The guy who brought you a pizza last night can be a financial planner today and be breaking no laws.
There are a lot of people out there using the financial planner term who are salespeople and are not providing advice.
The consumer has to be an active participant in planning for their future. You need to work with the financial planner so he or she can educate you in the process.
The most obvious red flag is that thing called intuition. If there is a level of discomfort on part of the person meeting with the planner they should not get involved.