Large Investment - Any Financial Advisors?

[benk777]

In the near future I will be coming into an after-tax sum of money in the low-mid six figures. Around the same time my wife will be delivering our first child, and will be taking 1-2 years off work. At first I thought I would pay off our mortgage with the money so that a single income would be more manageable. After further thought, my plan is to put a majority of the funds with a financial advisor, and enough to cover one year's mortgage payments in a 4.5-5% money market account. For each year that my wife is out of work, I would annually transfer enough from the investment to the money market account to cover the mortgage.

If I can get 5% with the money market account, and 8.5% on the large investment, I can basically pay my mortgage with the annual earnings and do a little better than break even. If I can earn upwards of 10% I could afford more of a mortgage, and therefore a larger house.

My questions are:
1. How likely is it to earn 8.5% annually on a large investment? What about earning 10.5%?
2. What type of investments would you recommend?
3. What particular firms/advisors would you recommend and why?

I know there are many intelligent heads on this forum, and there are a few people with a good amount of net worth. Please lend advice if you have any. Thanks.

Sincerely,

Ben