Investors could be forgiven for steering clear of shares this year after the FTSE 100 suffered its biggest ever decline in 2008. The index of Britain’s leading shares closed on Wednesday at 4,434 points, down 31% over the year — the worst performance since its inception in 1984.

Consumers are likely to focus on clearing their debts rather than putting new money into the markets this year: households paid off £5.7 billion of mortgage debt between July and September — the largest equity injection since Bank of England records began in 1970.

However, brave investors with cash may find stock markets throw up some interesting opportunities over the next few months. In past recessions, shares have tended to bottom six to twelve months before the economy, analysts say, with the current recession expected to end towards the end of this year or the beginning of 2010.

Areas that are exciting investment professionals at the moment include UK equity income funds — funds that invest in companies paying above-average dividends — as savers seek an alternative to rock-bottom deposit rates.

America, where the recession is forecast to recede quicker than in the rest of the world, is also attracting attention, and some analysts are even suggesting that it could be time to start moving back into banks.

We asked the experts for their top 20 tips to make and save cash in 2009.

1 REDUCE THE MORTGAGE

House prices fell 2.2% in December and are down 16% over the year, according to Halifax. Homeowners could find that about 25%-30% of equity will be wiped off the value of their properties before the downturn ends, which could make it difficult to remortgage given that lenders are increasingly reserving their best deals for people with more than 30% to 40% equity.

The best advice for 2009 is to clear some of your mortgage debt. If you have a variable-rate mortgage, one of the easiest ways to start paying it off more quickly is to maintain the monthly payments at the same rate rather than cutting them in line with interest-rate reductions. Watch out for overpayment penalty charges, though.

2 TRANSFER DEALS

More than 3m Britons are expected to shift £7 billion between credit cards in the first three months of this year to take advantage of introductory balance-transfer deals, according to research from Abbey. Top offers include Virgin credit card’s 16-month 0% deal, which carries a 2.98% fee.

3 THE YEAR FOR INCOME

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