Life Insurance provides invaluable protection for NZ families. When there is a death in the family there is a lot of change, uncertainty, and surges in emotions and often stress. All this as family members deal with grieving – each in their own way.
Imagine having to deal with all this and also having unplanned, and unwanted financial pressures when a loved family member has passed away? Life Insurance can’t help with any of the human traits relating to grief; however it can remove financial stress and pressure.
Having Life Insurance in place will allow family members to plan a funeral without having to worry about the cost, take time off work to be with children, travel from overseas if required to be with other family members as well as taking care of the day to day bills and living expenses while the family re-builds itself and comes to terms with their new ‘normal’ – a family that is missing a member, permanently.
Having the right amount of Life Insurance is a challenge. Life Insurance is not about enriching lives when a family member passes away, but more supporting the remaining family members and compensating them for that loss, to enable them to continue to live their lives without financial pressures.
Important costs to consider when deciding how much Life Insurance you need should include the following:
- Debt
- Future ongoing income requirements for the family
- Children education costs
- Retirement income for the remaining spouse
Because every family is different some costs will have a bigger impact on families than others. Consider for example a family with five children as opposed to two children. The family with five children is likely to have much higher ongoing income requirements and education costs than the family with two children. They may however have no debt whereas the family with two children may have considerable debt.
Because families are so different, not just in their structure but often culturally it’s really important to have the amount of Life Insurance in place tailored to the individual family – there are no hard and fast rules as to the amount each family needs how it’s structured and how long they will need it for.
It’s for the reasons above that independent advice from a Life Insurance specialist is always a good idea.
Getting life insurance quotes online today is simple and often an easy choice for people who tech savvy, time poor or both. There are many options available when buying life insurance online or requesting life insurance quotes, websites operated by brokers, direct purchasing from life insurance companies as well as the banks.
When considering applying for a life insurance policy online there are several key points to consider:
Life Insurance Quotes: Ensuring that you apply for the right amount of cover
When you are calculating the amount of life insurance you need consider: debts, a cash buffer / income for your partner and children, children’s future education costs, funeral costs and any extra help that may be needed e.g. a housekeeper or a nanny
Life Insurance Quotes: Understanding the policy and its limitations
It’s important to understand what your policy includes. Does it include a bereavement grant (when an immediate lump sum is available on the death of a life assured? Does it in have built in ‘special events increase facility’, when the sum assured can be increased when financial responsibilities change? Does it have a terminal illness benefit? All of these could make a huge difference to you and your family at claim time.
Life Insurance Quotes: Making sure the ownership is correct
In our modern society ‘blended families’ have become much more prevalent and many parents need to know that all of their children will be looked after die. This often means children from a new relationship as well as children from a previous relationship. There are different mechanisms to achieve that the right persons benefit from a life insurance policy. These range from individual policy ownership, family trusts, to wills and estate planning.
Life Insurance Quotes: Knowing who to contact when you need to claim
Having life insurance in place is the first step in protecting your family. However it is just as critical to them at claim time that the claim is taken care of efficiently and quickly with a minimum of fuss and stress to the surviving family members. When buying life insurance and requesting life insurance quotes online you need to know that you have access to someone who can manage your claim for you.
Life Insurance Quotes: Ensuring that you understand the premium structure
Unfortunately it’s a fact of life that as you age your insurance premium will increase – often becoming unaffordable later in life. However there are ways of managing this, for example ‘locking in’ some of your life insurance to a fixed premium.
These are all important points and often it can be difficult to get a clear understanding of these when buying a life insurance policy online – that’s why we always recommend a compromise between buying online and getting advice from a life insurance professional.
Life Insurance Quotes: Life insurance for business owners
Life Insurance Quotes
Life Insurance Quotes: Life insurance for business owners
Would your business be able to survive the death of an owner, partner or other key person? What impact would an unexpected death have on your family and personal finances?
These are questions that all business owners need to ask themselves when considering life insurance quotes, because even the most successful enterprise (and life) can come unstuck if plans aren’t made to protect the input of owners and key people.
The most common reason for not paying enough consideration to the human contribution to business is the belief that the chances of death are slim. However, statistics tell a more compelling story.
