Buying direct or through an adviser

This page argues a case, and you should know what we get out of it. This site is a referral service: we pass enquiries to a licensed New Zealand adviser firm and are paid when a referral becomes a client. We are not an insurer and not a financial advice provider. That interest points one way, so the test we have set ourselves is to make the case for buying direct as well as the case against it. If you finish this page thinking direct suits you, that is a legitimate outcome.

The common assumption is that cutting out the adviser cuts out a cost. It does not: insurers build distribution expense into their rate tables, and the rate quoted for a given product is broadly the same either way.

There are exceptions at the margins: some direct products are built to a narrower specification and price differently, but that is a different product rather than a discount. On MoneyHub’s June 2026 comparison of $500,000 life cover the direct and affinity brands did not cluster at the cheap end; on Quashed’s May 2026 panel a direct insurer showed the lowest monthly premium. Different panels, different answers — and no systematic direct discount.

There is one, and it is stronger than adviser-funded websites usually admit.

• Speed. You can be covered today; an advised application can take weeks if medical evidence is needed.
• Simplicity is a feature when the situation is simple. If you are 30, healthy and want $500,000 of life cover, few decisions genuinely require expertise.
• You avoid being sold more than you came for. Commission-remunerated advisers have a structural incentive toward larger policies. Good advisers manage it; the incentive still exists.
• Cover in force beats cover perfectly structured in your head. If the alternative is another two years of delay, buy direct today.

Not that they are nicer. That four pieces of work get done which otherwise do not.

1. 1

   They shop the underwriting, not just the price

   Reinsurers take different views of the same history, so one condition can produce standard rates at one insurer and an exclusion at another. An adviser pre-assesses anonymously first.

2. 2

   They structure the cover

   Which benefits, at what sums, on which premium structure, owned by whom and paid to whom. Stepped or level. Standalone or accelerated trauma. Agreed value or indemnity. No online form asks these properly, and they decide whether the policy still works in twenty years.

3. 3

   They read the wording

   Terminal illness at 12 or 24 months. TPD conversion age. The offset clause. Severity-based trauma partials and buy-back. None of it is visible on a quote screen, and it is the difference between a claim paid and a claim declined.

4. 4

   They handle the claim

   A claim is an evidential exercise against a contractual definition, made at the worst moment of a family’s life. Having someone assemble that evidence costs you nothing extra.

People would like this settled by data, and the New Zealand data is thin. MoneyHub’s own comparison of direct versus adviser purchasing leans on research published in 2020 — six years old at the time of writing, before the current financial advice regime bedded in and before the Conduct of Financial Institutions regime took force on 31 March 2025. Not a current finding.

What can be said with more confidence is structural. Wordings differ materially on the clauses that decide claims, appetite differs between insurers and is published nowhere, and most declined life claims trace back to disclosure.

Work down this list. Stop at the first line that is true of you.

1. 1You have any medical history beyond the trivial — a chronic condition, mental health history, high BMI, anything under investigation. Underwriting outcomes differ enormously between insurers.
2. 2Your occupation is manual, high-risk or self-employed. Use an adviser — class definitions differ and availability, not just price, follows class.
3. 3You want income protection or own-occupation TPD. Use an adviser; these carry the most technical wordings.
4. 4You are insuring a business, a shareholding or a personal guarantee. Use an adviser and involve your accountant.
5. 5You want a large sum insured, or two lives with a mix of benefits. Use an adviser — structuring and fee arithmetic both matter at that size.
6. 6None of the above, and you want a straightforward sum of life cover. Buy direct today if that gets it done, then have it reviewed in a few years.

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.

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. 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. 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. 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. 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.