When you're young, insurance is not always your first concern. In fact, graduates who go straight from university and into a job are usually so caught up in earning their first salary that savings and insurance remain at the back of their mind. This is a trend that can be hard to escape, particularly if they become used to a certain amount of disposable income. Recent research seems to evidence this trend, suggesting that young people between the ages of 24 and 34 do not have enough financial protection.

According to research undertaken by Co-operative Insurance, over half of young people between the ages of 24 and 34 would be unable to afford their financial outgoings if they had to miss work for an extended period of time. So if you're aged between 24 and 34 and you face having to miss work for due to a sudden illness or bereavement in the family, it's likely that you won't possess the financial insurance cover you need.

The research infers that women are more likely to protect themselves from unexpected events than men, with 35 per cent of females taking out insurance. However, the survey also reveals that only one in ten young Britons tend to review their financial cover and financial options when they're about to get married. Head of protection at Co-operative Insurance, Fiona Jackson, commented that planning for the future is "essential". A majority of consumers only decide to take out insurance once something dramatic has happened to them, and Jackson asserts that if consumers "don’t take time out to plan, they run the real risk of having inadequate cover in place to protect both their individual and family needs."

When choosing life insurance, there are a variety of options available to the consumer. However, if you're trying to obtain life insurance when you're young, the best type of insurance is investment-type life insurance, which includes endowment policies and "whole of life policies". As well as paying out in the event of your death, this type of insurance generally builds up in investment value over the years.

So, if you purchase investment-type life insurance when you're young, its value will accumulate during your lifetime and can even be cashed in on before you die. Personal pension schemes, like stakeholder schemes, often count as investment-type life insurance as well. If you opt to invest in life insurance, you'll find a variety of online resources that will help you compare life insurance policies, thus easing the decision-making process. So you have no excuses to delay - invest in life insurance today, and guarantee your future financial safety, as well as your family's!