This chart illustrates the probability of death, based on NZ Life tables
Probability of at least one partner dying before age 65
| Average age
of partners |
Four partners
in business |
Three partners
in business |
Two partners
in business |
| 35 | 51% | 41% | 30% |
| 45 | 48% | 39% | 27% |
| 55 | 38% | 30% | 21% |
When deciding whether to obtain (business) life insurance quotes is right for you, consider the following:
Business debt
An inability to pay loan instalments, tax bills, salaries or rent would spell disaster for most businesses. How would your business cope if key owners or employees where permanently out of the picture?
Business ownership
Death can force a change of ownership structure, making it necessary to draw on cash reserves and assets. The alternative can be getting a new, unwanted, business partner – possibly a relative of your deceased business partner or their accountant for example.
Having a formal shareholders agreement in conjunction with a buy / sell agreement and life insurance policies to fund your buy / sell agreement is critical to ensuring that your business can continue.
Additional benefits
As well as providing funds which can be used to clear debt, take care of ownership and help with business continuity there are often other benefits built into business life insurance policies which are extremely valuable while all of the owners are alive.
For example the ‘business safeguard option’ which allows for the initial sum assured to be increased by up to five times up to age 65 with no further medical requirements (each insurance companies terms and conditions around this benefit differ and will be limited by the individual policy wordings).
This is a great benefit when the value of the company is expected to grow. Essentially the life assured is medically underwritten at the time of application, effectively ‘locking in’ any future cover that is required based on their current health condition.
Then when future increases in cover are required due to changing business circumstance, e.g. increased business debt or increased business value new cover can be added with only financial justification required. Again, each insurance company has different terms and conditions for this benefit and policy wordings.
To ensure that your business can survive the death of an owner, partner or other key person and to get cover that matches your needs it is important to seek specialised advice. A business risk adviser can help you work through the risks to your business and can develop a plan that will allow your business to continue if the worst happens.
For free life insurance quotes please click below.
Having a life insurance plan in place is all about choice – choice at claim time. By having an insurance plan in place you can protect yourself and your loved ones.
When you’re thinking of insurance (either life or health), then life insurance quotes are often the first that come to mind.There are however 5 key risk areas that you need to recognise to protect the financial wellbeing of you and your family.
1. Risk management for hospitalisation
Health insurance is designed to complement New Zealand’s public health system by giving you access to surgery and treatment immediately rather than having to wait. If you suffer from an acute condition you will be seen at a public hospital and receive excellent care.
It’s when you need an elective procedure that you may have to wait. By having a health insurance plan you can decide when, where and how you get treated.
2. Risk management for being unable to work
An accident, illness or temporary disability at some time during your working life is statistically a very real possibility.
Income Protection insurance is designed to provide you with monthly cash flow, after an agreed stand down period. These funds can help with your monthly expenses until you are able to get back to work.
3. Risk management for trauma
Experiencing a serious illness or disability such as cancer, heart attack or paralysis is life changing. Trauma insurance is designed to minimise the financial impact faced by you and your family at this stressful, uncertain time.
Statistics tell us that two in five people (40%) will experience a critical illness before age 65 (1). Trauma cover pays a lump sum when certain conditions, as specified in your policy wording, are diagnosed.
The lump sum provides financial security and allows you to spend precious time with loved ones.
4. Risk management for never working again
Financially this is the worst thing that can happen to you. Imagine being 35 years old and never being able to work again – that’s 30 years of earning potential gone.
Statistics tell us that for every death in NZ, 17 people will become disabled to the point where they can’t work (2).
While you’re working life may have ended prematurely it is likely that your financial responsibilities have not. Total and Permanent Disability Cover is designed to pay a lump if you are permanent disabled due to illness or accident.
The funds can be utilised to repay debt, pay for care or to replace income.
5. Risk management for premature death
No one wants to think about dying, but unfortunately it is going to happen. In NZ one in six men and one in nine women over 30 will die between the ages of 30 and 65 (3).
Life insurance is designed to protect your family and provide for their future if you die prematurely.
Life Insurance allows them time to adjust to life without you, and can be used to repay debt or invested to provide ongoing income.
For more information on Life Insurance Quotes please click below.
Life Insurance Quotes
Life Insurance Quotes: A taxing time for Term Life Insurers
How much will your life insurance premiums increase?
