The results of a recent survey of 1000 New Zealanders gauge their attitudes toward income insurance are far from stellar.
Intended to check whether any progress had been made on a $650 billion underinsurance problem identified in 2013 by the Financial Services Council, the Trade Me study showed very little change four years on: While 88% had vehicle insurance and 74% had home insurance, only 51% had life insurance and just 41% health insurance.
Living life is a risky business, especially in New Zealand. As any of the life insurance brokers at Ease will tell you, it’s important to prepare as much as possible for whatever life throws at you.
Despite being a developed, Western society with enviable civil defence and dependable infrastructure, Lloyd’s of London found New Zealand to be the second riskiest country in terms of their non-life underinsurance and insurance take-up rates.
It begs the question: how we can be “at risk” of disaster as a country known for overcrowding, vulnerable infrastructure and tropical cyclones? Put simply, geographical placement. Our islands straddle the tectonic plate boundary known as the “Ring of Fire”, complete with volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Furthermore, our latitude is firmly within the “Roaring Forties”, which only intensifies rain, snow, drought and wind. Together, these natural factors pose a potent risk to long-term planning.
More than 1 in 10 of private sector employees under a collective employment agreement do not have any redundancy pay. This number of private sector employees on collective employment agreements (CEAs) walking away with nothing has doubled since 2009 when this was only 5%. According to Victoria University’s Centre for Labour Employment and Work, many people aren’t even covered by CEAs. For those employees under an individual employment agreement, entitlements to redundancy money are rarely present.
It is reported that 800,000 New Zealand healthcare insurance policy owners have been stripped of insurance funds set aside to cover funeral costs.
This funeral allowance benefit was removed by Southern Cross. This was not the only benefit that was scrapped from the health insurance policy. A public hospital cash allowance and surgical procedure for sleep apnoea were also removed.
1500 people pass away each year without life insurance coverage, and without a will to give direction. That’s a lot of people who could pass without having their final wishes carried out.
Katrina Shanks, chief executive of Financial Advice New Zealand, said Kiwis had little financial resilience when things go wrong.
“Debt levels are high; the cost of living is high; savings are low and so are the number of Kiwis covered by life insurance, or with a plan in place for their financial future.”
Shanks said too few Kiwis sought financial advice which could help them keep afloat when life events hit.
Redundancy cover insurance policies are essential for most employees. Every year, thousands of workers in all sorts of industries are made redundant. This can come about as a result of businesses downsizing, restructuring, outsourcing work overseas, embracing automation or simply closing down. No matter what the reason, an involuntary redundancy can be a tough thing to have to deal with, especially if one hasn’t had the foresight to take out redundancy insurance.
To make matters worse, a redundancy often takes people by surprise and they find themselves unprepared to deal with the situation. As a result, they are left facing the very unpleasant, often frightening reality of not having a reliable income to cover life’s necessities for what could be a very uncertain length of time. In the meantime, however, while they struggle to find a new job, expenses pile up.
Of course, no-one wants to find themselves in a situation where lack of proper preparation for the possibility of a redundancy forces them to have to take drastic action, such as selling the family house and undoing years of hard work, simply in order to survive.
Is it possible to protect yourself against unexpected redundancy? The short answer is yes – by taking out involuntary redundancy insurance beforehand.
Do you find it hard to stay switched on when someone talks to you about life insurance? What about when they talk to you about the importance of having a Will?
Unfortunately, far too many people put off sorting either life insurance or writing a valid Will, until it’s too late. As a result, those left behind often end up having to deal with all sorts of negative consequences at a time when they’re grieving. Even worse, all of the associated heartache and trouble they experience when a loved one dies without having written a proper Will could have been easily avoided simply by Ease Insurance’s online will services. If you haven’t yet sorted your Will, take action now to get a Will online.
Setting up a Will online, much like getting life insurance, budgeting or building a retirement fund, is simply part and parcel of having a sound financial plan. After all, wouldn’t you say that taking actions to look after the long-term well-being of your loved ones, especially those who depend on you is paramount; should you come into harm’s way?
If you die without a Will no-one will know your wishes of dealing with your possessions and assets. Furthermore, if you die without a legal will then the intestacy laws of the country in which you live will determine what happens with your property, irrespective of what you really might have wanted to happen with your assets.
No body likes to get a price increase letter from their insurance company, but most of us will get one.
Did you know that in your 50’s you can be getting increases of about 15% per year ?
This means that your life insurance is going to double in price every 6 years.
Think about it, paying double what you are paying now, its not a nice thought.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a fixed price life insurance premium you could have that takes away the surprise of an increase each year.
The reason your Life Insurance is increasing is because the most common type of Life insurance policy that you own automatically increases in price every year. This type of premium is called “rate for age” or “stepped” and most life insurance policies sold today will be this way, the premium is linked to your age, so the older you get the more expensive your Life Insurance becomes.
When you arranged the Life Insurance the person probably didn’t even explain that you had an option on how the premium is calculated. You may find this annoying, and rightly so, the price of your insurance will start off affordable, but will eventually become very expensive. So over the life of the policy you will pay a lot of money.
Thats great for the insurance company, but not so great for you.
But there is another option, and its called a level premium, Level Life Insurance or Fixed price Life Insurance Premiums.
Redundancy Insurance Cover in New Zealand is an insurance policy that will pay you a monthly income if you get made redundant from your job, but how much does Redundancy Insurance cost?
It is a common misconception is that it is a very expensive type of insurance. The cost will vary depending on how much insurance you arrange.
A redundancy insurance policy is a type of agreed value income protection insurance. Each insurance company uses a calculation to work the amount of insurance they are prepared to offer you.
Whether you’re a first home buyer or looking to add another property to your portfolio, there’s no denying that purchasing a house is one of the biggest investments you’ll ever make in your life.
With this in mind, it’s important to think about what you can do to minimise the risks involved. Popular advice stipulates that the value of the house you buy should be significantly lower than the mortgage you’re approved for, but in New Zealand’s housing market this is rarely practical. In fact, many homebuyers are financially stretched to the max, leaving them financially vulnerable if anything were to happen to disrupt their income stream.
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