This question is common and is due, not least, to the fact that many investment advisors, and even stockbrokers, call themselves financial advisors.
When we refer to financial advice, we are thinking of helping individuals to make decisions in any aspect of the finances of people or businesses, that is, financial advice has a wider field of action and seeks to bring order to many aspects through a financial plan. As an example, financial advice usually begins with an analysis of cash flows, that is, the money that comes in and goes out over a period. From there, it usually moves on to a study of the balance sheet structure, i.e., understanding the assets and liabilities that finance investment and consumption. The next step is usually to establish rules to achieve certain objectives in terms of volume of assets or reduction or restructuring of liabilities, as well as to suggest the ideal products for such purposes, considering expenses and taxes. As a next step, it usually identifies current and potential risks as well as their coverage. As a last step, it usually focuses on ways to protect assets and to plan for its present or future distribution, either to its owners or to other beneficiaries.
Investment advice, on the other hand, presupposes that there is clarity as to the objectives to be achieved with the result of such investments. For this reason, we like to think that every investment advisory mandate has had previous financial advice that served to define the objectives in terms of return and risk, as well as the identification of the ideal strategy to achieve them. With these parameters, the investment advisor can help choose the best way to implement such a strategy. Once implemented, the investment advisor will be adjusting and monitoring the results to report if the objectives are being achieved or if any changes need to be made to the plan. Similarly, it can be assumed that some changes to the financial plan, resulting from recurring advice, could have an impact on investment portfolios. For this reason, it is extremely important that there is good communication between the financial advisor and the investment advisor (even better if they are the same person or group of people) to keep the objectives aligned with the implementation.
Both types of counseling are of high value as each has a different purpose, scope, and depth. There are financial advisors who offer investment advice on a limited basis and vice versa. A comprehensive advisor who can properly cover both parts will be more effective.