Like the ostrich, are you sticking your head in the sand when it comes to insuring yourself? According to recent statistics from the insurance industry, sales of the most basic personal protection insurance products, i.e. life insurance and income protection, have been falling, despite reductions in premiums.

Maybe people think if they ignore the need for such insurance, it may go away. It's never going to happen to themit can't. But it can and it does. Lack of income protection may be a disaster for you and your family. Lack of life insurance would mean devastation for them and there would be nothing whatsoever that you could do about it.

The insurance industry are quite right to be concerned about the reasons for the decline and are clearly making a great effort to communicate the value of both health and income protection and life cover. As one critical illness provider stated, they have received a lot of negative media coverage regarding rejections of claims and payment delays. However, they also make the comment that "Providers are now publishing their claim statistics, and this transparency is helping to improve consumer trust."

The industry feels that some of the problem may lie in their application forms. These are not particularly user-friendly and people can be discouraged from filling in long and complicated-looking forms. Some of the definitions in the policies are very difficult to comprehend and frankly uninspiring. Maybe what is needed is a new look at the marketing of these products with a view to producing more simple and easy to understand literature.

Critical illness cover is designed to pay out an agreed sum should you be diagnosed with any of a list of serious illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer, strokes, diseases of the nervous system etc.,

It's a worrying fact that one in three people will suffer from some type of cancer in their lifetime. Improvements in diagnosis and treatment are encouraging, but taking some types of leukaemia as one example, the treatment can last as long as 18 months or more and return to full time work could be delayed for some time after that. The medical conditions covered will be clearly shown on the policy and this should be studied carefully. The cover is designed to give you and your dependants a cash sum at a critically important time, leaving you to get on with your treatment and recovery. It is extremely important that you disclose all previous illnesses, no matter how trivial. As soon as a claim is made, the first thing the insurer will do is to go through your medical history with a fine tooth comb. Tell them everything and you'll not have a problem.

The effect of critical illness can be far-reaching. You may need to change your career, your car or even your home. It's not a time to be worrying about where your next pay cheque will be coming from. Do consider this really important form of insurance.

A shocking fact is that almost 50% of the population of the UK have absolutely no form of life cover. If you are single, have no debts and absolutely no dependants in need of support in the event of your death, then you probably have no need of life insurance. How many people are in this position?

It's possible that you have some form of insurance through your employment. Check this with your employer. There may be an element of income protection or life assurance but almost certainly this will need topping up.

There are several types of life cover. Term insurance means that your life is covered for an agreed term. Commonly this fits in with the life of your mortgage, or maybe a loan. A whole of life policy is payable on your death.

As far as your family is concerned, would they be able to continue with their current lifestyle if the worst was to happen? Provision should be made for them. At the very minimum you need to cover the period until the youngest child can reasonably be expected to become fully independent.

Don't delay. Take advice on the amount of cover you need. Critical illness and life insurance are imperative if your family is to have financial security. Unless by any chance you happen to be a millionaire!

You'll find all the advice and help that you need if you go online. It's no use going to an individual insurer, it's better to find an experienced broker who'll compare the various companies and come up with some options for you. There'll only be one session of form filling and then you can relax and know that you've taken the first important steps to protect your family.

Good health and long life.