State who are not tied to any one institution and will provide advice on a broad range of products.

Among the advantages of dealing with a broker is that advice is free - if the investment does not go ahead, you do not pay at all. However, commission is payable on any investments you make so make sure to find out how much commission the broker is getting as it's coming out of your investment, along with the other product charges.

Legislation due out in the autumn, but recently deferred, will eventually force all financial advisers to detail what commission they receive. Typically, commission of 3 to 3.5 per cent is payable on lump sum investments although this is lower on regular savings products.

Mr Paul Carty of the Irish Brokers' Association (IBA), which has 600 member firms, advises people to make sure you know your broker. If you don't know who you're dealing with, check out their bona fides by calling the Central Bank or the IBA. He also urges consumers to check that the broker has professional indemnity insurance to cover them for errors or omissions as nobody is infallible. "If they are selling insurance and they don't have insurance, then spurn them like a rabid dog," he says.

Clients should also make sure they know where their money is going and get all appropriate documentation and receipts.