Life insurance for your situation
Your insurance needs are set by what you owe, who depends on you and how you earn — not by your age alone. These guides cover the situations that change the answer.
36 guides in this section
Starting out and buying a home
- Life insurance for first home buyersWhat cover you need when you buy your first home in New Zealand, why the bank’s offer at settlement is one insurer’s product, and when to apply.
- Life insurance for young adultsCover for young New Zealand adults — what employer schemes actually give you, why income protection comes first, and the value of locking in your health.
- Life insurance when you rentWhat cover renting New Zealanders actually need — no mortgage does not mean no exposure, and why income protection usually outranks life cover.
- Life insurance for studentsWhat students in New Zealand actually need — student loans are written off on death, why most students need none, and the exceptions that matter.
- Life insurance when you are singleWhether a single person in New Zealand needs life cover — what happens to your debts, when the answer is no, and why income protection is the real product.
- Life insurance when you get marriedWhat marriage changes about your cover in New Zealand — relationship property, out-of-date beneficiaries, joint policies and combining two sets of insurance.
Families
- Life insurance for new parentsHow a first baby changes what cover you need in New Zealand — sizing to age 18, guardianship, who receives the money, and increasing cover without a medical.
- Life insurance when you are expectingApplying for cover during pregnancy in New Zealand — what insurers ask, why some benefits get deferred, and why applying before conception is easier.
- Life insurance for single parentsCover when you are raising children alone in New Zealand — what to insure first on one income, guardianship, and who manages the money for your children.
- Life insurance for stay-at-home parentsWhy the non-earning parent needs cover in New Zealand — the replacement cost of unpaid work, home duties TPD, and the limits insurers apply to non-earners.
- Life insurance for blended familiesCover for step-families in New Zealand — providing for children from a previous relationship without disinheriting anyone, and why nominations are not enough.
- Life insurance for couples without childrenTwo incomes, no dependants — what New Zealand couples without children actually need, why income protection usually beats a big life sum insured.
- Life insurance for rainbow familiesCover for LGBTQ+ families in New Zealand — legal parentage, de facto property rules, beneficiary nominations, and how underwriting should work.
- Life insurance and adult childrenCover when your children are grown — guaranteeing their mortgage, supporting a disabled adult child, and whether to insure an adult child at all.
- Life insurance when you care for elderly parentsThe sandwich generation in New Zealand — insuring your own income when you are the carer, your parents’ cover, EPOAs and who pays for what.
Working for yourself
- Insurance when you are self-employedCover when you work for yourself in New Zealand — no sick leave, ACC covers accident not illness, CoverPlus Extra, and proving a variable income at claim.
- Insurance for contractorsInsurance for New Zealand contractors — between-contract gaps, ACC levies, no group cover, and what income protection does and does not pay for.
- Life insurance for small business ownersCover for New Zealand small business owners — personal guarantees, key person risk, buy-sell funding, and separating personal cover from business cover.
- Life insurance for farmers and rural familiesCover for New Zealand farming families — succession, estate equalisation, seasonal income, occupation class and the ACC gap on illness.
- Life insurance for high net worth familiesLarge sums insured in New Zealand — financial underwriting, estate equalisation, trust ownership and splitting cover across insurers.
Later life
- Life insurance for over 50sWhat changes at 50 — stepped premiums start to bite, the mortgage is nearly gone, and trauma cover reaches the age where it earns its price.
- Life insurance for over 60sCover in your sixties — what is still available, why income protection is running out of runway, and how to hold cover affordably to the age you need it.
- Life insurance for over 65sCover at 65 and beyond in NZ — which products close at this age, what estate liquidity means, and when funeral cover is the sensible answer.
- Life insurance for over 70sCover after 70 in New Zealand — maximum entry ages, why funeral cover is often the only option, and the arithmetic on whether it is worth buying.
- Life insurance for pre-retireesThe last decade before retirement — deciding what cover to carry into retirement, choosing an expiry age, and the traps in the final ten years.
- Life insurance in retirementCover in retirement — no income to protect, but estate costs, an illiquid house and a partner on a single Super rate still create a case for it.
Moving countries
- Life insurance when you move overseasMoving overseas with a New Zealand life policy — whether it stays in force, country-of-residence terms, and why cancelling before you leave is usually wrong.
- Life insurance for new migrantsGetting cover as a recent migrant to New Zealand — residency and eligibility, disclosing overseas medical history, and why underwriting takes longer.
- Life insurance for temporary visa holdersCover for temporary visa holders in New Zealand — which insurers accept work visas, what happens if you leave, and how employer schemes fit.
- Life insurance for returning New ZealandersComing home to New Zealand — reinstating a lapsed policy, keeping overseas cover, health insurance stand-downs and disclosing years spent abroad.
- Life insurance for Australians living hereCover for Australians living in New Zealand — special category visas, what happens to Australian super death cover, and whether to insure in both countries.
When things change
- Life insurance in a separation or divorceLife insurance in a New Zealand separation — joint policies, who owns the cover, relationship property, beneficiaries and the cover you must not cancel.
- Life insurance when you change jobsWhat happens to your cover when you change employers in New Zealand — group scheme continuation, occupation class changes, and gaps to avoid.
- Life insurance after redundancyKeeping cover after losing your job in New Zealand — premium options before cancelling, what redundancy cover does, and why income protection does not pay.
- Life insurance when you have debtWhat happens to a mortgage, credit cards, car finance and a student loan when you die in New Zealand, and how much cover the debt actually justifies.
- Insurance after a serious diagnosisWhat to do about insurance after a serious diagnosis in New Zealand — check what you already hold, do not cancel, and what new cover is realistically available.
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.