Interesting analysis reaches us from PricewaterhouseCoopers, which suggests savers in 'defined contribution' pension funds - that's most people currently working today - might as well have kept their money under the mattress over the past five years.

Following this week's torrid time on the markets, with most of the main indices down between 10% and 15%, PwC observes that these savers' pots are "this week worth no more than the cash contributions to them over the last five years."