If, like me, you get a little bit fed up of being told by Michael Parkinson to save for your funeral or leaving a `little` behind for your loved ones, you will appreciate that as we get older, we sometimes forget that our parents are also getting older.

Yes, we all know about life assurance and funeral insurance, but what about the living! What about protecting our elders from one thing they fear the most! That is why I made a decision about home emergency insurance that not only gives them peace of mind, but us as well.

This may seem and obvious statement, but it occurred to me last year when I was considering what to give my father for Christmas. It was only October after all! My mother had died a year earlier so he was alone. He was not wealthy, but was comfortable barring any unforeseen expense. That gave me a clue. We had taken out home emergency insurance the previous year after having a near miss with a leaking pipe in the roof.

I called round to see dad and told him that I had got his present early. At first, he did not seem to realize what it was! However, once he had read the contents of the large envelope a broad smile appeared. I had spent a lifetime relying on him when I was growing up, not it was my turn to repay some of that support.

It was a double-edged sword. We both had peace of mind for different reasons.