Life Assurance comes in a variety of forms.

It does not matter how it is packaged. The bottom line is that it will pay out a sum of money in the event of death whenever that occurs.

Of course, we will all die at some time in the future. The question is whether one protects against the inevitability of death or merely the possibility of death occurring during a particular period of time.

Even if you do not have any dependants reliant on your earnings for their security, you may wish to ensure that in the event of your death sufficient money is available to quickly tidy up your affairs.

Life Assurance can be combined with savings plans to generate tax free sums of money at a known time in the future for use in paying off loans like mortgages. It can similarly generate a tax free cash sum upon eventual death for use in paying Inheritance Tax or just as a gift on death for specified recipients.

Life Assurance can be combined with other forms of protection like Critical Illness cover where it protects against the effects of long term illness, disease or disability, circumstances that stop us from maintaining our working life and therefore, reduce or remove our ability to earn.

Other forms of assurance such as Permanent Health Insurance, Mortgage Interest Payment Protection and Health Insurance protect the continuity of income flow, critical out-goings or costs of hospital treatment so that one's standard of living does not suffer in times of particular hardship.

Either way, if you think about it, we all have some degree of responsibility to either our dependants or ourselves. So have you got sufficient cover to protect your standard of living and that of your family?

"Thank you so very much for your advice. You have gone to a lot of trouble for me and I am most grateful."

BARBARA WILKINS