If you have life insurance or are thinking of applying for life insurance quotes in the near future there are a few things you should know that will impact the cost of your cover.
New taxation laws that come into effect on 01 July 2010 mean that there will be an increase in tax paid by insurers on life insurance business. Previously this tax has been subsidised to try to rectify the ‘under insurance’ problem in New Zealand. This tax increase will have a flow on effect for insurance customers.
Life Insurance Policies: Grand Parenting
The new tax legislation includes ‘grand parenting’ for existing polices which reduces the immediate effect of the tax impact for insurers on existing term life policies. ‘Grand parenting’ provides a transitional period during which the old tax rules continue to apply for up to five years in most cases.
Most of the term life insurance providers have announced how these tax changes will affect their premiums – a simple guide is below:
- AIA 13% increase in premium for all new policies post 01 July 2010
- Asteron 7.5% increase for new and existing policies, introduced across the next 12 months
- Sovereign 15% increase for all new policies post 01 July 2010
- Tower 7% increase for all new and existing policies, introduced across the next 12 months
- Fidelity 2.5% increase for all new and existing polices for each of the next five years – this increase includes all products e.g. income protection, trauma, permanent disability and term life
- AMP Premiums were increased last year in anticipation of tax legislation changes
- ING Life Details not yet announced
If you are considering adding or making changes to your term life insurance now is definitely the time to act. Give us a call today to discuss your individual needs and situation or talk to us about life insurance quotes.
Yes! Using a life insurance broker to help you with quotes and advice is a is a smart idea. There are a number of reasons why. They include:
1. A broker helps guide you through the life insurance quotes process.
2. A broker helps you understand all the products and what they will deliver for you at claim time.
3. A broker helps you to assess how much cover you need and will provide quotes for all of the different options.
This is much quicker than shopping around on your own and more impartial than going to your bank who will only be able to offer one option.
Help With The Detail…Quotes & Applications
Your life insurance broker will help you to complete application forms and will manage the quote application process, working with your chosen insurance provider to make sure that all the information they need to underwrite your application is received and reviewed in a timely manner.
Using a life insurance broker gives you more control and choice as to who provides the valuable insurance protection for you and your family. Your broker really comes into play if the insurance company decides that they are not able to offer standard terms and will apply a loading (this is where the premiums increase due to increased perceived risk) or decides to apply an exclusion for a certain medical condition or injury.
Your broker will negotiate any terms on your behalf and if the result is not satisfactory they will approach other providers who may be able to offer better terms.
Your Life Insurance Contact
Once your life insurance policy is in place your broker will be your ‘go to’ person if you have any questions or need any changes made to your policy and will get in touch with you to review your policy annually.
Your policy will work best for you if it is up to date with benefit amounts, correct ownership and premiums paid. When you need to make a claim your broker should be your first port of call.
They will collect the appropriate claim forms for you, help to fill them out and will liaise with the insurance company to get the claim assessed as quickly as possible.
Other Benefits
Often there are built in benefits with life insurance policies that you may not be aware of for example: bereavement support benefit which releases an immediate lump sum on the death of a life assured and special events increase benefits which allows you to increase your cover with no underwriting in certain circumstances.
It all starts with the life insurance quotes process. We provide a fast and independent service that offers free help with various life insurance quotes from all of the major insurance companies in NZ. Give us a try.
Once you have chosen from a selection of life insurance quotes and put your life insurance plan in place, it is often easy to sit back and forget about it.
Unfortunately this is something that you just can’t do.
Over time circumstances in our lives will change. And whilst the actual amount of insurance cover you have in place may still be correct it is also important to make sure that the ownership of the policy is as it should be.
Ownership of your policy dictates just who will receive the funds when you pass away…If this is not correct then it could be that benefit wont flow to the right person or people.
Life Insurance Policy Structures
One the life insurance quotes are handled, the most common ownership structures for life insurance policies are individual ownership, joint ownership between spouses or trustee ownership on behalf of a family trust. Unless your trust is a limited liability trust then the actual trust cannot own your policy, it must be owned by your trustees on behalf of your trust. In this situation we recommend a trustee resolution confirming these arrangements be prepared, and added to your trust file.
Over the lifetime of a family trust it is common for relationships to change and for trustees to change. It is critical that if a person is no longer a trustee of your trust that the are also removed as an owner of your insurance policy and replaced with the new trustee.
