Stock market guru Crispin Odey (pictured), one of the City's most revered fund managers, stunned many investors last week by predicting a looming shares bloodbath. With Odey's dire warning ringing in our ears, The Mail on Sunday assesses what investors with money in pensions and Isas should do.

The Royal Mint has just swung open its vault doors to gold bar investors - selling solid ingots for about £50 each. Its move demonstrates how gold is no longer the preserve of the super-rich - as portrayed by James Bond villain Goldfinger. Nor is it necessary to have your own security vaults to hoard your gold as in Harry Potter's Gringotts Bank.

The TV remake of the classic 1960s puppet show Thunderbirds is set to send the value of related memorabilia rocketing. The latest incarnation has animated characters in a computer graphics series replacing the much-loved 'supermarionation' puppets on strings. It will be shown this spring on ITV and merchandise is being released in July to accompany it - including a Tracy Island, home of International Rescue.

Company bosses are bracing themselves for a jump in payroll bills after court rulings on workers' holiday pay and overtime. Businesses are facing higher costs after the European Court of Justice ruled holiday pay must include not just basic salary but also an amount for overtime typically worked.

A recruitment business set up by two former inmates to help ex-prisoners find work has partnered with X-Forces, one of the leading charities supporting ex-servicemen and women, and has won the support of Lord Young, David Cameron's enterprise adviser. Recruitment software boss Peter Linas, pictured left, was impressed by Steve Newell, right, a former inmate at Brixton, and offered his product for free to the start-up.

The European Central Bank has given stock markets a boost with the launch of its 1.1trillion bond buying quantitative easing programme. But what difference do fund managers investing your money in the region think QE will make. We get some professional investors views on what to back.

The falling value of the euro against the Swiss franc, US dollar and British pound has been all over the news lately but what we really want to know is how much the made-up money from our favourite TV shows, films and games is really worth.

I would like to withdraw some of my funds after pension freedom starts in a few months, but I'm worried I will pay too much tax. I plan to take out small amounts over several years to get around this, but I'm wondering how taxing of pension money will work in practice. Should I try to sort this out myself or get an accountant to fill in HMRC forms for me?

Website camelcamelcamel.co.uk is a nifty tool that tracks the price of items on Amazon - and tells you when your favourites go on sale. Users can look up the price of an item they are thinking of buying and see whether it is cheaper to buy than at other times or whether they'll be paying a premium by buying it there and then.

The election of Syriza has put the question of whether some of Greece's debts should be forgiven firmly on the table - yet perhaps it would simply be better off out of the euro altogether. The existing eurozone simply does not work. Its members should chalk that up to experience and get a new plan - perhaps a tighter and smaller currency union if they want one.

Jigsaw owners John and Belle Robinson have handed out shares to management for the first time as part of a plan to boost growth and prepare the fashion business for a sale. Directors and several key managers at the group, whose customers include the Duchess of Cambridge, have collectively been awarded a 9 per cent share in the business.

Economists say the reason for a drop in activity in the UK housing market 'remain unclear' as the annual rate of house price growth falls to a 14-month low and the speed of house price increases declines for the fifth month in succession, according to the latest Nationwide house price index

Lisa Cooper (left) had the type of car accident drivers dread - a car hit her head-on after coming on to the wrong side of the road (right). She was on her way to audition for a local amateur dramatics group and the crash, on a summer's afternoon, left her unable to move.

After years of delay, last week the European Central Bank finally announced it would start a programme of money printing in a bid to save the Continent's ailing economy. The decision, which came six years after the UK started pumping money into its own economy (a process known as quantitative easing), came after the Euro plunged.

I rang British Gas to ask why the cost of my boiler and central heating policy had risen by nearly 20 per cent to just over £30 a month, but I couldn't get a straight answer. Are you able to help? You called out a British Gas engineer four times last year: twice for faulty radiators, once for a problem with boiler pressure and once to clear central heating pipes. The more claims you make, the higher the premium on renewal.

The motor manufacturer this week starts production of its new XC90 sports-utility vehicle, the brainchild of Hakan Samuelsson who was installed as chief executive of the car giant two years ago. The hope is that the XC90 will turbo-charge Volvo into the luxury league along with Mercedes and Audi, leaving its staid and slightly boring image on the hard shoulder. We meet the boss and get his throughts.

If you're worried about volatility - you shouldn't be. Volatility, as painful as it may be, is normal.If the market's ups and downs are making you a little bit more uneasy than usual, there are ways to ride out the storm - and maybe even profit, says Fidelity's Maike Currie.

Is it acceptable to spend eight years encouraging people to do something, then stage a U-turn and tax them for following your suggestion? Islington Council thinks it is. After pushing people to buy diesel cars since 2007 with its emission-based residents parking permit system, it has now whacked them with an extra £96-a-year charge for doing what it wanted.

To clear the average national household debt of £13,000 at 6% interest with a monthly repayment of £100 will take around 17 years. There are, however, plenty of simple ways to make significant savings on your regular spending that could clear your debt - or boost your savings - in less than a year. This is Money's top 50 - updated - money-saving tips may appear light-hearted but are deadly serious.

Choosing the right DIY platform is crucial but a wealth of choice and changes to charges have left many investors scratching their heads. We pick some of the best. We also highlight why investing in an Isa makes sense, as it should protect your hopefully growing investments from tax forever.

This has been a big week for monetary policy. The European Central Bank finally announced quantitative easing in the eurozone, with a plan to print 60bn-a-month, while at home in the UK the Bank of England's rate hike hawks backed down. The question now is whether rates will now even rise at all in the UK this year?

The influence of financial services on the economy is spelled out again as City brokers steal top spot in this year's official list of highest earners. According to the detailed 2014 annual salaries survey, brokers pocketed around 40 times more this year than those at the bottom of the list - the people responsible for keeping children safe on the way to school. Lollipop crossing patrols earned around £3,400.