There are two elements to consider in this section: life cover and illness cover. Both types of cover can be combined into a single protection policy.

Life cover is very straightforward, it is a lump sum paid out on death.

If disaster was to strike, what about those that are left behind now that a breadwinner is gone?

If there are children in the family, what about putting food on the table, clothes on their back and shoes on their feet? Not to mention helping them into the future such as the opportunity to go to college.

As parents, it is good advice to protect the household while the children are growing up. Assume they go to school until they are 18 and then add on, say, four years for further education, apprenticeship or travelling. By the age of 22, hopefully they are ready for the real world and the cover may not be needed. Up to that point, though, the family unit needs to be protected.

Specified Illness, Critical Illness and Serious Illness are different names for the same thing.

The basic idea behind these policies is that a lump sum is paid out on confirmed diagnosis of a covered condition. A typical scenario is where a doctor says ‘bad news, it’s cancer’. Cancer, Heart Disease, Stroke and Multiple Sclerosis make up over 90% of claims; although there is a long list of other horrible conditions that will also be covered.

The last thing you need when you have health problems is money problems. These policies can make a huge difference to a family at a crucial time of their lives.

One aspect I like about these policies is that, if a parent has this cover in place, any children they have tend to be automatically covered for the same illness. This will be up to a certain age and a smaller level of cover but it is, in my opinion, a very reassuring extra layer of protection for a family.