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AIA vs Asteron Life
Both write the full risk range through advisers. If income protection is part of what you are buying, that is where the comparison should spend most of its time, because it is where New Zealand wordings diverge most.
Last reviewed 4 September 2026 · Written and checked by the Best Life Insurance editorial team · How we get paid
In short
- Both operate across life, trauma, TPD and income protection; AIA also writes health cover.
- Income protection is the most technical product in the suite and the one where two identical-looking policies pay differently.
- Agreed value availability has narrowed across the market and differs by insurer, occupation and income type.
- Offset clauses decide the gap between the headline monthly benefit and the money that actually arrives.
- Occupation class drives availability, not only price — some classes cannot get certain benefit periods at all.
- Neither insurer publishes its underwriting appetite and both revise it with reinsurance arrangements.
What this is, plainly
AIA and Asteron Life are both licensed New Zealand life insurers distributing through advisers, with life, trauma, TPD and income protection. AIA’s range also extends to health cover, and it sells simpler products through more direct channels as well.
Where both insurers are on a shortlist that includes income protection, that is where the comparison earns its keep. Life cover is a relatively simple promise and wordings converge. Income protection is a complicated promise with a dozen moving parts, and those parts differ enough that two policies quoting the same monthly benefit can produce very different money at claim.
This is not a claim about either insurer. It is a claim about where the differences live, and about the fact that a life premium comparison will not surface any of them.
The six things that actually differ
If income protection is in the mix, compare these six before you compare anything else.
| What differs | What to ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Agreed value availability | Is agreed value offered for my income type and occupation class, or only indemnity? | Under indemnity your income is assessed at claim. For variable earners that is the whole policy. |
| Offsets and boosters | Exactly what income is offset — ACC, other insurance, sick leave, employer payments — and is a booster available? | Most New Zealanders have ACC for injury and not illness, so the offset clause shapes the real benefit. |
| Occupation classification | Which class does each insurer assign my job to, and what does that restrict? | Class definitions are not standardised, so the same job can be classed differently and priced differently at each. |
| TPD own-occupation | Is own-occupation available for my class, and at what age does the definition convert? | Own-occupation is far more useful than any-occupation, and it is not offered to everyone. |
| Trauma severity structure | Are severity-based partial payments made, and does a partial payment permanently reduce the main sum insured? | It changes what an early-stage diagnosis is actually worth to you. |
| Premium structure | Is level available on each benefit — including income protection — and to which expiry ages? | Level is not always offered on every benefit, which affects long-run affordability. |
Not sure what cover you actually need?
That is the question an adviser is there to answer. Tell us your situation and a licensed New Zealand adviser will compare the market and come back with a written recommendation — including where you can cut cover you do not need.
No cost to you and no obligation. General information only — not personalised financial advice.
What to watch for
These are the details that decide whether the cover does what you expected. Read them before you compare on price.
- Whether the income protection quoted is agreed value or indemnity on each side.
- Whether the waiting period starts when you stop work or at diagnosis.
- Whether a brief return to work restarts the waiting period.
- Whether the benefit period offered is restricted by your occupation class.
- Whether partial disability is measured by hours, by duties or by income.
Where an adviser makes a difference
Every New Zealand insurer writes life and living cover to its own wording, and the words are where the money is. Two policies that look identical on price can pay very differently when it matters. Closing that gap is the entire job of an adviser.
- An adviser quotes both insurers on matched terms — same sum insured, same structure, same waiting and benefit periods — which is the only way the numbers mean anything.
- Where a health history is not straightforward, an adviser can pre-assess it anonymously with both insurers before any formal application exists, so an unfavourable answer never lands on your record.
- Policy fees and multi-benefit discounts mean the cheaper per-benefit rate is often not the cheaper household total. An adviser models the total.
- Offset clauses are rarely summarised accurately in marketing material. An adviser reads them and models both an ACC scenario and an illness scenario.
- Where one insurer will not write agreed value for your income type, an adviser can find one that will or structure around the gap.
There are three ways to buy life cover in New Zealand, and they are not equivalent. You can buy direct from one insurer, which means you see one product range and one underwriting appetite. You can buy through your bank, which usually means a single insurer’s product sold under the bank’s brand, often with narrower definitions. Or you can go through an adviser, who quotes several insurers at once and is required to put your interests first.
The premium you pay is the same either way. Insurers build adviser commission into their pricing whether or not an adviser is involved, so going direct does not get you a discount — it just removes the person whose job is to argue your corner at application and at claim time.
- An adviser can see which insurer is currently taking your health history on standard terms, and which one will load or exclude it.
- An adviser can structure cover across two insurers if that produces a better outcome than putting everything with one.
- An adviser handles the underwriting back-and-forth, and is the person who chases the claim when a family is least able to.
- An adviser has to document why the recommendation suits you, which is a written record you can hold them to.
What happens if you get in touch
We are a referral service, not an insurer. We do not quote premiums and we do not sell policies. What we do is put you in front of one licensed New Zealand adviser who can compare the market properly.
- 1
You tell us what you are looking at
The form takes about a minute. Nobody asks for your medical history on a web form — that conversation happens with the adviser, properly, and only once you have decided to proceed.
- 2
An adviser calls you
A licensed New Zealand adviser talks through your situation: who depends on you, what you owe, what you already have in place, and what you are actually worried about.
- 3
They compare the market
The adviser quotes across the major insurers, checks which of them will take your health history on the best terms, and puts the options side by side in writing.
- 4
You decide, in your own time
There is no obligation and no cost to you. If the answer is that you already have enough cover, a good adviser will tell you that.
Frequently asked questions
Which of AIA or Asteron Life is better for income protection?
Neither in general, because income protection outcomes depend on your occupation class, your income type and how each insurer’s offset clause treats ACC. Ask both for a worked example — an ACC-covered injury and an illness ACC does not cover — using your actual income and waiting period, and compare the two sets of numbers rather than the monthly premium.
Do AIA and Asteron Life classify occupations the same way?
No. Occupation class definitions are not standardised across New Zealand insurers, so the same job can be assigned a different class at each, with different pricing and different restrictions on the waiting and benefit periods available. It is one of the clearest reasons to quote a panel rather than a single company.
Is agreed value income protection still available from either insurer?
Availability has narrowed across the New Zealand market and differs by insurer, occupation and income type, so it is a question to ask of each insurer rather than to answer from a page. It matters most for the self-employed, contractors and commission earners, because indemnity cover assesses income at claim rather than fixing it at application.
Does level premium apply to income protection as well as life cover?
Not always, and not at every insurer. Some offer level premiums only on lump sum benefits. Ask each insurer which benefits can be written level, to which expiry ages, and what happens at expiry — because income protection held on stepped premiums into your late fifties is where affordability problems tend to show up first.
Should I hold life cover with one insurer and income protection with another?
Sometimes. If one insurer’s offset clause suits your ACC position better while the other prices life cover more keenly, splitting can produce a better overall result. The cost is a second policy fee and the loss of multi-benefit discounts, so it should be modelled rather than assumed either way.