Banks are denying savers tax benefits by paying less on fixed-rate cash Isas than on similar taxable bonds.
The UK economy is likely to have shrunk nearly 5% in 2009 yet many UK firms have shown resilient profitability.
Axa Pan Euro High Yield leads way as average fund in peer group gains 5.5% over past year to 1 January
On the whole, 2009 is likely to be remembered as an extremely good year for risky assets, with equities as well as corporate bond markets posting stellar performance, albeit not without considerable volatility.
Standard & Poor's has awarded four HSBC Global Asset Management tracker funds an AAA rating, including the recently merged American Index portfolio.
Top 10 groups in sector gained at least 56% over past 12 months, with more than half seeing gains of 30% or more
The seven key considerations to bear in mind for AA investments
HSBC Global Asset Management will merge its £26m American Growth fund into its £99m American Index portfolio following the former's struggle to outperform its benchmark.
Pothier-managed HSBC fund is eighth out of 86 vehicles in peer group over three years
Turkey is well placed to emerge from the global economic slowdown ahead of other countries in the EMEA region