Rachel Springall

It’s obvious to see how far cash savings have fallen over the years and how increasingly difficult it is to avoid inflation eroding your nest egg. In stark contrast are the striking potential returns that can result from investing in stocks and shares. But it’s worth remembering that fund values can fall as well as rise – so if the market drops, it's bad news for your original investment. Those who are not prepared to gamble their cash may have to think differently. Cautious savers putting money aside may still prefer to invest in cash to get a simple return of interest as a reward for investing with that provider. These savings can make it a lot more straightforward to plan ahead - if you have something specific in mind.

It’s that time of year again when savers are repeatedly asked the same old questions: do you have an ISA, did you invest your 2016/17 ISA allowance, have you decided where to put the new allowance? In previous years the answers were pretty straightforward, but things aren’t so simple these days. It’s rather like a countdown conundrum where all the options are there but you have limited time to digest and decide which one is the most appropriate. So how best to solve this puzzle? Let's look at the facts and examine some of the best deals on offer. How much can I invest and what options are there? The 2017/18 tax year brings a bulkier tax-free ISA allowance of £20,000.

Few people are shedding any tears over the end of 2016, least of all savers. But it was a bumper year for borrowers. Let's take a look at what happened to financial products in 2016 - and what's in store for savers and borrowers in 2017.  Mortgages and housing market Last year saw a welcome increase in competition among mortgage lenders thanks to cheap funding from the Government, but the lowest of the low rates will not be around forever. HSBC withdrew the lowest fixed rate on the market at 0.99 per cent towards the end of 2016, which could give other lenders the green light to change their own range. HSBC first offered the sub-1 per cent fixed deal in June, so it has been around a reasonable amount of time for borrowers to consider.

Time moves on so quickly and now here we are again - it’s the month when many people are focused on their Christmas shopping. So what better time for shoppers to brush up on their rights, be wary of scammers and consider the best credit card deals to make their cash go a little further. Know your rights on returns There may have been some impulse buys on Black Friday - and anyone can change their mind. So it’s good to know that shoppers will have around 30 days to return an item for a refund or store credit. It’s important to check the returns policy of the store at the point of purchase to make sure you don’t miss the deadline, or you could be wasting your cash when you think you snapped up a bargain.

It’s that time of year again. Mindful of the impending big Christmas shop, people start counting up credit card reward points in the hope of turning them into vouchers and cash. But they could find that their loyalty hasn’t paid off. Reward credit cards can be a useful alterative to debit cards because they offer a little something extra on each spend, such as points. However, not all cards are as rewarding as they seem. In fact, shoppers could be earning very little each time they use their card if the rewards are limited to where the money is spent. In addition, some cards charge considerably higher interest rates than those that offer no rewards at all, so consumers could be paying over the odds for a few points here and there.

So, inflation has gone up. Unexpectedly, it rose to a 22-month high of 1 per cent this week, with the full force of a weak pound and other rising prices fuelling the leap. This means more bad news for savers who are already concerned about the eroding power of inflation on their cash. The rise caused a bit of a shock, as many economists had predicted a much smaller increase to 0.8 per cent, up from 0.6 per cent the month before. Now adjusted analysis shows we could see inflation exceeding the 2 per cent target as soon as next year. What does this all mean for savers? Well, there is currently very little choice in deals that pay 1 per cent or more, and it’s only going to get worse.

Spenders and savers alike would no doubt appreciate some kind of reward for staying loyal to their bank or building society, but it’s highly unlikely that they will be able to get a better deal than if they were to switch. Savers At a time when savings rates are hitting new lows, consumers who have managed to rustle up a sizeable nest egg have had little to celebrate. In addition, those who are considering putting money aside are starting to lose the confidence to do so - an attitude that was highlighted in a recent study by GfK. This is likely to be a result of the Brexit vote, but at a time of such uncertainty, surely consumers should be encouraged to squirrel money away in case of emergencies?

It's a month since the Bank of England cut the base rate to 0.25 per cent, the lowest level in more than 300 years. As expected, this has dealt a severe blow to savers while the mortgage market continues to thrive. Savings The Bank of England’s decision to drop the base rate has officially fuelled the fire of rate cuts across the savings market, resulting in August becoming the worst month of the year for reductions. There were a devastating 354 cuts made, compared to just three rate rises. This means that for every rate rise during the month there were 118 cuts. Worse still, some providers' reductions were over five times as much as the 0.25 per cent base rate cut, and 53 of the cuts made were over 0.25 per cent.

As if things weren't bad enough for savers, the months ahead are looking bleaker than ever. The repercussions of the EU referendum sent the markets into chaos and in turn led the Bank of England to drop the bank base rate to 0.25 per cent, the lowest level in more than 300 years. So where is the good news in all of this? I'll break it to you now - there isn’t going to be any for quite some time. Savers were doomed to poor rates well before the Bank of England stepped in. But the decision gave providers an excuse to slash savings rates even further. So far this August we have seen 254 savings cuts, the most in any month this year. July was little better with 154 cuts – and that was before the base rate change.