Billions of pounds sitting in the mighty with-profits funds run by the big insurance companies were invested to build lump sums, cover mortgages or pay pensions - and many savers will be wondering why they bothered.

In February and March, the major providers announce their annual bonuses - equivalent to interest earned on savings accounts - according to the performance of their funds during 2011.

The countdown is on if you are one of those savers who hasn't yet fully used the important tax shelter on personal Isa allowances available until April 5.

Launched by Gordon Brown in 1999, Isas hold £385 billion of small savers' money in 15 million accounts.

The news that inflation peaked in December at 5.1% and could be under 2% by September is little consolation for savers who think they have carried the can for Britain's overspending - at Government and personal levels - for far too long.

Simon Rose, spokesman for lobby group Save Our Savers (SOS), is guarded in his response.

As the 'baby boomers' born directly after the Second World War finally put their feet up, a record number of people - around 830,000, including pop star David Bowie - are set to collect their state pensions in 2012, a 28% surge on 2011.

Whether they are all bound for a golden old age is a delicate question. A new report suggests hundreds of thousands of private sector pensioners could get a shock when they buy annuities worth a total £12 billion to provide an income, alongside the basic state pension, to sustain them for rest of their lives.

Four years into the global credit crunch, many small savers remain convinced that shares are too risky - so they have no alternative to leaving their savings in bank and building society accounts paying wretched rates of return.

The limitations of this approach are highlighted by figures from analysts Capita Registrars showing British companies paid out a record £67.8 billion in dividends in 2011, the first rise since 2008.

Whenever I hear Energy Secretary Chris Huhne cheerfully urging consumers to shop around to beat surging energy prices which the Government's green policies help to promote, I huff and puff in silent fury - along, no doubt, with millions of others.

Until this week, when I asked the price comparison website energyhelpline.com to check my annual consumption figures for gas and electricity as a dual fuel customer with British Gas.

When little-known Norwich & Peterborough Building Society (N&P) tweaked the terms of its Gold Classic account this week, it unwittingly jumped to the top of the best-buy charts for travellers who regularly leave Britain's shores.

Because this account, with a minimum funding requirement of £500 per month, offers free overseas debit card transactions, says Andrew Hagger, spokesman at Moneynet.co.uk.

If you're planning a holiday in Europe this year, or could soon be involved in moving funds to buy or sell a holiday home, is this the moment to build a stash of euros?

An unlikely consequence of the eurozone crisis currently rocking global financial stability is the strong rise of the pound against the euro since last summer - possibly buttressed by David Cameron's decision to veto an EU-wide treaty at the Brussels summit.

Do you really need that gym membership which lifts a lump sum out of your bank account each month? And why struggle with private healthcare premiums when they soar on the wrong side of 50?

Many of us will need to look closely at where our money goes in 2012.

Despite the death of founder Steve Jobs, Fortune magazine has no doubts: Apple is the share to buy for 2012, it says, with earnings set to soar by 30%.

Great news, I thought, as the fund where I save £100 a month - GLG Technology Equity - has nearly £10 million invested in Apple.