I got married last year so saving wasn't really on the agenda - this year I'm going to make sure I use my full ISA allowance and hopefully we'll be able to pay a lump sum off the mortgage too.  

Having written that I'm now thinking it's maybe not such a good idea to pop up to Oxford Street on my way home from work...

Rachel Lacey is the editor of Moneywise

there are many possible low risk options mostly involving reduced growth potential, including investments offering a percentage of the growth on an index but guaranteeing the capital you invest is returned if all goes pear-shaped.
It'll also reduce risk if you diversify ie invest in many rather than one share, and there are many financial products that do this for you - at a price in initial (sometimes) and annual management fees. Investing over a longer timescale and drip feeding your money into the market also smooths out the ups & downs of the market reducing the risk that you buy all your shares at a time when prices are high.
Less often mentioned is cashing in your investments in a similar way a bit at a time over a longer period, though some plans do gradually remove your funds from at risk shares and into guaranteed or fixed interest investments as the time you have designated as your target for retirement or whatever approaches. This reduces the likelihood that you have to sell all your investments just after a crash or correction.

Above all though - the best investment you can make as a newbie - is to invest a pound in a trial of Moneywise subscription and then send for some of the guides the various investment companies produce on such topics as ISAs, pensions, equity release etc.

My plans for the year are to reduce legislative risk to my retirement plans by spreading my investment
- a little more off the mortgage, whose term I just reduced by 5 years after a series of extra payments this year,
- a bit in ISAs so I have choice over what to do with the money and when,
- and a good bit into a pension whilst Gordon Brown still allows higher rate relief.

I'm going for European investments as I keep seeing plants here losing out to east Europe, and then pacific & Latin America. I already have all the usual more balanced risk funds in my basic company pension scheme and a very staid friendly policy.