Hi JimmyB,
This may be a bit controversial but I can't help but think that the majority of financial advisers have a bias to product advice/sales rather than financial planning advice. This is totally understandable as it's the way their business model really works - whether this is accepted or not! Of course, they will do financial planning advice as it's an excellent way of cementing relationships and, when the time is right, to provide product advice!
Anyway, retiring abroad is something I'm considering also. In my experience, the typical financial advisor hasn't much capacity to provide reasonably sophisticated financial planning for those intending on retiring abroad.
FWIW, whenever I get around to to looking into this again, my plan is to talk with a tax consultant who is familiar with this area. I understand that I well need a financial adviser for implementation of whatever strategy is devised.