The Insurance Advice We Give

With over 30 years of experience in the insurance field, our team specialises in problem-solving to ensure your financial independence remains intact during unexpected events and especially during challenging health situations.

In partnership with professionals and your own personal insight, along with trusted Solicitors and Accountants, we can create secure financial structures around your assets, ensuring your long-term plans are safeguarded.

When facing the uncertainties of disablement due to medical conditions, your reliance on earned income can be severely threatened. Maintaining your financial independence and funding amidst health challenges is paramount for your goals and your future. Here are the key factors we focus on to establish and regain control when faced with the disablement process:

1. Swift Access to Medical Support: Private medical insurance ensures immediate access to necessary medical advice, treatment, and technology without delay, providing peace of mind during critical times.
   
   
2. Control Your Debt Arrangements: We can help you be able to continue to service your loans in the early stages of disablement, reducing them significantly if your health continues to deteriorate and finally eliminating all debts in the event of your untimely impending or actual departure. This is where monthly mortgage repayment cover fits, along with lumpsums that pay out when a critical illness/condition is diagnosed, or if your disability becomes permanent.
   
   
3. Securing Artificial Income: Your ability to access a source of income becomes invaluable when earning your own living becomes impossible. This is where income protection fits, providing a stable source of income, enabling you to support dependents, completing retirement savings, and covering daily living expenses, ensuring your long-term projects stay on track.
   
   

Navigating the disablement process can be unpredictable, and it needs a more thorough set of appropriate structures and advice than many people think. By establishing proper structures, seeking expert advice, and selecting suitable insurance options, you regain control. Once control is regained, the Consolidation Stage begins as life continues, allowing your life to be addressed, resourced and funded as it continues.

The truth is that a holistic approach to the disablement process is necessary because, in our experience, the process is never predictable and never unfolds as you might expect. With our long term structured approach and comprehensive claims management we can ensure that your debt payments are met, solvency is established and ongoing needs are provided for. This can involve a complex claims process with multiple steps, which our service helps navigate for you. We take into account every facet of your needs from the lens of experienced industry professionals and help provide you with what you actually need at claim time, with no mistaken assumptions.

We specialise in a personalized approach, tailored to your unique situation. Let's meet to assess your current situation, evaluate existing resources, and discuss tailored solutions. We can and will also review Allied Professional Advice, existing structures like wills, trusts and guardianships, ensuring you and your dependents are well-prepared for the future.

Talk to an Adviser today.

Understanding Trauma Insurance: Types, Benefits, and Coverage in the New Zealand Marketplace.

Trauma insurance, also known as critical illness insurance, is a type of insurance policy designed to provide financial protection in the event of a critical illness or major health condition. In New Zealand, there are various types of trauma insurance policies available, each offering unique benefits and coverage. This article aims to shed light on the types of trauma insurance, their benefits, and the typical conditions covered in the New Zealand marketplace.

Types of Trauma Insurance

• Standalone Trauma Insurance: This policy solely focuses on critical illnesses and conditions, providing a lump-sum payment upon diagnosis of a covered condition.
• Trauma Insurance as a Rider/Addon: Some life insurance policies allow the addition of a trauma insurance rider, providing coverage for critical illnesses alongside the primary life insurance coverage as part of an overall bundled insurance policy. Sometimes securing multiple types of insurance under the same policy or from the same provider can result on better deals on premiums.
  
  

Benefits of Trauma Insurance

• Financial Support: Trauma insurance offers a tax-free lump sum payment upon the diagnosis of a covered condition. This payment can be utilized to cover medical expenses, rehabilitation costs, debts, or any other financial obligations during a difficult period.
• Flexibility in Usage: The lump-sum payment received from trauma insurance can be used at the policyholder's discretion, providing financial freedom to seek alternative treatments, hire caregivers, or even make lifestyle adjustments.
• Peace of Mind: Having trauma insurance offers peace of mind, knowing that you and your loved ones are financially protected against the potential financial burdens that may arise from critical illnesses.
  
