What insurance costs, and how much cover you need
Published premiums, what actually drives them, and an honest method for working out how much cover you need — rather than the ten-times-salary rule of thumb.
39 guides in this section
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How much life insurance do you need
There is no correct number, but there is a correct method. Add up what has to be paid, subtract what is already there, and insure the difference — then check you can afford to keep paying for it in twenty years, not just this year.
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What life insurance costs
Published comparisons will tell you a 30-year-old can insure $500,000 for a few hundred dollars a year. That is true, and it is the least useful part of the answer. What decides your cost is your age, your health, and the structure you choose.
How much cover do you need?
- How much life insurance do you needHow to size life cover in New Zealand — the debt and income method, worked examples, what to subtract, and how much an insurer will actually let you buy.
- Using a life insurance calculatorHow a life insurance calculator works in New Zealand, the four numbers it needs from you, and the six things every online calculator gets wrong.
- How much income protection do you needSizing income protection in New Zealand — the cap on what you can insure, choosing a waiting period against your savings, and how ACC changes the answer.
- How much trauma cover do you needSizing trauma cover in New Zealand — what the lump sum is for, how to build the number, and why we will not quote you a premium figure.
- How much TPD cover do you needSizing TPD cover in New Zealand — what the lump sum has to fund, why the definition matters more than the amount, and where ACC stops.
- What a needs analysis actually isWhat a needs analysis is, what a licensed New Zealand adviser is required to do before recommending cover, and how to read the document you are given.
- The ten times salary ruleWhere the ten times salary rule came from, when it happens to work in New Zealand, and the four situations where it is badly wrong in both directions.
- What other New Zealanders actually buyWhat the published New Zealand data does and does not tell us about how much cover people hold, what it costs, and why average sums insured are not public.
- Underinsurance: how much cover people actually holdWhat the FSC and Reserve Bank data shows about how underinsured New Zealand is, why the gap persists, and how to work out whether you are part of it.
What it costs by age
- What life insurance costsWhat life insurance costs in New Zealand — published premiums by age, the spread between insurers, and what every quoted figure leaves out.
- Life insurance cost in your 20sWhat life cover costs in your 20s in New Zealand, why most 20-somethings do not need it, and the one thing buying young genuinely locks in.
- Life insurance cost in your 30sPublished New Zealand premiums for life cover in your 30s, why this is the decade the need appears, and the structure decision that matters most now.
- Life insurance cost in your 40sPublished New Zealand premiums for life cover at 40 and 45, why this is peak buying age, and why stepped premiums are still cheap enough to be seductive.
- Life insurance cost in your 50sWhat life cover costs in your 50s in New Zealand, why the published 55-year-old figures are for a smoker, and what to do if you are on stepped premiums.
- Life insurance cost in your 60sWhat life cover costs in your 60s in New Zealand, why stepped premiums become brutal, and what to do if you did not choose level twenty years ago.
- Life insurance cost at 70 and overWhat life cover costs after 70 in New Zealand, which products are still available, and why funeral cover is usually the honest answer at this age.
What it costs by sum insured
- The cost of $250,000 of life insuranceWhat $250,000 of life cover actually covers in New Zealand, who it suits, and why a quarter of a million costs more than half of a $500,000 premium.
- The cost of $500,000 of life insurancePublished New Zealand premiums for $500,000 of life cover by age and gender, what that sum insured actually covers, and what the figures exclude.
- The cost of $750,000 of life insuranceWhat $750,000 of life cover does for a NZ household, how the price sits between the published $500,000 and $1 million figures, and when it is right.
- The cost of $1 million of life insurancePublished NZ premiums for $1 million of life cover, what that sum insured funds for a family, and the 30% spread between cheapest and dearest.
- The cost of $1.5 million of life insuranceWhat $1.5 million of life cover involves in New Zealand — financial underwriting, medical requirements, reinsurance limits, and who genuinely needs this much.
- The cost of $2 million of life insuranceWhat $2 million of life cover involves in New Zealand — who needs it, how insurers underwrite it, and why the ownership structure matters more than the price.
- How much cover can you actually getHow financial underwriting decides the maximum life cover a NZ insurer will write, what evidence is needed, and what to do if the limit falls short.
What other cover costs
- What income protection costsWhat drives income protection pricing in New Zealand — occupation class, waiting period, benefit period — and why we do not publish a premium table.
- What trauma insurance costsWhat drives trauma and critical illness premiums in New Zealand, why they run well above life cover, and why we will not publish a premium table for it.
- What TPD insurance costsWhat drives TPD premiums in New Zealand — the definition, occupation class and policy structure — and why the definition moves the price most.
- What mortgage protection costsWhat mortgage protection costs in New Zealand, how bank-arranged cover is priced against the open market, and why the cheapest version is often the narrowest.
- What funeral insurance costsHow funeral insurance is priced in New Zealand, why total premiums can exceed the payout, and when a small life policy or savings does the job better.
- What health insurance costsWhat drives health insurance premiums in New Zealand — age, excess, cover level and non-Pharmac drug options — and why premiums rise faster than you expect.
- What it costs to cover a familyWhat it costs to insure a New Zealand family properly — joint premiums, multi-benefit discounts, policy fees, and how to structure cover across two lives.
Premiums, discounts and value
- Smoker vs non-smoker premiumsWhat smoking does to New Zealand life insurance premiums, how insurers define a non-smoker, vaping, and how to get re-rated after you quit.
- Male vs female life insurance premiumsWhat New Zealand women actually pay for life cover compared with men, using published monthly figures at 30, 40 and 50, and why the gap narrows with age.
- Why your premium went upThe four reasons a NZ life insurance premium rises — age, CPI indexation, insurer repricing, a lapsed discount — and how to tell which applies.
- How to reduce your premiumsSeven ways to cut a New Zealand insurance premium without gutting the cover — and the order to try them in, from least damaging to most.
- Premium structures comparedStepped, level, yearly renewable and whole of life premiums compared for New Zealand — what each costs over time and which suits which need.
- Policy fees and discountsHow policy fees and discounts change what you actually pay for life cover in New Zealand, and why published premium tables exclude the discounts entirely.
- Paying annually vs monthlyWhy paying your New Zealand life insurance annually usually costs less than twelve monthly payments, and when monthly is still the right choice.
- Is life insurance worth the costA two-sided look at whether life insurance is worth paying for in New Zealand — who it clearly is not worth it for, and what the claims data shows.
- The cost of not having coverWhat actually happens to a New Zealand household with no cover, where ACC stops, and when going without insurance is a rational decision rather than a gamble.
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.
Whole-of-market comparison
Advisers quote across the major New Zealand insurers rather than one product range.
Registered advisers
Your enquiry goes to Registered Financial Service Providers, not to a call centre.
No cost to you
The insurer pays the adviser. You pay the same premium either way.
Cover sized to your life
A good adviser will tell you when you are over-insured, not just sell you more.