Getting best advice

o My financial affairs are quite complicated, with various pension plans, school fee schemes and a variety of Peps and other investments. I used to juggle them fairly effectively myself, but a couple of years ago I changed to a better paid job that is demanding in time. The upshot is that I have let my affairs slip and I need to sort them out.

I have considered various High Street financial advisers but am not confident they would have the specialist knowledge I require. I suppose an accountant is the best person to go for, but again he or she needs to be a specialist or be able to draw on the services of experts. How do I find such a person?

n Obviously the abilities of independent financial advisers vary and you may be happier with a larger firm of solicitors and accountants with financial planning departments which have the necessary expertise in various fields. It is really a question of shopping around.

One question you could ask is whether the adviser you will see is a member of the Institute of Financial Planning. He will be trained to take an overall view and see where things can be improved. For him to do this, you will have to have the confidence in him to reveal all about your financial affairs, warts and all, and your future hopes and aspirations.

You must also expect to pay handsomely for advice, even several hundred pounds an hour, but you should consider the cost as a percentage of your overall capital which should keep it in proportion. Some of the fee may be offset by commission received should the advice result in new products being acquired or contracts entered into.

Endowment values

o Some considerable time ago I read in your columns of a source, in London I think, that provided an estimated maturity value of endowment policies for a nominal fee. I have three with-profits policies with Scottish Provident due to mature in January 2000. It would be of considerable interest to know the estimated payout. Could you give me the name and address of this company.

n We have drawn a blank on this one - tighter regulation now may prevent such a projection service being offered. Scottish Provident itself will tell you what the present value of the policies is and will also supply a projection of maturity value, using criteria laid down by the regulators.

It is not difficult to make your own estimate given the proximity of maturity. From your last bonus statement, you take the current bonus rates, or a slightly discounted rate to be conservative, and apply them to the sum assured and existing bonuses (the rates differ) for the next two years. Then you apply the current terminal bonus, again slightly discounted, applicable to your type of policy to the sum assured and existing bonuses.

Adding the sum assured and existing bonuses to the annual and terminal bonuses you have calculated should give you a rough guide to the maturity values.

Gains on dividends

o In the past it has always been my policy to increase my shareholdings by taking stock dividends when they have been available. Am I correct in thinking that under the new capital gains tax rules each stock dividend will be treated as a separate and distinct holding and will be matched with future disposals on a ''last in, first out'' basis?

n This is correct. Every time you increase your shareholding by way of stock dividend you will have to record the acquisition as a separate and distinct holding. On a subsequent sale they will be matched on a last in, first out basis with the disposal. To comply with the changes proposed in the Budget detailed capital history records for each of your holdings will have to be maintained.

The editor of The Herald accepts no legal responsibility for the answers given in these columns. Readers are invited to submit concise questions for answer in the paper. No correspondence can be entered into.