What about TD Ameritrade, they're the one I've always used. They're also the only one that doesn't have a minimum initial balance.
I've never trusted brokers/financial advisers as their first priority is their own paycheck. My suggestion is to instead go research/buy a mutual fund yourself. You cut out the middle man (local adviser) and still have a group of people managing the fund you invested in.
And I'm sure you already know to not invest any money that you can't afford to lose. Also not sure if you follow the underlining numbers/issues that show how the country/economy is really doing, if not I'd suggest you look into. If something drastic doesn't change soon we'll be faced with another bigger bubble as it just isn't sustainable.
Ever heard of Quantitative Easing? (
LINK) In Sept 2012 the Federal Reserve started round three (QE3). Maybe the third attempt will work (
)? The major difference between QE3 and QE1/2 is that this round is open ended until certain metrics are reached (ie. 6.5% unemployment). So for the time being The Fed is buying up $40 billion in mortgage-backed bonds and $45 billion in longer-term Treasuries PER MONTH (and yes those are
Billions). Over the course of a year this will come out to $1.02 Trillion. Our current federal budget is ~$3.5 trillion. I could go on....but time to end this rant.
A few good links:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/12/us-usa-fed-idUSBRE8BB08A20121212
http://toddtiahrt.com/articles/44-why-the-federal-reserve-printing-money-wont-work
BTW what I was getting at with that is that you might want to consider setting the money aside in a high yield savings account for a year or two until we see where this ship is headed. However with all that said, no risk equals no reward.