Life Insurance Blog

When it comes to your life cover and tax there are two things to know about; Do I have to pay tax on a Life Insurance claim payout? and, Do I pay tax on my premiums?

That elusive magic number. How much life insurance do I need to make sure that my family and loved ones will be ok should the absolute worst happen? It’s not something we want to spend time thinking about. But should the worst happen, your family will be glad that you did.

Talking about life insurance means talking about death. No-one finds that easy. Pinnacle Life have some tips to get you started on talking about money and life insurance with your partner.

CFFC (Commission for Financial Capability) surveyed 3132 New Zealanders between January to June 2020. They used questions from an OECD toolkit to measure understanding of financial concepts such as interest, inflation, and risk diversification. Only 22% of all respondents answered all questions correctly, and only half as many women as men answered all questions correctly.

There are lots of excuses we use to delay getting around to sorting out our life insurance. A recent survey of our customers indicated most people took around six months to decide to get it sorted! That’s a long time when the actual process could take as little as 10 minutes. Some of the reasons given for procrastinating are touted as fact when they have no truth to them at all. We break down these myths and give you the facts.

Some websites advise you to never go direct to an insurer first. They say you'll pay full price and have nothing to compare it with. We disagree. We think you should absolutely do your own homework. Approach insurers directly and understand what they offer. Then make your own comparisons. If you have a special health need or family situation, then talk to an expert. For most people, however, there's no reason why you can't choose for yourself.