Blended Families & Life Insurance
Another key consideration with ownership, especially in the modern age with blended families is ensuring that children from any previous marriages are provided for as well as any children arising from a new marriage. When marriages break down and families separate it is also extremely important that the ownership of any insurance policies be reviewed. It may be that joint ownership is till appropriate as the surviving ex spouse will be responsible for any children.
If family dynamics are tenuous during in good times, when there is a death and people are grieving it can be extremely difficult – having the correct ownership of your insurance policy is very important as it provides certainty for the future.
It also helps ensure that your wishes are carried out.
The best and easiest way to ensure that your insurance policy is going to provide the outcome that you need if you do pass away is to your insurance policy and ownership structure each year to make sure that it is still correct, this is also a good time to review your estate planning and make any changes that are necessary.
More Than Just Life Insurance Quotes
It’s easy to take the ‘it won’t happen to me’ approach when a little prior planning can make all the difference to your loved ones if the unexpected does happen.
Let us help with these details…Our life insurance quotes service is free and easy to use. If you choose to let us help you with your life insurance matters, then we can provide independent, and easy to understand advice to help with the small but important details.
Our service goes way beyond providing quotes. Give us a try!
Life Insurance Tax Changes
New tax legislation will take effect on 01 July 2010 and will change the way life insurance is taxed. The new tax rules will mean a significant increase in the amount of tax that will be payable by life insurers on life risk business.
This will mean changes for you, the consumer, as well.
Part of the new tax rules allows for ‘grand parenting’ of policies that are currently in place over the next five years. This means that the insurance company is protected from tax changes on these policies over this period. It will be up to the individual insurer whether or not they increase premiums on these policies.
In the short to medium term it is likely that new life insurance quotes that become policies are going to cost more when they are taken out. Again, the percentage increase that individual insurance companies choose to raise their premiums by, if they raise them, is at their discretion.
Good Timing For Life Insurance Quotes
InAs a consumer there are a couple of options available to you to get in before any premium increases take effect. If you need any additional cover now is a good time to get a quote and apply for it. As long as the cover is in place before 01 July 2010 it will be protected under ‘grand parenting’ for the next five years.
An even more certain way to protect yourself from increasing premiums, as well as providing certain and predicable costs for your insurances over time, is to ‘lock in’ your policy using a level to age 65 or level to age 80 policy. By ‘locking in’ your policy in this way your premium is guaranteed until you reach age 65 or age 80 – whichever you choose. You will initially pay more for your cover but the premium amount will not change and over time the savings will be extremely significant.
A key benefit with ‘locking in’ your policy is that if you do this prior to 01 July 2010 you have a premium that is guaranteed and will therefore not be affected by the upcoming tax changes.
Our Advice
So – what to do?
If you are considering increasing your life insurance or putting cover in place now is most definitely the time to act. Life Insurance quotes are easy to organise – click below for help. It is also worthwhile considering ’locking in’ at least some of your cover to take advantage of long term premium guarantees.
We recommend a combination of ‘locked in’ and ‘rate for age’ cover (the premiums on rate for age increase as you get older) as this allows you to manage your short term needs – with rate for age cover, and your long term needs – with level cover.
If you’re not sure what’s best for you and your circumstances, click below to get a range of life insurance quotes from the main New Zealand life insurance companies.
There are eight major life insurance companies in New Zealand. All of these insurance companies are keen to provide us with life insurance quotes…on your behalf.
In addition to these insurance companies, many banks often have their own ‘in house’ life insurance products. Those that don’t have an ‘in house’ product will use one the major life insurance companies to underwrite their policies.
The key when deciding which Life Insurance company to use is who will be there to look after you at claim time? Will be the person on the end of the phone that you speak to? Will it be the bank teller who sold you life insurance?
We recommend dealing with a professional insurance broker (like us of course!) who will be able to give you quality advice and will be there to help you when you need them at claim time.
It’s not just about providing the best life insurance quotes at quote time, it’s also about being taken care of at the time when you really need it.
All of the life insurance companies below use a network of professional insurance advisers to distribute their insurance products. Also included are their claims paying ability ratings which are an independent assessment of an operating insurance company’s ability to pay its claims (there is no legal obligation on life insurance companies to be rated).
