He may well be able to obtain some sort of cash-back, discount or a favourable fixed-rate remortgage. Such a deal may tie him into the Nationwide for a further period, but if he has no plans to move the mortgage, then it makes sense.Barry should leave the Scottish Amicable policy as it is until maturity. As a general rule this is too many as in each case the companies will probably be making some flat- rate charges that on smaller amounts could have a relatively big impact. The funds he has invested in are also quite a mixture, from cautious with- profits funds (which never fall in value) to funds invested in the Far East.With hindsight, Barry would have done better having the main chunk of his money directly exposed to the UK stock market in “unit linked” funds. If he encashes it early, he stands to lose a portion of the maturity bonus (also called the terminal bonus).In total, Barry has five separate pension plans with Barclays, MI Group, Equitable Life, Scottish Equitable and NPI.

He has an pounds 11,000 endowment mortgage with Nationwide (the endowment policy is with Scottish Amicable) on his 60 per cent share of a flat in Hackney, east London. Barry also inherited a flat in a coastal resort in New South Wales, Australia, which is worth around pounds 50,000.
He has a collection of pensions and insurance-linked savings plans worth pounds 58,000 and shares and personal equity plans worth a total of pounds 70,000.Barry is looking forward to retiring, possibly to Australia. He feels he was sold some poor financial products in the 1980s and would like to know how to reorganise his finances, particularly for retirement, without making any additional savings from his relatively low income.What a financial adviser says:Barry will probably be retired before his mortgage is paid off as the endowment policy matures in 13 years’ time, when he is 67, but much of his pension savings will start paying out from when he is 65.He should approach Nationwide to see whether the building society might offer him a better deal for an existing borrower. Barry Smith, 54, is a self-employed writer and illustrator of children’s books whose income fluctuates a lot – it has been between pounds 2,000 and pounds 38,000 a year in his 23 years of self-employment Presently he is earning around pounds 15,000 a year. He’s a Gemini and the base line for Geminis is “thought as sensation”, which I think summarises quite a lot of Simon’s activities.

He’s very compassionate, but very mentally driven.In retrospect, when I think of him and the polymath he’s become, I think he must have had a hard time of it in adolescence and early youth – because he’s highly intelligent, highly energetic and totally individualistic, and you can’t look for role models for somebody like that.I think our friendship is about a debate in ideas and a fascination with theatre The myth of our friendship is that everything is terrific We don’t bring major problems into it. And we make each other laugh.! ‘HRH’, wriiten by Snoo Wilson, and starring Amanda Donohoe and Corin Redgrave, is now previewing at the Playhouse Theatre, WC2 (0171 839 4401); opens Thurs.. It’s quite impossible to telephone him, so we have a faxing correspondence.When we do meet, we have a vigorous mental exchange. But probably the only political discussion we’ve ever fallen out over was when I’d written a film about Aleister Crowley and we went to Sicily. He just thought she was a woman in a hurry and I thought she was doing the country quite a lot of harm.He’s extremely perceptive about the world and about other creative people He’s a very good biographer, particularly of Orson Welles.

I remember Simon bringing around some absolutely marvellous presents for us and a crate of dog food. It was done with great charm.But sometimes months go by when we don’t see each other. He’s always extremely busy, always doing 18 different things. I wanted to work with Simon again so we devised this Broadway- ish version of it which had submarines coming up through the floor and swimming pools and things It would have had hordes of West Indian servants. I’m sure it could have been done, but they subsequently couldn’t get the cash to put it on. Then that option lapsed and it languished until the producer Paddy Wilson picked it up.Simon’s enormously generous both in person, and professionally with his time, and he’s very good to work with I think he has a lot of people who feel close to him. My fondest memories of him are to do with a stage when he had a friend called Bruno Santini, who had a dog called Brunj which seemed to end up living with us.