Just tread carefully. I've used paid advisors over the years, as has my wife. While they are mostly honest, knowledgeable and ethical, a lot of the time advisors are only former bank officials or former insurance employees who have gone into business on their own and are no more knowledgeable or cleverer than the average educated person (like me!) who takes time to resaearch all possibilities and make an informed decision. Most of the big brokerages and financial firms, while claiming to be independent and selling products on behalf of numerous companies are not always impartial in their advice! They have one eye on their commission etc.
I have recently come into a lot of money through redundancy. The best advisor I gained access to was through word of mouth through a member of my family who is in financial services. He was very good and laid out numerous options on the table after I informed him of my attitude towards risk.
Take your time, read everything and listen to everybody, get to know the different markets and always, always get second and third opinions. It is hard work, but, remember it's your money! I verified a lot of the good advice by talking with friends who had gone down the investment route before, here on askaboutmoney and on other forums!