The easiest and fastes way to get the best quote that suits your situation is to let us provide you with quotes and recommendations.
Our quotes service is free and completely independent.
AIA Life Insurance Quotes
AIA New Zealand is a member of the AIA Group and commenced operations in New Zealand in 1981. They have a head office based in Auckland and a number of regional offices. AIA has a Standard and Poor’s rating of A+
AMP Life Insurance Quotes
AMP began selling life insurance policies in New Zealand in 1854. The company has its head office located in Auckland. AMP has a Standard and Poor’s rating of AA-
Asteron Life Insurance Quotes
Asteron is a member of the Suncorp Group and operates in New Zealand and Australia. As at February 2010 Asteron elected not to be rated.
AXA Life Insurance Quotes
The foundations of AXA New Zealand stretch back 120 years, back to when they were called National Mutual. AXA has a Standard and Poor’s rating of A+
Fidelity Life Insurance Quotes
Fidelity Life was founded in 1973 and today Fidelity Life is the largest New Zealand-owned and controlled Life Insurance company. Fidelity Life has an AM Best rating of A-
ING Life Insurance Quotes
ING Life has recently been purchased by ANZ and will shortly be re-branded. At this time ING Life has elected not to be rated.
Sovereign Life Insurance Quotes
Sovereign’s head office is located on Auckland’s North Shore. They are part of the ASB group of companies and as at 22 December 2009 Sovereign had an AM Best rating of A+
Tower Life Insurance Quotes
TOWER commenced business in New Zealand in 1869 as a government department selling life insurance policies and pensions. It has grown and transformed over the past 139 years and its business today is mainly focused on selected niches in the risk insurance and wealth management markets. Tower has an AM Best rating of A+
Getting Life Insurance Quotes and choosing the right life insurance policy can be a tricky process.
No two people are alike – it’s all about you and what your family and loved ones will need if the unexpected happens and you are longer around.
Having life insurance means that those close to you have time to grieve and adjust to life without you and are shielded from financial pressure.
Life Insurance Quotes: Things to Consider
When you are choosing a life insurance policy from quotes that are presented to you, one of the key things to consider is ‘how long am I going to need this policy for’?
The key reason for this question is long term affordability. The premiums for most life insurance policies increase each year as you get older (rate for age) – long term this can mean that potentially it could become unaffordable – $200,000 life insurance for a 25 year old is comparatively inexpensive but for a 60 year old it’s a totally different story.
Predictable Life Insurance Premiums
The good news is that with a bit of forethought and planning you can protect yourself long term and have certain and predicable premiums. Most life insurance companies offer ‘level’ policies as well as ‘rate for age’. A ‘level’ premium policy maintains a fixed premium over the lifetime of the policy, until you reach age 65 or 70.
Level policies cost a bit more to start out with but over the lifetime of the policy you can save tens of thousands of dollars. The younger you are when you take out a level policy the lower the premium will be and the more money you will save.
It can be hard to judge how much life insurance you are going need going forward and to make long term plans when you never can be sure what’s around the corner. That’s why we recommend taking out a bit of both types of life insurance cover – some ‘level’ and some ‘rate for age’.
Think about any long term needs that you have (e.g. leaving an inheritance for your children or a nest egg for your partner) and consider a ‘level’ policy for this with short term needs e.g. debt on a ‘rate for age’ policy. Over time as your debt decreases you can reduce the amount of life insurance that you need but still have long term cover with the ‘level’ policy.
Special Life Events
When choosing from a selection of life insurance quotes, the right life insurance policy it’s not just about the type of policy or the price. A lot of life insurance companies offer extra benefits such as the ability to increase your cover without any more underwriting (great if your health has deteriorated) with a ‘special life events’ benefit. Some examples of a ‘special event’ are getting married, buying a house or having a child.
Most life insurance policies also contain a ‘terminal illness’ benefit which means that your policy may pay out before you die, if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness. This means that you can spend time with your family, maybe do that last big trip and tidy up your affairs before you pass away. Also, you will know that your family are going to be looked after once you are gone.
Every insurance company offers different benefits, premium structures and options – it’s a lot to consider. A specialist life insurance broker can help you with deciding what’s best for you and your family.
