Your home is probably your single most valuable asset and it is extremely important that you protect it against damage and theft, along with other eventualities. Home contents insurance and buildings insurance are your two strongest allies in this war against natural and human forces of destruction.

Burglars can descend like wolves out of the night, making off with your most treasured possessions within minutes, when you least expect it. You may have the best alarm system money can buy, but it’s a sad fact of life that sooner or later your defences will be breached and if there’s no house contents insurance in place it could prove financially disastrous, as well as infuriating.

Contents home insurance is optional, as the only thing the mortgage company is interested in is your bricks and mortar; their own investment and they couldn’t give a fig about your personal possessions. Whether you have a mortgage or not it’s sensible to take out contents insurance, because you can protect yourself against other eventualities, such as power cuts, when the contents of your freezer may be trashed and accidental damage to spectacles and other possessions.

Many of your possessions are usually covered if you take them out of the property, but travel insurance normally needs to be taken out should you take them on holiday with you.

Buildings insurance is compulsory if you have a mortgage and covers the cost of rebuilding your property should it be badly damaged by the likes of fire, flooding or subsidence.