When you're bringing up a family, making sure they are protected will be one of your top priorities in life. That includes providing them with a safe and comfortable home, clothing and food to eat. Obviously, your financial health plays a major part in all this.

Looking after your finances today can really help you avoid money problems in the future. But earlier this year, research from Aviva suggested that 93% of families in the UK don't feel adequately financially protected.

Nobody has complete control over their future, but with a bit of careful planning you could make it much less likely that your family will run into problems.

Here's a quick guide to making sure your family is better protected financially.

Budgeting

There's no better way to ensure you're living within your means than sticking to a strict budget. By making sure you always put enough money aside for your essential living costs, you'll know how much you can safely spend on other things without missing anything important.

To work out your own basic budget, all you need to do is add up your essential monthly costs (like mortgage/rent, bills, etc.) and subtract the total from your take-home income. For example, if you earn £1,300 a month and your total outgoings come to £1,000, you'll know you can afford to spend £300 in a month without the risk of missing important payments.

Saving

Budgeting can help you to stay within your means, but what if your outgoings shoot up suddenly, or your income falls? A good savings pot could make it much easier to deal with these situations.

A lot of experts recommend keeping the equivalent of three months' salary in a savings account, but in truth even a small amount will help more than no savings at all.

If you're looking to protect yourself, it's probably best to have a savings account specifically for emergencies. If you want to save for other things as well, you could set up another savings account for that purpose.

Life insurance

Recent research by Confused.com found that almost half of mothers have no life insurance in place. In the event of your death, a life insurance policy could really help your family to cover mortgage payments and other bills. Without this help, they might struggle to keep up.

Passing away early is something nobody wants to think about, but it pays to be prepared: the right life insurance policy could ensure that your family are provided for if the worst does happen.

There are two main categories of life insurance:

Term life insurance - Life insurance that lasts for a fixed term. You'll keep making payments for this period, after which the policy will expire and you'll have to find a new policy (if you want to remain covered).

If you pass away at any time during the term, your family will receive a payout (subject to the terms of the agreement).

Whole-of-life insurance - Life insurance that covers you for the rest of your life. Because it's almost guaranteed to pay out, this type of insurance is more expensive, but you may consider this worthwhile for the security it provides.