This financial advisor’s goal is to preserve assets and ‘beat zero’. He follows a conservative approach built around Fixed Index Annuities and Managed Equity Funds.

I think the advisor's goal is to earn a big commission and continuing fees for a number of years.
I like your own instincts. The specifics of your asset allocation might be subject to debate, but, I think you could be well served to develop an investment plan with an appropriate asset allocation between stocks and bonds, domestic and international, and maybe some alternate asset classes invested in no-load low cost funds and rebalance periodically to maintain your asset allocation.

Bob