Investors still have £918m in the 18 technology funds that remain according to Standard & Poor’s ratings agency

Investors still have £918m in the 18 technology funds that remain, according to Standard & Poor’s ratings agency.Whether a tech fund is worth buying today is a moot point. If you had invested in a technology fund in the months leading up to March 2000, it is likely that you would have lost around 70 per cent of your money. But one year later, figures for the same month had rocketed to £238m.When the tech bubble burst as stellar profits failed to materialise, plenty of start-up – and bigger- web companies went under and fund values plummeted.Today, many people are still sitting on massive losses, even though global stock markets, and the technology sector itself, have rebounded sharply recently. The internet revolution seemed likely to generate huge profits for companies, and investors were eager for a share of the action.
As an example of the frenzy, January 1999 saw £5m invested in technology funds. But mention that it’s your only individual savings account (ISA) fund, and their reaction will likely change to pity.

Hundreds of thousands of ordinary investors fell over themselves – many making their first-ever stock-market investment – to plough cash into technology funds in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Tell a friend during a chat about finances that you’ve invested in a technology fund, and you might expect some mockery. “As he runs his own salon, he will not have an employer to continue to pay his salary if he is unable to work.”Interview by Esther Shaw. Jon and Kevin should have no problem, as they have a long-standing, stable relationship.”Income protection is also advisable, particularly in Kevin’s case, she adds. “It is now far easier for gay men to obtain cover without discrimination. Married couples have “unlimited insurable interest”, which means they can take out life insurance for one another without needing to explain why.”This right will be extended to civil partners,” Ms Taylor says. Pension contributions will become more flexible – people will be able to invest a large chunk of their savings or salary – and the current limits on contributions will be raised.Debts and SavingsJon and Kevin will be paying more interest on their £23,000 debt than they’re earning on their £13,000 savings.

For this reason, they should consider cutting the debt with some of the savings, Ms Taylor says – and then build up their savings again.In the meantime, Chris Morgan from IFA Compass recommends Jon and Kevin move their savings into an instant access account from ING Direct, which pays 4.75 per cent interest.Ms Taylor reminds the couple to make the most of their separate £3,000 allowances and invest tax-free in mini cash individual savings accounts (ISAs).PropertyThe holiday home Jon and Kevin are buying may be a “useful” long-term investment, bringing in rental income, Mr Morgan thinks.ProtectionJon and Kevin should first consider life cover for each other (and for their home loan if they haven’t already done so), says Ms Taylor. But in any case, both Jon and Kevin could consider low-cost stakeholder personal pensions, which attract tax relief. This would let each save for retirement as and when he can afford it.New pension rules to be introduced from 6 April next year will make saving towards a pension easier. This means that, where a company pension offers death-in-service benefit or a spouse/partner’s pension payout – and not all do – a partner can benefit. Previously, a company didn’t have to recognise an unmarried or same-sex partner.However, both Jon and Kevin need to start saving urgently, warns Ms Taylor.

“The longer they leave it, the harder it will be to make any real difference to a pension pot,” she says. “Pensions are still a tax-efficient way of doing this.”As a matter of priority, Jon should find out whether his employer offers a pension scheme and whether it makes any contribution to it. If one of them dies, a share of his estate will go to the partner, as well as to any children he has, and to other relatives, says Ms Taylor.However, writing a will would allow both partners to determine exactly where they wanted their assets to go.RetirementA civil partner will have the right to receive benefits, where applicable, from a deceased partner’s pension. Gifts they make to each other in their lifetime will be free of capital gains tax.”Ms Taylor illustrates this latter point as follows. Say Kevin were to give Jon some shares in his salon business. If, in the future, Kevin’s company were sold, their two individual CGT allowances (currently £8,500 per person) could be used to minimise the tax bill – a perk already extended to married couples.WillsIf Jon and Kevin haven’t drawn up a will, a civil partnership will at least confer the laws of intestacy on both partners. “Legacies between partners will be exempt from IHT [payable at 40 per cent on any estate above £275,000].