  

Typical Conditions Covered

Trauma insurance policies in New Zealand typically cover a range of critical illnesses and conditions, including but not limited to:

• Cancers: Coverage for various types of cancer, such as breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, and more.
• Heart-related conditions: This includes heart attack, coronary artery bypass surgery, and cardiac arrest.
• Stroke: Coverage for a significant stroke resulting in permanent neurological deficit.
• Major Organ Transplant: Coverage for procedures involving the transplant of major organs, such as heart, liver, kidney, or lung.
• Paralysis: Coverage for conditions resulting in permanent and irreversible paralysis.
• Loss of Vision, Hearing, or Speech: Coverage for the loss of sight, hearing, or speech due to illness or injury.
• Various major surgeries or procedures: Make sure that you check your specific policy wording whenever you undergo any medical procedure or receive a diagnosis, as in some cases, in our experience people with active trauma cover have often been able to make a significant claim and not known about it.
  
  

Trauma insurance plays a crucial role in safeguarding individuals and their families against the financial implications of critical illnesses. In the New Zealand marketplace, there are various types of trauma insurance policies available, offering benefits such as financial support, flexibility in usage, and peace of mind. Understanding the coverage and conditions included in trauma insurance can help individuals make informed decisions about their insurance needs and secure their financial well-being if anything severe does go wrong with their health.

Sometimes people can make the assumption that a severe health event will result in either a recovery or an unfortunate passing, but from 30 years in the Insurance Marketplace, this is not often the case. In fact, the most likely outcome is a protracted period of disablement during which you may no longer be able to continue earning an income. With a lump-sum trauma insurance claim though, your financial worries will be alleviated, allowing you to focus on your recovery and continue to provide for your loved ones and dependants.

*Please note that the coverage, conditions, and benefits of trauma insurance may vary between insurance providers. It is recommended to consult with a qualified insurance advisor or provider to understand the specific details of a policy before making a purchase

Why Insurance Matters For Families.

A family unit tends to be just that. A single unit, with many individuals functioning (more or less harmoniously!) as one. Like in a small business, each person fulfills a vital role that the unit can't continue to operate without. Breadwinners go out, work and provide for the family financially, while others contribute to the household, go to school, contribute to the community or help each other out.

Next, let's think about an individual, living alone, providing for his/her own needs single-handedly with no one to take care of but themselves. Most of us are at least a little familiar with the risks of death, critical illness or disability happening to one person. If not, you can read some statistics on critical illness here. When one person is all there is to worry about, for women are facing a one in seven chance of critical illness between the ages of 30 and 60 and for men the chances are one in five (I guess women are more resilient after all!). Protecting yourself against these odds would seem like a worthwhile proposition for most even in this situation. People buy Lotto tickets every week with a one in 100,000 chance of a first division win and think its inevitable it'll happen to them one day, when the chances of a disabling illness are unfortunately hugely more likely!

Critical Illness - Unfortunately much more likely than Lotto.

Unfortunately, for families the situation is even worse. A family is a singular unit that relies on all of its members being healthy and productive for the sake of the group. If both parents for instance are working and require an income to support the family, the chances of one of the pair suffering a critical illness by the age of 60 is an unfortunate one in three. If your family or business relies on three or more incomes, the odds shoot up even further, on to and above 50%. In other words, if you're in a group that relies on the income of 3 or more members, you've got a one in two chance of having one of those members disabled by illness and unable to earn for a protracted period of time, during which regular savings may be insufficient to cover the costs of living and treatment.

So what solutions can insurance provide for families, groups or businesses?  A group medical scheme for instance can be tailored to protect a whole family, paying for any medical expenses that any of its members may need. This option can be cheaper than insuring each family member individually if the right insurer is chosen. Life, trauma and total permanent disablement insurance, through altering the policy ownership details (read more on this here), can be designed to immediately payout to the other members of the group, covering your expenses and creating an artificial income to support you and the rest of the group.

Visit our official website for more information.

Critical Illness Statistics.

How to make sure your policy payouts get into the right hands quickly.