Ruth Emery

A potential mis-selling scandal where financial advisers recommend the cheapest, rather than the most suitable, investment fund to their client so they can add large advice fees on top has been highlighted by a wealth manager.

The UK's economic growth for the last three months of 2011 has been revised down by the Office for National Statistics, which blamed the transport and communications, business services and finance sectors for the change.

We weigh up the pros and cons of pensions and ISAs as a means to take control of your investments and keep the taxman at bay.

A limit on the amount of income tax relief that can be used each year will be introduced in 2013. But it is unclear what tax reliefs the new cap will affect.

The Chancellor has pledged to combine the two state pensions into one simplified pension, as well as increasing the state pension age automatically in line with rises in longevity.

More money has been saved into stocks and shares ISAs than personal pensions for the first time in almost a decade.

With the Budget less than a month away, predictions as to what will be announced by chancellor George Osborne on 21 March range from scrapping higher-rate tax relief on pensions and extending the stamp duty holiday to getting the one million young unemployed people into work.

The City watchdog has obtained a court order against a firm operating a boiler room scam, and secured around €77,000 (around £64,000) in compensation for its victims.

The government is considering axing higher-rate tax on pension contributions in next month's Budget, to help pay for lifting people earning less than £10,000 out of tax.

Investors can do little when falling markets leave them smarting, but tax-free investments such as ISAs and pensions can help ease their pain, says Ruth Emery.