insurance

1. 25 February 2022

   When Consumer is anti-consumer

   Consumer NZ is paving a road to hell with good intentions in the way it talks about personal insurance, and especially personal insurance advice. I'm a paying member and a fan — which is why it's so f…

2. 18 February 2022

   Paid off the mortgage? Don’t cancel your income protection insurance just yet

   Lots of people reassess their insurance after repaying the mortgage and cancel their income protection. I often think that's a mistake. Mortgage-free years are usually when you build the wealth that f…

3. 11 February 2022

   Don’t cancel or reduce your insurance in the heat of the moment

   When people are thinking about cancelling or reducing their personal insurances because of short-term cash flow pressure, I try to get them to s-l-o-w the decision down. Step back. Think big picture a…

4. 20 December 2019

   Insurance isn’t black or white

   It's easy to think about insurance in binary terms — you have it or you don't. But there's a huge difference between a 4-week and a 13-week waiting period, between $100,000 and $1 million of life cove…

5. 31 May 2019

   You’ll never have the “right” amount of insurance (but don’t let that stop you)

   You'll never have the "right" amount of insurance, because you're dealing with uncertainty. You can only tell what you needed with hindsight or a crystal ball. For most people the best case is paying…

6. 5 April 2019

   Insurance, commission, and the separation of church and state

   I'm very sensitive to conflicts of interest — I've built my own business specifically to avoid them. Which is why it might surprise you that I'm a strong advocate for commission as the way insurance a…

7. 18 June 2018

   Trauma insurance is not a substitute for income protection insurance

   Every so often I meet an insurance adviser who waxes lyrical on trauma insurance — there's something almost religious about it. In person, it's compelling. This article is an antidote. Trauma insuranc…

8. 15 March 2018

   Insurance – why I prefer stepped premiums over level premiums

   As a general rule, I say "no" to level premiums for personal insurance. Your insurance needs should reduce over time, so if you select level premiums, you may end up locking yourself into unnecessary…

9. 15 December 2017

   If you’re getting personal insurance, don’t go direct

   If you need personal insurance, it's tempting to go direct to an insurer or use a comparator like Life Direct. I don't recommend it. Policies look similar but differ in ways that matter: wording, excl…

10. 11 November 2017

    Money in the media

    Some links to interesting articles in published media such as The Press, The Sunday Star Times, and The Herald from recent months: John McCrone wrote a valuable article about "How to succeed at the re…

11. 11 August 2017

    Money in the media, July/August

    I haven't written any "Weekend reading" articles recently. This hasn't stopped me from collecting a pile of clippings and links. I'll have missed many good articles, but some that are on my pile/list…

12. 19 June 2017

    Red flags to consider if you’ve received personal insurance advice

    Many insurance advisers provide terrific advice — but not always. Two red flags worth watching for: when the adviser has recommended the same level of life insurance cover for both you and your partne…

13. 18 June 2017

    Weekend reading (17 & 18 June 2017)

    A round-up of personal finance pieces worth reading this weekend. Liz Koh on how excessive frugality can be as corrosive as over-spending. Susan Edmunds on cutting insurance costs. Martin Hawes on the…

14. 12 May 2017

    Your insurance needs should reduce as you get older

    I'm a HUGE advocate for insurance — most working people should carry some. But I'm also a big advocate for self-insuring where you can, and a message I don't see often enough is that your insurance ne…

15. 13 April 2017

    Are you OVER-insured?

    Plenty of people are under-insured. But plenty are also over-insured — paying expensive premiums for cover they no longer need. Reducing cover is trickier than it sounds, and most advisers have financ…

16. 14 July 2016

    Mortgages are red herrings when it comes to level of life insurance cover

    Life insurance advice is almost cliche: if the client dies, they want the mortgage paid off. That's often the start and end of the conversation. But the mortgage is a red herring. The real question is…

17. 10 October 2015

    Insurance is a foundational risk management tool. But like any tool, it doesn’t cover all contingencies

    I'm a huge advocate of most forms of insurance — general insurance for the house, contents, and car; personal insurance for life, income, total and permanent disability, and trauma. It's a foundationa…

18. 6 February 2015

    Do ALL people need life, trauma, TPD, or trauma insurance? No. Do MOST people need insurance?

    Do ALL people need life, trauma, total and permanent disability, or income protection insurance? No. Do MOST people need insurance? Yes. These policies are typically about making sure the people who d…