Life, income protection, health, trauma, mortgage repayment, key person. Eight insurers on the panel, one adviser representing you, and a disclosure process built so the claim is never in doubt.
Insurance only matters at one moment: the moment you claim. The biggest decisions you make about your cover are not "how much do I need" but "how clean is my disclosure" and "which insurer's policy wording actually pays in my scenario." Both of those decisions are invisible until claim time, which is why so many people end up with cover that looked fine until they needed it.
One: what does this household actually lose if something bad happens. Insurance is not a product, it's a way of buying back risk. A 35-year-old sole earner with two kids and a $700,000 mortgage has a very different risk profile to a 55-year-old empty-nester with a paid-off house. The "right" amount of cover for each is wildly different. We start with a one-page summary of what falls over financially in three scenarios: serious illness, long-term disability, death.
Two: which insurer's policy wording actually pays in the scenarios that matter to you. NZ insurers use broadly similar product names (Life, Trauma, Income Protection) but the wording underneath those names varies considerably. One insurer's trauma cover pays on more cancer types than another's. One insurer's income protection has a stricter "agreed value" test. Some insurers are quick to pay mental health claims; others fight them. We pick the policy wording, not the brand.
Three: bulletproof disclosure at application. The single largest cause of declined NZ insurance claims is non-disclosure at the application stage. Not lying, just incomplete answers. "Have you ever had back pain?" is the kind of question where most people say no and forget the physio session 8 years ago. We work through the application as if it's already a claim, because in some sense it is.
Pays a lump sum to your family if you die, or in advance if you're diagnosed terminally ill. The backbone of most household plans. Cover usually scales with mortgage size and dependants' ages.
See life cover detail IncomeReplaces a percentage of your income if you can't work because of illness or injury. Pays monthly, not a lump sum. The single most-skipped piece of cover and usually the highest-value one.
See income protection detail HealthPays for private surgery, specialists, cancer treatment and major medical events outside the public system. Most useful while the public surgical wait list sits at 12 to 18 months.
See health cover detail TraumaPays a lump sum on diagnosis of a major condition (cancer, heart attack, stroke, others). Different policies cover different condition lists. We pick by wording, not by brand name.
Discuss trauma cover Mortgage repayA variant of income protection structured to cover mortgage repayments specifically. Useful for self-employed clients with variable income, or where standard income protection is too expensive.
Discuss mortgage cover Key personFor small business owners whose business depends on one or two key people. Lump sum or income cover paid to the business if the key person is incapacitated. We do this for trade businesses, professional firms and shareholder buy-sell arrangements.
Discuss business coverBoth of these are patterns drawn from Craig's real claims book. Names and small details have been removed for client privacy. The financial outcomes are real.
An example client family on a comprehensive health policy through Wealth Health. One member needed major surgery the public system was not going to schedule inside 18 months. Private cover paid the surgical, specialist, anaesthetist and hospital stay components. Total cost paid out by the insurer: around $110,000. Family out of pocket: their annual excess.
A client diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer. Life cover paid the terminal illness advance benefit promptly, giving the family the means to clear the mortgage and stop working before the end. The application disclosure was watertight, so the insurer paid without delay or dispute. The family had financial space at the moment they needed it most.
No single insurer is best at everything. The job is matching your situation to the policy wording that pays cleanest for you.
One of NZ's largest life and income insurers. Strong on income protection wording for white-collar professionals. Steady pricing, robust underwriting.
Acquired Sovereign in 2018, now one of the two largest life insurers in NZ. Comprehensive product range across life, income, trauma and health.
Built for adviser-distribution from the start. Generally strong trauma wording and benefit definitions. Often our pick where the client has a complex medical history.
NZ-owned and one of the longer-established life insurers in the market. Solid mid-market option with competitive pricing on standard occupations.
Strong health-cover specialist, owns the largest health insurance book in NZ alongside Southern Cross. Useful for clients who want digital claim tooling and rapid pre-approval workflows.
NZ's largest health insurer by membership. Not-for-profit structure, premiums tend to be competitive at older ages. Strong on day-to-day cover and specialist access.
Smaller NZ-owned health insurer, also not-for-profit. Often competitive on premium for younger, healthier members and useful where a niche cover gap needs to be filled.
Global insurer with NZ life and trauma book. We use Cigna selectively where wording is the best fit for a specific client situation.
How much cover, what it pays, when it doesn't, age and premium scaling, the bowel cancer case from the file.
Read the life cover page HealthWhat private health does in NZ, the $110k surgery example, how Southern Cross, nib, Accuro, AIA and Partners Life differ.
Read the health cover page IncomeIndemnity vs agreed value, the 90-day wait, why income protection is the most-skipped cover and usually the most valuable. [TBC: page to follow]
Coming soon Key personFor small business owners, shareholder buy-sell arrangements, and trade businesses where one person carries the work. [TBC: page to follow]
Coming soon ProvidersOne-pager on each insurer, including ratings, claim ratios where published, and the situations we pick each for. [TBC: page to follow]
Coming soon ToolFive-minute self-check that compares your current cover and premium against what's typical for your stage of life. Free, no email gate, no follow-up unless you ask.
Run Quote-FitFor most working households with dependants or a mortgage: life cover, income protection, and health insurance. Trauma cover is a strong fourth depending on family history. We map your real risk picture, not a one-size template.
Direct insurers sell one product (theirs). A broker compares eight insurers, structures the application so disclosure is watertight, and represents you at claim time. The broker is paid by the insurer on issue; there's no extra cost to you.
Almost always, if the application disclosure was done properly. The main reason claims are declined in NZ is non-disclosure at application stage. A broker's main job, frankly, is making sure the disclosure is bulletproof so the claim is never in doubt.
Most NZ insurance policies use age-banded premiums that step up each year. Reinsurance costs have also risen post-COVID. We review the structure annually to find the right balance between cover and premium, and we move clients to a different insurer when it's mathematically obvious.
Bundled cover through a mortgage broker or bank is rarely the right structure. The cover is usually thin, the premium climbs steeply, and the policy is tied to the loan rather than to you. Standalone advice from a broker who looks at your whole picture is almost always better value.
Since the new financial advice regime in 2021, all insurance advisers must operate under a Financial Advice Provider (FAP) licence issued by the FMA. Wealth Health holds full FAP licence FSP 523606. You can verify any adviser on the FSPR public register.
15 minutes, no pitch. Craig will tell you whether you're underinsured, overinsured, or right where you should be, and whether the insurer you're with is the right one.