Factual information

What life insurance costs in New Zealand

We do not publish premium tables, and this page explains why rather than filling the gap with a number somebody made up. What we can tell you is exactly what moves the price, what to do to get a figure that is actually about you, and where the one dated New Zealand comparison we found lives.

Checked against its sources on 2026-09-16

Why there are no tables on this page

Every other page in this market opens with a premium table: cost by age, by gender, by smoker status, by cover amount. We went looking for a source for one, on 16 September 2026, and here is everything we found.

Consumer NZhas life insurance content, but the substance is behind a members’ paywall and no premium figures are visible to a non-member.
Canstar NZ publishes a life insurance page that discusses stepped versus level premiums and the rating factors, but no dollar figures at all.
The insurers themselvespublish no premium tables that we could find. One insurer’s own article on what life insurance costs contains no figures whatsoever. Another offers an interactive estimator rather than a published table.
MoneyHub NZ, Life Insurance guidedoes publish dated quotes and states its inputs plainly: “Every quote is for $500,000 of cover on stepped premiums, for a standard occupation with no health issues, and all quotes were obtained on the same day so the prices are directly comparable.” It was updated 14 September 2026. But the same page discloses that the broker who supplied most of those quotes pays it a fixed monthly fee to appear there.

That last one is a real source with a real date and stated inputs, which is more than most of this market offers. It is also a commercially supported comparison rather than an independent index, and reproducing its numbers under our own heading would launder that. So we link to it, tell you about the arrangement, and publish none of the figures:

MoneyHub NZ, Life Insurance guide→

That page itself says to treat every price on it as a starting point and confirm with a live quote. We agree.

What actually moves the price

These are the inputs an insurer prices on. They are the same list the insurers and the comparison sites give, and they are qualitative, which is why we are comfortable publishing them when we are not comfortable publishing numbers.

Age. The single biggest factor, and it compounds if premiums are stepped.
Whether you smoke, under the insurer’s own definition of a smoker, which is often broader than people expect.
How much cover you buy. More cover costs more, close to proportionally.
Your health and medical history, and sometimes your family’s. This is where underwriting can produce a loading, an exclusion, or a decline.
Your occupation and your pastimes, particularly for income protection and TPD cover.
Stepped or level premiums. Stepped typically starts lower and rises; level typically starts higher and does not climb the same way.
Waiting and benefit periods, for anything that pays monthly. A longer wait usually costs less; a longer benefit period usually costs more.
What is attached to the policy. Extra covers, options and benefits each have a price.

How to get a figure that is actually about you

Work out roughly how much cover you are talking about, with the calculator or any other method. Price depends on the amount, so there is no premium question without it.
Decide, roughly, what kind of cover you are asking about. The cover pages describe the four main kinds.
Get quotes. Directly from insurers, or through an adviser who can put the same request to several. There are 7 licensed insurers listed on our insurer page, each linked to its own site.
Answer the health questions properly. An estimate that skips them is not a price, and a policy issued on a wrong answer is the most expensive kind there is.

What moves the price, by kind of cover

The pricing inputs that matter most for each kind of cover
Cover	What it is priced on
Life cover	Your age when cover starts, and each year afterwards if premiums are stepped; Whether you smoke, and what the insurer's definition of a smoker is; The sum insured — more cover costs more; Your health and medical history, and sometimes your occupation and pastimes.
Income protection	Your occupation, and how the insurer classes its risk; The monthly benefit you choose; The waiting period — longer usually costs less; The benefit period — longer usually costs more.
Trauma cover	The sum insured; Your age, health and family medical history; Whether you smoke; Which conditions the policy covers and how its definitions are drawn.
Mortgage protection	Which kind of cover it actually is — lump sum or repayments; The loan amount and the term left to run; Your age, health and whether you smoke; The waiting and benefit periods, for repayment-style cover.

Questions

Why won't you just tell me what life insurance costs?

Because any number we printed would be either sourced or invented, and we could not find a New Zealand source we were willing to reproduce. The one comparison page that publishes dated quotes with its inputs stated also discloses that the broker supplying most of those quotes pays it a monthly fee to appear there. We link to it and let you weigh that yourself.

Is a premium quote free?

Getting a quote from an insurer or an adviser is normally free and does not commit you to anything. What it does require is answering health questions honestly, which is why an online estimate and a real quote can differ a lot.

Does buying through an adviser cost more than going direct?

Generally the premium is the same either way, because the adviser's commission comes out of the insurer's side rather than being added to your price. Advisers who charge you a fee instead must tell you.

Why do two people the same age pay different premiums?

Health, medical history, occupation, pastimes, whether they smoke, how much cover they bought, whether premiums are stepped or level, and which insurer's underwriting they went through. Age is only one input, and often not the decisive one.

Will my premium go up?

If the policy is on stepped premiums, it is recalculated as you get older, so typically yes. If it is on level premiums, it is held the same or nearly the same for a set period. Insurers can also change rates across a whole book of policies. Your policy document says what applies.

Sources

Read on 2026-09-16. If a source and this page disagree, the source is right.

Everything we looked for and could not source is listed on the editorial policy page, including this one.